How to pitch your book proposal to a publisher

Jean Lukesh (Ed.D., Teaching, Curriculum, and Instruction), author of the award-winning history textbook, The Nebraska Adventure, says she learned how to pitch a textbook proposal by attending the Denver University Publishing Institute (DUPI), from pitching her own multi-award-winning textbook to a publisher, and from doing a bit of publishing for others. She shares what she has learned:

Do your research: Find a textbook publisher (by looking online, in school catalogs, on school shelves, at teacher references, in writers’ market/resources, etc.) who publishes textbooks that best match your educational philosophy and your chosen layout or style. "Start first with the ONE publisher who matches you and your book best," she says. "Go to others, one at a time, if you need to do so."

Know and define your audience:

1. The general audience for the textbook--the students who will be using the book (age, grade, socio-economic status, reading level/ability, reading interests, area/state, etc.; also any other potential students/grades that might be a secondary market). "You need to know this for yourself and need to define this for the publisher," she says.
   
   
2. The general buying audience for the textbook--the school teachers, administrators, curriculum directors, districts (in other words, those general individuals or institutions who will be making the decision to buy the textbook and who may be teaching from it--What are they looking for? How can this book help them? When do they usually buy? To what educational philosophy and methods do they subscribe? Why would they want to use this book instead of other texts?). "You need to know this for yourself and need to define this for the publisher, to let them know that you have done your homework and that you know what you are talking about, as well as that there is a market for the book," she says.
   
   
3. The publishing company--this includes the company, the publisher (the actual publishing person), and/or the acquisition editor, who may be publishing the textbook, as well as the layout, style, format, philosophy, mission, etc. of the company. "You need to know this for your pitch," she says. "You do not need to know everyone's name, but you should know the top ones (if possible), what the publisher and editors do, and should know as much about the company and what they produce as possible, so that you are not trying to sell apples to an orange juice vendor."
   

Sell your book idea:

1. Make a list of why your textbook is needed (Were the other ones outdated? out of print? unavailable? non-existent? no longer appropriate for current reading/teaching styles? etc.).
   
   
2. Make a list of why yours is different (or better) than all the others, such as reading/comprehension level ("Most textbooks are difficult to read even when they are on the right reading level, because of the content language and specialized vocabulary," she says.) and writing style ("For example, I have found vignettes are great elements to use in textbooks to hook readers; and sidebar stories or allusions allow diverse or tangential thinking and teaching," she says. "They also encourage interest and motivate learners to think in different directions."), special features (for example, occasional margin notes and color codings call special attention to important details; glossaries and indexes give quick reference to important terms and sections; etc.), organization (chronological? hierarchical? why was the particular organization chosen?), etc.

Sell yourself: Make a list of why YOU are the best person to write this book. This should definitely include but not be limited to your credentials. Also include your work experiences and tell what experiences led you to see the need for this textbook? What thinking or teaching methods are you employing in the textbook and why? What does the research and/or what do other teachers (and even students) say about how those methods seem to be working? What extensions to learning can this book make or employ?

Sell the publisher: Make a list of why you and the publisher are a good match--educational philosophy, selected format, etc. If you aren't a good match, what, if anything, would you be willing to change?

Check out the competition: Create a fairly complete and annotated bibliography of the competition for your textbook and tell why you think each of those materials listed is lacking in some way. "Be objective, scientific, and tactful here--this is not a place to try to denigrate or destroy other authors' or publishers' reputations or materials--and you never know who knows who,” she says. "Besides, some textbooks that were once considered great may now just be outdated or may not conform to current thought or teaching methods; some may still be good books for supplementing your textbook."

Diversify: Brainstorm other supplemental materials that might be developed for use with your textbook (teachers' guides, workbooks, maps, reproducibles, etc.) and other ways that the book might be used (curriculum integration/ across curriculum use; with diverse learning styles or tangential learning; at various reading or educational levels; etc.).

"These are only ideas to consider, and there are no guarantees with anything," says Lukesh. "I just find that using these kinds of touchpoints helps me narrow down what I am doing, who I am writing for, and who I am marketing to--and that all helps me sell the book to a prospective publisher--and also to the final audience."