What Information You Need For Your Book Proposal

If you’re thinking of publishing your book as open access with MDPI Books, it’s important to get your book proposal right. A proposal is a great way to really communicate the structure and potential academic influence of your book project. Here, we outline the key information you need to provide in your initial proposal.

First step: tell us about your book project

After you’ve filled in your personal details on our “Submit a Book Proposal” page, you’ll be taken to a new window where you’ll be asked to provide the proposed title of your book as well as the topic and approach of your project.

Topic and approach

Your described topic and approach should state the object of the research, any methods used, and summarise the key findings and conclusions that can be drawn from your project.

A helpful suggestion is to spend around 2 sentences outlining the general problem that your book is addressing and introducing your hypothesis as well as how it makes a significant and relevant contribution to your area of study. You can then devote another 1 or 2 sentences to describing your methods, and 2 or 3 sentences to report on the most significant results and implications for your area of study. Your final sentence acts as a concluding statement on your research outcomes.

Remember: concision is your friend. Try and keep your summary between 200–250 words. This will help you communicate your topic and approach clearly and effectively.

Proposal assessment

Once submitted, one of our Commissioning Editors will then assess your book proposal. If all the necessary information has been provided and your proposal demonstrates potential, you’ll then be asked to provide more information in a book proposal form.

Second step: book proposal form

The book proposal form is where you can go into more detail about the specifics of your book.

Fill in the necessary author information and your abstract/topic and approach again. (If this has been developed since the initial proposal statement, this is your opportunity to provide the updated version). Below are some of the other specifications you’ll be asked to provide.

Rationale

You will be asked to provide the rationale for your book, which includes a description of your target audience, the existing literature, and your book’s novelty within this context. These components of your book are extremely important to consider.

No book is published in a vacuum. You must demonstrate how your book is in dialogue with previous research and builds upon or advances existing knowledge. In thinking about your target audience, you’re also ensuring that your research will reach relevant researchers and scholars, increasing its impact within academic communities.

Figures and references

Provide the number of figures/photos/tables in your book. If the figures are not in high resolution and quality, they will require redrawing.

You can also state here whether an index is required for your book. An index is an alphabetical list of all the key topics in the book and the pages where they can be found. You may provide the index yourself if you wish.

Outline of chapters

A brief description of the number of chapters and their content is required. This is just to give us an idea of the entire structure of your book, including the development of its argument.

Referees

You are required to give suggestions of potential referees with detailed contact information. They must have appropriate expertise (3 topic-relevant publications in the last 5 years) in order to review the manuscript(s).

Please note that MDPI may choose not to approach these referees.

Submission/publication history

Please provide detailed information on whether the content of the proposed book, or part of it, has been submitted or published elsewhere.

If another publisher has rejected it, please state the issues raised and how you addressed them.

 

Once completed, you may submit the book proposal form. We’ll then assess your answers and get in touch once we’ve made a decision on your book proposal.

Interested in learning more about what happens if your book proposal is accepted? Check out our guide on the steps involved in taking your scholarly book from submission to publication with MDPI Books.