The Professional Leader
Business Expert Press authors have diverse backgrounds–educators, executives, entrepreneurs, expert consultants—but are alike in their desire to contribute to their fields and disseminate their vision with others who share their interests. We publish in core business subjects that you can find here. If you feel you have a book idea that will fit into our program, we would love to hear from you. Below is our proposal outline, as well as a contact for sending it in. We look forward to hearing about your idea!
Book Proposal Requirements
Book Description
Please begin with description of your book. Your description should state what the subject is; who the audience is, why your topic is important and how the reader will benefit (think back cover marketing copy). This should not exceed half a page. If you find yourself deliberating about whether your description should offer sizzle or substance, we strongly encourage the latter. Most important is your statement of what the book is intended to do, how it will do it, and how the reader will benefit from it.
Book Title
Here’s a brief word about titles. You may be inclined to use one that is catchy, thought provoking, couched in a challenge or reliant on superlatives. We are not against catchy titles—but their catchiness must not interfere with their descriptiveness. The importance of a book’s title cannot be stressed too strongly. Its purpose is two-fold: first, it is meant to describe the content of the book clearly and accurately. Second, it needs to lend itself to web searches by including words that are key to its subject and likely to be used by prospective buyers who are browsing the internet in search of content that your book provides.
When devising a title, we strongly suggest following Amazon’s guidelines. Their research indicates that the most successful books sold on their site have titles of no more than four words and (if one is required) subtitles of no more than seven words. Further research indicates that the shorter the title, the more likely the potential purchaser will be to remember it.
Key Word Sampling
Include under its own heading a sampling of key words, or key phrases, that are related to or that you anticipate will appear in your book. This list need not be exhaustive—between a half dozen and a dozen words is probably sufficient—but it should include only those words that are generally associated with the subject of your book and which are likely to be used by interested readers or researchers seeking information on the subject that your book covers.
Author Biography
Prepare a half page or less on your unique preparation to author on this topic. Specifically, highlight key accomplishments in your academic and professional career that qualify you as an expert authority on this subject.
Related Books
Please list two or three currently published books dealing with the same general subject area as your book. Such books need not necessarily compete directly with your book nor do they need to compare in terms of length or style; but they should be related to your book in some way. Please list the last name of the author, the title of the book and the publisher, and the price of the book as it is currently listed on Amazon or the publisher’s website.
Manuscript Delivery Date
Please provide a prospective submission date. Keep in mind we understand you are busy; consequently, we prefer a realistic timeline rather than an overly ambitious submission date.
Table of Contents
Please provide a proposed outline or table-of-contents. We will need more than just chapter titles; instead, we’d like you to add sub-heads for each chapter, down to the third level if necessary. If you have not yet plotted out the specific subheads for each chapter, please offer a short paragraph under each chapter heading, summarizing what will be included in the chapter and why.
Ancillaries
Do you plan on creating any ancillaries for the reader (e.g. PowerPoint Slides, topic videos, test questions, instructor notes, or additional examples not included in the book) that you would like us to use in support of your book once it is published? We do not require that you prepare any ancillaries with your book; however, if you have some or plan to create some we would be happy to offer them to adopters of your book by making them available online. If your book will be accompanied by ancillaries please list the items you plan to include. If no ancillaries will accompany the book simply say: “none”.
Page Length and Word Count Estimate
We want our books to remain concise, which is to say they should consist of no more than 65,000 words. Using our standard trim size, this works out to be 200 pages in length. Please offer an estimate of the word count or the manuscript page count you anticipate your book will have. (Regarding the latter, an easy rule of thumb is to figure that a standard chapter length is about 20 pages).
Intended Audience and Market
Provide the key audience for your book, including any course adoption potential, practitioner market potential, leads you might provide, and number of copies you might purchase.
- Key marketing handles for your book: In your opinion, what are the key features and benefits of your book that you believe Business Expert Press should highlight in marketing it? What segment of the audience for the book will be most receptive to these features, and why?
- Leads: In your proposal, please list key organizations, societies, or associations, with which you are either affiliated or whose members would represent potential buyers of your books. When providing this listing please include any relevant contact information for key representatives of these organizations. Do you have leads for bulk purchase sales? Leads for press contacts? Likewise, if you have specific leads of individuals that you’d like BEP to explore, please supply all names and email addresses of prospective customers in your proposal. The more information we have on our potential customer base, the more successful we can be.
- Media Outlets: Where are prospective readers for your book likely to shop for material on the subject you are writing about? Are there Blogs; Journals; Magazines; Online retailers; or industry-related websites that we should be aware of for possible ad placements? Any details you can provide us with that might be useful to utilize for the sales and promotion of your book, would be appreciated.
- Participation and collaboration: Are you active on social media? Are you routinely invited or do you have the opportunity to participate in panels or conferences related to the subject you write about in your book? Do you plan to deliver any Podcasts, YouTube presentations, or online interviews concerning the topic of your book? Please make note of any potential opportunities in your proposal and let us know how we can help and support these efforts.
Name and Contact Information
At the end of your proposal, please indicate your name, as you would like it to appear on your book and (if different) how it should appear on your publishing agreement. Include as well your contact information, both your brick-and-mortar address, your phone number and your email address. If you have more than one of each, please select the one that you prefer that BEP use for snail-mail and email.
Submit your book proposal by email to :
Scott Isenberg
Managing Executive Editor
[email protected]