To help us decide whether your manuscript which you are preparing is suitable for our publication programme we ask that you prepare a book proposal. You can expect our reaction to your book proposal within about one month.

POINTS TO COVER IN YOUR BOOK PROPOSAL

Description

A brief explanation, no more than a page in length, describing the book's main arguments, theoretical grounding, and most important contribution to the development of the academic field. You should also point out, unless it is clearly obvious, which subject area(s) the book relates to.

Contents of the book

The most useful way to set out this information is as a table of contents, if possible with an indication of the approximate length of each chapter - and even better if you can include a short paragraph to set out the expected contents of each chapter.

Practical details

It will be very helpful if you can tell us, or give us your best estimate of

• the length of the manuscript (number of words rather than pages)
• the number and type of tables
• the number and format of maps
• the number of images, and whether any of these must be printed in colour

Current state of the manuscript

Is the manuscript essentially finished, is it a work in progress, or is it still at the planning stage? Please also indicate how long you expect it will take you to produce a manuscript ready for peer review.

Competition

We need to know what the competition is for your book, and what sets it apart from those already available. It would be very useful if you could pick out a few recent books in your field and explain how your book adds to or improves on the research presented.

Audience

What is the intended audience for your book, in terms of academic level and academic field? Are you writing for your colleagues, for post-graduate students, or do you intend your book to be an undergraduate text? Might it even appeal to the educated lay person? Is it aimed at your immediate colleagues in Departments of XYZ across the world, or will it also be of interest to neighbouring academic fields or to academics working on other parts of the world?

Funding

Did you already explore the possibility of getting a publishing grant for your book by either an academic institution or another organisation? If so, please inform us about this.

Author background

What qualifies you to write this particular book? We are not asking for your full CV, but a rundown of the most salient points, and information on any other books you have published. If your book proposal is for an edited volume, please include a brief version of this information for each contributor.

Sample chapter

A sample chapter will show us your writing style and help us see how much editorial input is necessary. If the manuscript is uniformly wonderful, then send us the introduction, but if you have a favourite chapter, send us that instead. However, please do not send the full manuscript with your book proposal.

To see details about the books that have already been published in the IIAS / ICAS publication programme, visit the publications section of our website

Please do not hesitate to contact the publications officer in case you have any further questions:

Ms Martina van den Haak. By e-mail at m.c.van.den.haak@iias.nl; by phone on +(0)31 71 527 3317; by post at IIAS,  P.O. Box 9500, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands