The Charles Press, Publishers
Manuscript Submission Guidelines
We are always looking for new books to publish and welcome proposals from prospective authors. Please make sure that the subject of your book is appropriate for us. We concentrate primarily on medicine, allied health and psychology but if you have written a book that falls outside of these areas and the idea is good enough, we may consider it. We do not publish fiction, poetry, children's books, short stories, science fiction, romance or humor so please do not waste your time and energy (or ours) sending proposals for books in these areas.
The Book Proposal
The purpose of a book proposal is to sell your book to a publisher. A proposal can make or break your chances for getting published so it is well worth it to take the time to write a good one. Even if you have written an excellent book, if you can't concisely and effectively explain what you have written and why it is worth publishing, your chances of eliciting interest from a publisher are greatly diminished. Moreover, in our publishing house, a poorly written proposal, particularly one with spelling and grammatical mistakes, almost guarantees a rejection; if you demonstrate an inability to write an short error-free proposal, chances are good that we will not want to pursue your book. There are many books that offer detailed instructions on how to do write an effective proposal.
Your proposal should not be more than 10 pages. Include a table of contents and at least two sample chapters (not included in the 10-page limit). You may want to consider including the following elements in your proposal:
Description and Approach: What is your book about? What do you address and how do you do it?
Purpose and Rationale: Why did you write the book? Why is a book like this needed? Consider the publisher's point of view—why it is worth publishing?—and the audience's point of view—why is it worth reading?
Audience: Who will read this book and why? A little research on your audience goes a long way, for you as the author trying to sell your book to a publisher and also for the publisher trying to determine whether your book is a worthwhile project.
Competition: What other books are similar in subject and scope? In addition to giving the author, title, publisher, year of publication, price and number of pages, you should also indicate the limitations or weaknesses of the competing books relative to your book. Why is your book better than others on the same topic? You may have to do a little research here, but it a most important aspect of your proposal.
Marketing: Many authors don't realize the importance of providing marketing suggestions and ideas when trying to sell a manuscript to a publisher. This does not mean traditional methods of selling books (bookstores, distributors, etc.) but special sales that will allow us to reach your particular reader. Presumably you are the expert in your particular subject, so perhaps you have some inside information about reaching your audience. Good marketingsuggestions can be a most important element of a good book proposal, so give it some thought!
Personal Background: Why are you qualified to write the book? What is your experience and background in this subject? Will your background be a selling point for the book? Send a current resume or curriculum vitae with your proposal and a list of your previous publications and organizational memberships (if any).
If we are interested in your book proposal, we will ask you to supply us with a hard copy of the manuscript for review by our editorial and marketing departments. The review of a book proposal usually takes anywhere from 7 to 8 weeks (sometimes longer) and the evaluation of a manuscript (which sometimes involves a report by an outside reader) can take an additional 4 to 8 weeks. If you want your submission returned to you, please include a stamped, self-addressed envelope.