Manuscript guidelines for poetry submissions--including chapbooks

• Use a separate cover sheet for your name, mailing address, telephone number, and email address. 
• Center your book title and byline about halfway down the page. 
• Include your last name and page number in the top right margin (header) of the first and each subsequent manuscript page.
• Include a table of contents. 
• Begin each poem on a new page, single-spaced with double spacing between stanzas.
• Leave at least a 1-inch margin on all sides of the page.

Note: We consider chapbooks to be at least 15 pages (of text) and at most 40 pages long. Longer works we consider to be full-length book manuscripts. 

If the manuscript is accepted, authors will receive a standard publishing contract, with royalties, and a number of author copies (no charge).

Book Proposal Guidelines

I. Overview/Hook and pitch.

Describe your book in two or three paragraphs (500 words or less). What is the title and subtitle? Who is the target audience and what makes your book unique and worthwhile for them? Think of this as the copy that would go on the back cover of your book or in the publisher’s catalog, or as the brief review that you hope to see in Publishers Weekly or the NY Times Book Review.

II. Target Audiences

Who is your core audience, the most likely purchasers of this book? How big is that market, and how can they best be reached? What other groups and types of readers will also be interested? This might be a general category, like “young adult readers” or “readers interested in WWII fiction.” But it’s important to recognize who your audience is.

III. About the Author

Your credentials and experience. What makes you uniquely qualified to write and promote this book? What other media outlets do you regularly appear in? Please include information about previously published books, social media stats, website or blog link, connections with other authors or important literary figures.

IV. Comparable Titles

List and summarize the major comparable titles and explain why yours is different from each. You are trying to accomplish two things with this section: prove there is an audience who would find your book interesting, as demonstrated by earlier, successful books while making clear how yours is different enough to compel those readers – and others – to buy it. These are books that are similar to but different than yours and act as great reference points for both the editor and the sales or marketing team. *Hint: It’s great to use bestselling books as your comps, but make sure the connection between your book and the bestseller is honest and accurate. Also, avoid comparing yourself to someone hugely famous, like Lee Child or J.K. Rowling, as that can sound like a stretch.

V. Marketing and Promotion

What is your comprehensive plan to actively promote the book? Where should publicity be focused? What are the magazines and other media outlets that your target audience pays attention to? Where should you and your publisher work especially hard to get the book reviewed? It’s hugely helpful to know if an author has connections within a group of librarians or booksellers, if they can get a spot on a radio program, or if they have a newsletter with a nice subscriber base.

Blurbs:

What “name” people would be willing to contribute a blurb? Can you get their commitment before the manuscript is completed?

Media and Speaking Appearances:

Does this book or your prior experience give you credentials to speak on any current topics in the media? What are the topics and target outlets? Beyond book stores, what other types of groups and organizations would be interested in having you speak to them?

Serialization:

What parts of your book lend themselves to excerpting in magazines and journals? List the appropriate excerpts and the 5 or 10 most important publications in which they could appear?

Describe additional promotional opportunities you will pursue:

Retaining a speakers bureau to book speaking opportunities. Retaining an independent publicist. Organizational connections? Mailing lists? Workshops? Tours? Does the book have series potential? Opportunities for regular updating? Other “legs”? Think creatively, think big.

VI. One-page synopsis.

They’re a pain to write and full of spoilers, but synopses are so, so helpful. They help editors see the arc of your manuscript and get an immediate sense of the story before diving into the text. They also help authors practice being concise and plot-oriented when summing up a novel.

VII. Sample Chapters

Include the first one or two chapters – not the introduction, but sample chapters that offer an accurate sense of the style, substance, and structure of the book.

VIII. Detailed Table of Contents (If complete)

Include the full Table of Contents, with detailed summaries of each chapter. This section could be anywhere from three to 20 pages – it needs to give a comprehensive, detailed map of what the book will contain.

If the proposal is accepted, authors will receive a standard publishing contract, with royalties, and a number of author copies (no charge).

Want to know more about creating a fiction book proposal? Check out the links below:

(Adapted from https://editorsays.com/2016/10/25/how-to-write-a-fiction-book-proposal/ and https://www.twliterary.com/bookproposal/.)

http://literary-agents.com/get-a-literary-agent/fiction-book-proposal/

http://www.rachellegardner.com/how-to-write-a-book-proposal/

https://janefriedman.com/start-here-how-to-write-a-book-proposal/