I'm trying to write a book: Day 5
Enough putting it off. Where the proposal stands.
The Backstory
First, some backstory. As some astute readers may know, I’ve had a relationship with Island Press—now part of Princeton University Press—for a few years. In exchange for advance copies of the excellent books they publish, I review, interview, and do my best to contextualize these books and the authors who write them. I always try to find the angle that connects the work to my readers. The media market is simply too saturated for books without massive spend behind them to gain traction on their own. I value myself as a trusted partner to IP/PUP and respect their editors’ ability to shepherd books from idea to publication.
I had no idea how to actually propose a book, how much front-loaded writing there’s going to be, and how much thinking and shaping I’m expected to do without a deal.
The more I think about it, this all makes sense to me. I’m a relatively unknown writer,1 and if we’re thinking about profitability, I can’t really demonstrate any evidence that I’m ROIable. Nevertheless, I’m going to write this damn book.
Next, the proposal.
Proposal Prom
I used Island Press’ guidelines that are open to anyone, and now that I’m writing this,2 I realize that other publishing houses also might have guidelines for pitching a book. Here’s what I found:
Academic presses: most do, including Harvard University Press, MIT Press3, and Princeton University Press c/o Island Press. These are my most likely route, and I’ll likely try to work with Princeton, but it’s good to do a benchmark to compare and contrast what they’re looking for. I’m seeing now, for the first time, that MIT requires two chapters, while PUP does de facto based on the feedback I’ve received (tomorrow’s post).
Bigger publishers: there are five—Penguin Random House, HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, Hachette Book Group, Macmillan—but without agent representation, these houses ninety-nine times out of a hundred do not take unsolicited proposals. These are also ultra competitive and often require a longer publishing history than I have (none?).
Independent presses: There are a lot of these, and they’re much smaller than even the university presses. These have a lower risk and lower reward, often requiring less upfront effort, but are often limited in their resources and editing capacity, so the proposal should be as strong as one submitted to the larger presses to stand out, I think. I’d go this route if my book had a narrower topic and/or audience, but I’m going broader here, so I don’t think this is the right path.
Self-publish: there’s always the DIY route, which is almost always bad because it will 1000% land as a manifesto, rather than a measured, edited, and promoted galley. I already have my manifesto space. I could simply publish the book on EI over time, but wow, no thank you.
So I think I’m going to go the academic press route, but my learning today is to do a broader sweep of the available options. I’ve only looked at three of what I’m sure are dozens, so as long as I have a pulse I’m going to get this book off the ground.
You might be asking yourself, “Sam, why aren’t you simply writing the proposal instead of telling us you’re going to write the proposal?” And you would be right. Over and out.
For now!
See, very therapeutic and helpful to think through your ideas very publicly.
Which also has a fantastic bookstore in Cambridge. Recommended before a lunch at Life Alive on Mass Ave, if it’s not horrible and also is still there?