You have a dissertation that you want to revise into a monograph. You have all the research finished to start writing a book. You have an idea that you think could be a bestseller. What should you present to an editor? How should it be organized? What do you need to know that you may not know you don't know?

Writing a strong book proposal is an essential part of the process of trying to get published. In this presentation, Rachel Toor, former acquisitions editor at Oxford and Duke University Presses, and columnist for The Chronicle of Higher Education, will discuss the components of what needs to go into a submission package for publishers (even if you have a compete manuscript).

Proposal Workshop

In this interactive workshop, we will explore the elements of the submission package by creating one; in other words, each person should come with an idea for a book, or having written a manuscript, and we will work on how to craft a proposal, both by brainstorming and working alone (though in company).

Each participant should bring a laptop for this working session, and plan to leave well on the way to having a submission package, or at least, knowing exactly what remains to be done.

Sponsored by the Teaching Resource Center's Professors As Writers Program

Rachel Toor, Ph.D. was an acquisitions editor at Oxford and Duke University Presses for a dozen years. She currently teaches creative writing in Eastern Washington University's MFA program and is on the faculty of Pacific University's low-residency MFA program. A cum laude graduate of Yale University, with an MFA from the University of Montana, she is the author of three books (Admissions Confidential: An Insider's Account of the Elite College Selection Process, The Pig and I, and Personal Record: A Love Affair with Running) and writes a monthly column on issues in writing and publishing for The Chronicle of Higher Education. Her work has appeared in Inside Higher Ed, Glamour, Ploughshares, The LA Times, The Journal of the American Medical Association, Running Times, Marathon&Beyond and Runner's World among other publications.