Manuscript Acquisition

MAUDE RABIU GWADABEmrgwadabe.mac@buk.edu.ng

R00M B1-182, FIRST FLOOR, DEPARTMENT OF MASS COMMUNICATION,

BAYERO UNIVERSITY KANO

MAC 2212: INTRODUCTION TO BOOK PUBLISHING

Ideas

• Research: sharing new findings to wider audiences.

• Market Gap:

• Teaching a course

• Training

• Successful books

• Publisher

Decide the type of book

• Textbooks supplementary, monograph, handbook, study skills, professional, trade.

• visit a good bookshop & look at similar books in the same area . Talk to the buyer in the appropriate section of the bookshop if you can, as they will know what customers are looking for.

• Get a sense of the market - how do the books look, what style are they written in, who are they aimed at, how long are they? Find out what competition you have, and think about what your book can offer that others do not.

• Ask colleagues or students what they would find useful in a publication covering the area you want to write in (this will help shape the content of your publication). Decide whether or not you’ll work on the idea alone or with a colleague or number of colleagues

• Look online for courses and organizations that relate to your area. If you are proposing a textbook, make sure your proposed contents will be a good match for similar courses in other universities

• Look on Amazon to try to work out what the best-selling books are in your area and see what you can learn from the contents/style/features of the best-sellers

Contact Publishers

• Find publishers interested in your type of book.

• Send short proposal outlining rough ideas (2-3 pages)

• Get a feel for what they are looking for and whether they are interested in your idea.

• If they are interested, you’ll be asked to submit a full proposal usually in a pro forma document supplied by the publisher.

Book Proposal

• Presents a convincing rationale for your text. It clearly delineates the text’s objectives and the benefits and advantages it provides to students and to instructors vis-à-vis what is currently available.

• One of the main things you must convey in your proposal is why your approach—and the main ideas that animate the project—fill a current need in the market. You will want to very clearly lay out the reasons for why an instructor would be persuaded to switch to your book.

• Even for self-publishers it helps in clarifying your own thinking about the subject before embarking on the actual writing.

Book Proposal Content

Different publishers stress different aspects of the proposal but they basically concern the following aspects:

• The Content: What is the book about?

• The Market: Who will buy this book?

• The Author: Why are you the best possible author for this book?

The Content

• Premise: Basic concept of the book usually identifying a need and proposing a solution.

• Unique Selling Proposition: What benefit the reader will get from reading your book.

• Overview: General description of the book identifying major sections.

• Manuscript: When do you expect to finish? Are there charts/graphs/tables/ illustrations/pictures? Anticipated number of pages/words.

The Market

• Characteristics: gender, age, educational level, socio-economic status, geographic location, religious affiliation, etc.

• Motivations: why would the reader want to buy your book? What are their frustrations? What do they expect to get out of your book?

• Affinity Groups: Groups that will have a natural affection or feeling of kinship with your book. e.g. members of a profession, listeners to a program, or subscribers to a magazine. Etc.

• Competition: is there a proven market for this kind of book, if so, how does your book differ from other books like it?

The Author

• Background: Describe your background as it relates to the subject of your book. You may include a resume.

• Previous Writing: If you’ve written before explain, if not, there is always a first time.

• Personal Marketing: What important contacts do you have that might be willing to endorse the book? Do you presently teach the subject? Are you planning to write articles on the topic? Do you have any regular media opportunities? Do you have an online platform?

Chapter-by-Chapter Synopsis

• In addition to part / section and chapter titles, provide headings and subheadings for each chapter. The more information you can provide here, the more substantive the feedback reviewers can offer and the more constructive advice you will be able to incorporate into a first draft manuscript.

• Include any planned features as part of your chapter headings /subheadings so that reviewers can see how you will be integrating those important elements into each chapter.

• In addition, describe in as much detail as possible, the contents and approach of each chapter. This descriptive element will provide reviewers with as complete a picture of the book as possible at this point.

• Include one or two sample chapters in your submission to the publisher.

Proposal Review

• Your proposal will be sent out to a selection of external readers, who will assess the project on a number of points such as suitability of content for the intended market, market need for the product, suitability of writing style etc.

• A decision is made on whether to take your project forward (usually to an editorial meeting) to get you an offer to publish OR your material is felt to be unsuitable and your project is declined

Editorial Meeting

• Your proposal will be presented and defended by the commissioning editor, and they are likely to be interrogated on the pros and cons of publishing your proposal by senior representatives from Marketing, Sales, Production and by the Editorial director. During the meeting, the commissioning editor serves essentially as your advocate and defender

• The editorial cttee are concerned with investigating the probable profitability of the proposal (no editorial board will publish a book they expect will make a loss). The profitability of your proposal will be assessed in relation to the fit of your proposal to the market, the quality of writing, the expected costs of production (dependent on length of ms, number of colours, figures etc) and the size and habits of the market. As a consequence, some extremely good proposals will be rejected because the market is too small, or the book is too large to be profitable, regardless of the book’s internal merits

Editorial Meeting

• The editorial cttee present at the meeting will also suggest changes (make the book shorter, for instance, or make it more international) and will suggest contract terms or contract clauses to the editor. Often, the issue of a contract is dependent on an author agreeing to these changes or these clauses

Deciding to Publish

• Estimating Sales Potential: depending on effective market demand and previous sales records.

• Obtaining Preliminary Costings: Fixed costs & Variable costs.

• Calculating Optimum Print Run: depending on market size, expected market share, speed of reprint, speed of sales, etc.

• Determining the Price: Production cost plus profit.

Contract

You will be offered a contract to publish the book and the following terms will need to be agreed upon:

• delivery date for final manuscript

• size of book

• title of book

• royalty rate

• advance against royalty rate

Contracts will of course cover all sorts of other details.