Book contents
Appendix B - Sample book proposal
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 May 2010
Summary
Below is the original proposal for this book. The book itself has departed in some ways from the specification given in the proposal.
BOOK PROPOSAL: WRITING SUCCESSFUL ACDEMIC BOOKS
Full title
Writing Successful Academic Books: A Complete Guide to Authorship and Publication
Reasons for writing, proposed length, and amount of illustration
Whilst I was Academic Publishing Director at Continuum I often felt frustrated by the amount of repetition involved in academic publishing. New authors make the same mistakes as their predecessors. Editors find themselves saying the same things over and over.
I also learnt from discussion with authors that publishing can seem very mysterious from the outside. Prospective authors are often uncertain about such matters as how to make a pitch or negotiate a contract. Even experienced authors, though less surprised by publishers’ decisions, often find the rationale behind those decisions opaque.
There is, therefore, a need for a guide that will explain the twin processes of academic authorship and publication and enable authors to achieve their aims more efficiently. I have found through various talks and workshops that I have given to academics that it is not difficult to provide this guidance.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Writing Successful Academic Books , pp. 158 - 162Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010