Proposing the proposal

July 2, 2008 4:43 AM

How do I submit a book proposal to a publisher?

I have a book proposal for a partner yoga book ready to submit to a publisher. Proposal includes photographs. How and where would I go about submitting this cold???

posted by goalyeehah to media & arts (3 comments total)

All major publishers do not accept unsolicited manuscripts or proposals--they have to be through an agent. So, you might look to submit your proposal to an agent first. If you are looking to be published by a smaller publisher you might take a look at the Literary Marketplace (most all libraries carry this massive reference tome) to find an appropriate publisher in your subject area. This site about editors and agents might be interesting to you. Good luck!
posted by mattbucher at 5:13 AM on July 2, 2008

The topic makes a difference in the agent you select and the publishers you target. Publishers do still accept submissions over the transom, but the chance of getting a just-out-of-college reader (or a harried editor, at smaller presses, who has signed authors to contend with) to pick your book out of the giant slush pile is ridiculously miniscule.

Target your publishers - say, Ten Speed Press for this example, because they tend to publish things targeted at educated affluent urban/suburban vaguely-granola/vaguely-hipster readers. Go to Borders and pull a stack of Ten Speed's books; start in the yoga section, then expand through fitness and into food. Don't bother with Ten Speed books in other sections unless you're not finding anything; you're looking for an agent who knows acquisition editors in the general topic area, and a history or travel acquisitions editor probably isn't going to buy a yoga manuscript. Find a place to sit, and start reading the acknowledgements, where smart authors thank their agents, and make a list. Put the books back and go home to research agents on the Web. Pitch agents like you would pitch a publisher: proposal, first three chapters, table of contents, sample pics, whatever is appropriate for fitness titles.

If you have an active LinkedIn account, consider asking your network for introductions to agents who focus on nonfiction, particularly health, fitness, and self-help titles. Plus, ask your friends or post on your blog that you're looking. That's how I got my agent.
posted by catlet at 6:05 AM on July 2, 2008

Check out the latest edition of Writer's Market. It will list the publishing houses (usually smaller ones) that accept un-agented, un-soliticed proposals.

One word of encouragement: Mr. Adams and I submitted a very detailed book proposal several years ago to several small houses with no luck. However, when we later queried some magazines and newspapers about a possible column idea relating to our particular niche market, they asked for more information about what we had in mind, and we sent the book proposal to them. It landed us several recurring columns in different publications, and then a book publisher approached us after the fact.
posted by Oriole Adams at 10:08 AM on July 2, 2008