![]() The key principle to abide by is that all the material in the chapter should logically support the driving argument of that chapter and the story that chapter is trying to tell. I’ve worked with authors who wrote successful book chapters that were closer to 14,000 words or even longer. Editors and writing advice books give varying recommendations, usually somewhere from 8,000 words to 12,000 words. There is no set length for a chapter of an academic monograph. In other words, your choice of sample chapters is not going to tank your submission. If an editor is excited about your project but feels they need to see an intro before moving forward, they’ll let you know that. But if you don’t have the intro written and would rather send two body chapters, that’s probably fine too. If the submission guidelines say to send two or more sample chapters, then an intro plus body chapter is a good combo. If you don’t feel you can ask the editor, I personally think it’s safer to choose a body chapter over an introduction, because it is likely more representative of what the book as a whole will look like and will be more useful to get peer reviewer feedback on. If you are already in contact with an editor, this is definitely a reasonable question to ask them (you won’t seem uninformed for not knowing the answer). Some will say that they always want to see the introduction others will say that the introduction is likely redundant with the book proposal and thus isn’t that useful. If the publisher’s instructions don’t specify introduction versus body chapter, which is preferable?Įditors’ preferences on this vary. You may need to go through peer review again with the full manuscript in order to get a commitment from the publisher. You also want the chapter to stand strongly enough on its own that editors and peer reviewers won’t say, “I can’t comment on whether this will work as a book until I see the whole thing.” If they do say that, it’s not the end of the world, but it could delay the publisher wanting to move forward with an advance contract. The sample chapter may be shown to peer reviewers, so you want the feedback they give you on the chapter to reflect the kind of feedback you might get on the book as a whole. ![]() Send the chapter(s) that best represent the manuscript you intend to write in terms of the style you write in, the types of evidence you are analyzing, and the argument you are making. If a publisher asks for sample chapter(s) with a proposal submission, which chapter(s) are best to send? Here are some frequently asked questions about sample chapters: The sample chapters must impress the editor and peer reviewers on all those points. The peer reviewers will evaluate the proposal and the sample chapter(s) and write a report for the publisher with their opinions on whether they think the author is qualified to write the full book, whether the book’s argument and evidence seem intellectually sound, and whether the material will be appealing to readers. If the editor wants to move toward offering an advance contract, they will most likely need to discuss the project with their colleagues at the press and possibly get peer reviewers to endorse the submitted materials. In some cases, if the proposal and sample chapters seem particularly promising to an editor, they may want to put the book under contract before the author completes the entire manuscript (this is called an advance contract.) Sample chapters are materials that editors use to decide whether they see promise in a project and want to see more. One of the most common types of questions authors ask me is about sample chapters.
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