Essential knowledge about scholarly book publishing that every author should have. Get weekly tips on writing and publishing your scholarly book from developmental editor and publishing consultant Laura Portwood-Stacer, PhD.
Your book doesn't speak for itself
Published 7 days ago • 3 min read
The Manuscript Works Newsletter
Essential knowledge on scholarly book publishing that every author should have
Hello Manuscript Workers!
To get a book published, writing a good manuscript is important. But at the moment when you are trying to get a press interested in publishing your book, the manuscript itself is not the main thing that will make your case. That job belongs to your book proposal.
You need to show up with a proposal that not only gives a compelling synopsis of your manuscript but also fills your publisher in on all sorts of meta-information about your book, like its intended audience, comps in the market, chapter structure, and production specs. An outstanding proposal is what will prompt a publisher to take the next step of wanting to consider the full manuscript, but you don’t get to start on that step right away.
If this seems unfair — shouldn’t a great manuscript get picked up no matter what? — consider the matter of time. How long would it take an acquiring editor to read your full manuscript? 5-10 hours at least, right? Then how long to find suitable reviewers and have them all read the full manuscript and provide helpful reader reports? The time adds up fast. Now consider that your acquiring editor has dozens or maybe hundreds of other writers in their inbox, wanting their manuscripts read too. There wouldn’t be enough hours in a year to give them all a fair read, let alone do all the other duties in their job.
Your book proposal is your opportunity to give an acquiring editor the info they need to quickly decide whether reading your manuscript and finding reviewers for it would be a good use of their time. There’s a lot riding on this document and it’s a completely different genre of writing than your scholarly book manuscript. You have to learn a new way of thinking and communicating about your project to give your ideas the best shot of landing with publishers.
Aside from your acquiring editor, other parties will also be using your book proposal to inform decisions about not just whether it should get published at all, but also how it should be produced, what it should look like, who it should be marketed to, and where it should be sold. By crafting your proposal according to what you want for your book, you have a much better chance of getting what you want. A strong book proposal is a key tool in having a publishing experience that feels good and has satisfying results (versus a publishing experience where you feel pulled along by unknown forces and slightly disappointed at the end of it all — if you’ve published a book before or been close to someone who has, you probably know what I’m talking about).
So yes, your book proposal is a high-stakes document in a new genre that you may not be very familiar with yet. But it doesn’t have to be painful or unduly time-consuming to write, if you know what you’re doing. My Book Proposal Shortcut course breaks down each element, tells you what’s actually important to include, and shows you examples from a variety of real scholarly book proposals. The course is designed to support you in completing an outstanding book proposal in just a few days or spaced out in manageable pieces throughout a semester or sabbatical. It costs $395 for lifetime access (plus I offer a discount for precarious and unfunded scholars).
If you do want to knock out your proposal (or at least cross a big chunk of it off your to-do list before the current semester ramps up), I’d love for you to join me for my annual Book Proposal Sprint next week.
Every day from September 8 through 12th (that’s next Monday through Friday), I’ll be hosting an hour of quiet co-working from 12-1pm Pacific, followed by an hour of open advising from me where you can ask any questions you have about getting your book published (even really specific questions that you think may only apply to your personal situation and you haven’t been able to find a satisfying answer for anywhere else). You’ll end the week with much more clarity about what you want for your book and how to get it, whether you’re writing your first book or your fifth.
After you sign up, on Monday you’ll automatically receive the Zoom link for the Sprint. You can show up every day next week or just when you want to. You'll also have lifetime membership in my Author Support community, so I'll still be there to help even after the Sprint week is over.
Questions about whether the Shortcut and Sprint are right for you? Reply to this email and I’ll get back to you as quickly as I can!
In case we haven't met before, I’m Laura Portwood-Stacer, professional developmental editor and scholarly book author. Since starting my consultancy Manuscript Works in 2015, my courses and workshops have helped thousands of writers navigate the scholarly book publishing process with more ease and agency.
I aim to bring honesty and empathy to the process of writing and publishing your book because I know firsthand how nerve-wracking and opaque the whole thing can be.
Essential knowledge about scholarly book publishing that every author should have. Get weekly tips on writing and publishing your scholarly book from developmental editor and publishing consultant Laura Portwood-Stacer, PhD.