TDC/Key steps

Hello. . . .

my narrative bio
my full cv
my writings in pdf
my writings in wikitext
The Digital Campus

The Digital Campus

Key Steps suggested by Portwood-Stacer

1: Identify your target presses

2: Research and evaluate your target presses

3: Gather submission information for your target presses and summarize your book’s fit

• Examine proposal templates and submission requirements

• Identify appropriate acquisitions editors (and series editors if applicable)

• Write up paragraphs summarizing the fit between your book and each target press

4: Generate raw material for your proposal package

5: Draft a letter of inquiry to introduce your project to editors

6: Collect a list of comp titles

7: Articulate your book’s audience

• Answer some typical questions from an author questionnaire

• Write up a paragraph or two about your target audience

8: State your book’s thesis

• Look at your written materials for statements of argument

• Write up a one-paragraph summary of the book’s core argument

9: Distill a one-liner for your project

10: Draft a project description

11: Summarize your book’s chapters

12: Come up with working titles for your book and its chapters

13: Revise your proposal materials for style and voice

14: Write an author biography

15: Create an author CV from your full CV

16: Assemble your prospectus

17: Prepare to connect with editors

• Draft an email asking to meet

• Practice your oral quick pitch

18: Submit your proposal

POST-SUBMISSION STEPS

19: Respond to your reader reports

20: Get a head start on your promotion efforts

From: Laura Portwood-Stacer, The Book Proposal Book: A Guide fopr Scholarly Authors, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2021, (pp 151-2)