Guidelines for Submitting a Proposal to Island Press
General Overview: Introduce your subject and argument. Explain why your book is needed; what does it offer readers? Describe your overall approach and structure.
Table of Contents: List all chapters, along with any front matter (introductions/prefaces, etc.) and back matter (appendices/charts/references/sources lists/index, etc.). Annotate each chapter briefly.
Audience: Define your intended audience and explain why the book will appeal to them. Include well-defined groups of readers (e.g., members of particular professions or academic fields). List any relevant associations or societies and identify those to which you belong. If your book is primarily intended for students, please describe the courses that should adopt it.
Author Information: Give a brief rundown of your occupation, publications, and other accomplishments, such as awards. Summarize your areas of expertise and explain why you are qualified to write the book. In addition, please submit a full CV or resume.
Marketing Platform: Describe how your professional activities and contacts can help promotion of the book. If you give lectures or workshops, include a summary of your activities for the past year. If you have a blog or website, describe it and include a link. If you contribute to other blogs or websites, or have a well-developed social media network, please explain.
Competing/Comparable Titles: List any previously published titles that address the same subject as your book and indicate whether they are still in print. What about your proposed book is different, timely, and important in comparison to existing information on the topic? For course-adoption books, what is the primary benefit to an instructor in using your text rather than competing titles?
Production Considerations: Estimate when you plan to complete your manuscript. Estimate the manuscript’s word count and the number of photographs and other illustrations (maps, diagrams, graphs, etc.) that you plan to include. Please include sample images.
Course Materials: If your book is intended primarily for course use, please describe any ancillary material you would be willing to share (PowerPoint slides, sample syllabi, study questions, charts, graphs, pictures, videos).
Writing Samples: If you have already drafted book chapters, or have writing samples that are germane to your proposed subject, please include them with the proposal.
Submission: If you are submitting files larger than 2MB (high-resolution art samples for example), please send them via Dropbox, WeTransfer, or another file-sharing service.