Submitting A Book Proposal

Find Your Editor

First and foremost, a good book begins with a good idea and a clear sense of who you are writing it for. Whether your book idea is speculative or fully-formed we would be delighted to discuss it with you. While experienced authors may prepare perfectly constructed proposals, more frequently book ideas are raised and developed in discussion – by email, on the phone or in person. 

We have a list of editorial contacts for the relevant subject areas.
 

Preparing Your Proposal

Your proposal allows you to summarize your book, its aims, its goals and main features, telling us the market that the book is going to be written for, and also the existing books that form the central competition to your proposed one.

Things to keep in mind:

• Complete your proposal as fully as possible. The information you provide allows us to give your work the fully informed consideration it deserves.

• Make sure you give as much detail about the proposed content and structure of your book as you can. Supply some supporting materials where possible or appropriate, such as a sample chapter.

• Think carefully about the intended readership for your book and existing competing titles. How your book will differ from or complement them?

• Be sure to cover all the practicalities: the likely word count, inclusion of images or copyright material, your proposed delivery date and whether there are any digital or mixed media considerations to be aware of.

In short, the more you can tell us about the book at this early stage, the better the feedback and guidance we will be able to give you. 
 

The Commissioning Process

• All proposals we decide to consider are sent for external, confidential peer review, as will any sample chapters or supporting materials you supply. This process is managed by your Commissioning Editor who will work with you to help you make the proposal as comprehensive and polished as possible. We aim to have peer reviews in place within three months of receiving your proposal.

• Our peer-review process is not double blind and as such your name and affiliation will be made known to the reviewers. Reviewers will be selected at our discretion.

• Your Commissioning Editor will keep you informed of the submission process and send you copies of the reviews when they are available, inviting you to respond.

• If the reviews are good, and the editor is confident about the project and how it fits their list, they will present your proposal at our in-house Publishing Acquisitions Meeting. Editorial, Sales and Marketing colleagues will then make an informed decision based on all the documentary information available as to whether the book is a good fit for the Bloomsbury list and the market.

• If agreed at the Meeting, your Commissioning Editor will then be authorised to offer you a publishing contract setting out the formal details of the agreement between us, such as delivery dates, the extent of manuscript, and remuneration.