List of Points Which Should Ideally Be Covered in a Book Proposal

I suggest a document of 4-8 pages or so which covers the following:

1. Rationale: why the book is important, original, timely

2. Contents list, with chapter headings and a short summary of what will

come in each chapter; for edited books, please give details of contributors

and their affiliations

3. For books which will be based on a thesis: your suggestions for

transforming the thesis (narrow purpose, select readership) into a book

(broader purpose, wider readership)

4. Market: who is the book for

5. Competition: comparing and contrasting; and showing where your new work

fits into, and takes further, the existing body of scholarship

6. Brief cv of yourself, and any co-authors or co-editors

7. Title: it is important to have a crisp title, which broadens the appeal

as much as possible, and which is explicit about the book's subject - it is

important that titles are explicit so that, for example, anyone doing a

computer search using just keywords will find the book

8. Length of script; together with number of tables, figures, maps, etc (if

any)

9. Anticipated delivery date of the finished script, after any reworking

10. Suggestions for two possible referees.