Friday, April 18, 2008

To Propose or Not To Propose...

And when to do it?

Notorious posted something on this recently and Heu Mihi has also been posting about it. It's got me thinking (or, rather, stressing) about my book proposal and when to write and when to send it out. I know that I should read Germano's book (and it's on my early summer list of things to do), but for me I'm thinking about the timing.

A little background: my book project is significantly different from my dissertation - I do have the 3 core chapters but I'm changing the focus of those (with little revision, fortunately). I'm writing a completely new chapter and an intro/methodology chapter. Then there will be an epilogue and a baby intro to the book. At least this is what I foresee at the moment. The project has also changed focus even more recently. I've jettisoned a larger issue that I will be dealing with in the epilogue rather than trying to suture it into each of my chapters. I feel like this will make a cleaner and more tightly argued book.

Okay. I've been having this conversation with a colleague of mine recently who is very close to getting a contract with a good press (she's in her 4th year on the t-t). I was saying that I think I need to have a proposal ready to circulate *NOW* and I've had some anxiety about this. She noted the differences between a book prospectus that you write, revise, and tweak for the job market, fellowship applications, etc. AND the actual book proposal (with its attendant Table of Contents, representative chapters, section on competition, etc.) One of the things she suggested is that I send out my proposal to presses when I'm only about 1-2 months away from being able to circulate the manuscript as a whole (or damn close to it). She said, if it's going to take you a year to get them the whole thing, things could change, editors sometimes leave, other similar books get published in the intervening time, etc. This makes sense to me - it's not like I will not write up and revise a prospectus in order to have a sense of the larger project as it morphs, but I feel like sending out an official proposal now would mean that if I got any nibbles, I'd have to wait a fairly long time before I could send them the whole thing to review. My goal is to have this ready by next summer (this might change once I see how much work I get done *this* summer). That would mean that the proposal would be ready to circulate in a year with the full manuscript not far behind. It would be at the first semester of my 3rd yr on the t-t.

So, I ask, what do you all think? I know that (just as there are many roads to Rome) there are many roads to monograph publication, but I'm interested in hearing about other experiences and other rationales. I feel like this one is good for me considering how much the project has changed from the dissertation, but I would really love as much feedback as I can get!

11 comments:

Belle said...

Boy, am I going to be watching the comments on this one!

Hilaire said...

Yeah, me too!! :)

Thoroughly Educated said...

Your friend's advice to wait till you're close to having a complete ms to send out jibes with what I've been told, and with Germano's advice. But I, too, am looking forward to hearing other people's experiences.

Susan said...

I think I more or less agree with your friend. If you do a proposal now, what you might do is find an editor who you know will want the book when you've finished. I sent out a proposal fairly early when working on my second book (I had three of five substantive chapters drafted) and was essentially told, this looks really interesting, we'd love to read the ms. So if you do a proposal now, do it (a) because it's helpful to you or (b) to begin to establish relationships with potential presses. But you won't get a contract without a full ms., I don't think.

Now it may make a difference that my second book was very different from my first; on the other hand my first was, after 15 years, still in print and selling when I first contacted the press.

squadratomagico said...

I think your colleague's advice is sound; that's pretty much what I did. I was about two months away from having the whole ms. when I sent out prospectuses and a sample chapter to three different presses. Press 1 never acknowledged the mailing at all; Press 2 immediately responded and said they were interested, and sent the sample chapter out to readers for review; Press 3 immediately responded and asked for the entire manuscript, as well as suggesting a series. Two months later, I followed up with P3, withdrew from P2, and had no need to respond to P1.

It's important to work with a press and editor that is responsive and timely. This, plus the series, was a big factor in my choice: P3 always answered my emails, and we got through the review process of the entire ms in ten weeks. P2 was responsive at first, but by the time I had to make a choice, two months later, they had become very disorganized. P1 just wasn't interested.

Belle said...

Okay, another question to add to the mix. When you send out a proposal, can/should you send it to more than one press at a time? I've had conflicting advice.

Pilgrim/Heretic said...

Good question. I sent out proposals when I was about two months away from having the thing completely done (and when I could offer a choice of two or three chapters as polished examples). That cut it a little close in terms of my tenure clock, but it worked out well. I think it wouldn't hurt to send out some feelers earlier, but maybe not this early; it can take some time to get a response, and most presses won't review it concurrently with any other press, so you need some time to play with. I'd say send out proposals as soon as you have a very good idea of when you'll be done with the whole thing and what it will look like (kind of like not applying for jobs when you're ABD until you have a guaranteed defense date).

Either way, I'm excited for you - good luck!

Pilgrim/Heretic said...

In answer to Belle - I'd say send the initial proposal out to several presses, to see who's interested. Once you get nibbles, though, you can usually only send the MS to one place at a time.

Word of warning - the first press that expressed an interest in mine held onto it for six months, during the last of which they did not respond in any way to my queries about what the heck they were doing with it, and then they finally said that due to economic difficulties they were cutting off several series, including the one in which they'd planned to place mine. Thanks for the GIANT CHUNK OF WASTED TIME, guys.

That's not meant to spook you, but to suggest that you do deserve timely updates when you send out a MS; that was my first time around, and I really didn't know how much to press them for more information.

medieval woman said...

Thanks for all the advice, folkses! I'm glad that the timeline I sketched seems reasonable - and P/H, the same thing (chunk of wasted time) happened to my colleague who gave me this advice. It was the biggest press for our field, so of course she left it there for a while, but they ended up passing and she had to scramble. Belle, you can absolutely send your prospectus and (I've heard) if part of the initial proposal requirements for a specific press includes 1-2 sample chapters, those can *also* be reviewed simultaneously. However, for the entire enchilada (i.e., MS), it's one press at a time. So, if you have 2 presses interested in seeing the whole thing, then you need to prioritize the presses.

Thanks for all your input and I'm looking forward to hearing more!

squadratomagico said...

I've recently heard some people begin to say that one should not deal with multiple presses even at the most preliminary stage of sending in a prospectus. I think that's bunk. It makes sense not to double-deal when submitting the actual ms, but when seeking an initial expression of interest?? Some presses/editors are awfully disorganized -- in some cases, it could take months just to get a response to your prospectus. If you then have to start over, you are adding considerably to your time line.

For instance, P2 (see my comment above) contacted me again 5 months later, after I already had sent them a withdrawal note (which they apparently did not process), and after my ms. already had been fully reviewed and accepted by P3. The editor explained that the reviews for my sample chapter had come back some time ago, but had gotten buried under other papers on his desk (yes, he literally told me this). He had just found them and was now ready to move forward -- could I send him the entire ms please?

Susan said...

For what it's worth, *if you are honest* you can continue with two presses and the full ms. It only makes sense if there are two pretty strong presses (you don't want to mess with your "safety" this way) but it's possible.
All you need to do is to say, I am considering a number of presses at this point. It's a way of claiming a certain amount of power/control in the process.