Writing for NAEA

NAEA-Routledge Book Proposal Submissions

NAEA has partnered with Routledge for the publication of books to advance visual arts education perspectives for the education community.

NAEA–Routledge Book Proposal & Submission Guidelines

What to consider before submitting your book proposal:

Please review the following questions prior to submitting your book proposal for potential co-publication by NAEA and Routledge:

  • Does your book idea have a unique selling point or an angle on the topic that is new, interesting, innovative, and/or compelling?
  • Is there a clear demand for your book from an art academic or art education professional audience, and what is it about your book idea that specific readers might want and/or need to read?
  • Is the scope of your book’s concept broad enough to be of interest to readers on a global scale?
  • What makes you the best person to write this book? What is it about your experience, research, and background that makes you an expert?

The following guidelines are designed to help you prepare your proposal, so it successfully provides the information required to assess the viability of your work as a book. Please note that anything you provide to NAEA may be sent to reviewers as part of the review process (including your CV), so please indicate any personal information you would like removed prior to the review.

What are we looking for from an author and book?

About you

Are you an active member of the community for which you are writing?

You don’t need to have previously published a book, but we do expect you to have publishing credits from articles, papers in journals, or recent relevant publications.

Who are you working with?

Co-authors (or co-editors) can bring a variety of perspectives to a project and lessen the individual workload. We recommend a team of up to three people who work well together and possess complimentary expertise.

We welcome proposals for cohesive edited collections with a strong theme and consistent quality through all chapters. We aim to reflect an even gender balance and a diversity of racial, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds across all contributors wherever possible.

Will you be available to write, submit, and support production of your book?

The book publishing process is often slow and lengthy. Writing and finishing your manuscript is time-consuming, but it is only the beginning. Revisions are often required in several phases, so please be prepared to be patient and open with your work throughout the process.

Please note that upon submitting your proposal package for publishing consideration under the NAEA-Routledge co-publishing partnership, there will be a waiting period of 12 –14 weeks between the time your proposal is submitted to when you are notified of formal acceptance for publication. Upon receiving your proposal package, the NAEA Publications Manager will check to ensure all submission materials are present and correct. Please be prepared to answer queries and have your manuscript returned for revisions during this time, if needed. The more prepared you and your manuscript are, the quicker and easier this period will be, so please follow our author manuscript preparation and submission guidelines below to ensure you and your manuscript are ready to move forward.

Preparing your book proposal

The proposal you submit for consideration under the NAEA-Routledge Co-publishing Partnership will be the basis on which we judge the book’s suitability for publication. It will be reviewed by specialists in your field. It therefore needs to be organized in such a way that the reviewer is given the correct amount of information on which to judge the quality of your work.

The following guidelines are designed to help you prepare your proposal, and your cooperation in following our recommendations will ease our task of evaluation and aid you in reaching your objectives.

We suggest your proposal be 8–10 pages in length. You should also supply sample material, if possible, a CV for the lead author(s), and brief biographies and affiliations for all contributors.

1. Blurb

Please write a brief blurb (approx. 150-200 words) which would effectively describe your book to an interested reader who may not have a background in the discipline. This is a useful tool in evaluating a book proposal because it gives a good snapshot of the ease at which you are able to present your ideas to a non-specialist audience.

2. Statement of Aims

Briefly, what is your book about? What are its main themes and objectives? What are you doing differently, or in a more innovative way, or better than existing books? You can expand upon these brief statements later.

3. Table of Contents

Please provide a simple (at-a-glance) table of contents including chapter headings and contributor names where appropriate.

4. Annotated Table of Contents/Chapter Synopses

  • Please list working chapter headings and provide a short paragraph of explanation on what you (or your contributor) intend to cover in each chapter. This may be all the reviewer has to go on, so please provide a good indication of the proposed content—a list of chapter headings alone is not enough.

  • If sample chapters, or a draft manuscript are available, please send this material separately via email or let us know when they will be available.

5. Length and Schedule

  • What is the estimated length (number of words) of your book at this stage? Does this include references and endnotes? (Note: The reference list for each chapter should be placed at the end of each chapter.)
  • Approximately how many tables, diagrams, or illustrations do you plan to include in the book?
  • Do you plan to include any material from published, copyrighted sources for which permission to reprint will be needed (e.g., text that exceeds “fair use” limits, graphic images, tables and figures, poetry or song lyrics)? About how much of this sort of material do you expect to use?
  • Will the book include material that is not published/copyrighted but for which releases will be required (e.g., interview data, transcripts, case studies, and the like, in which research participants are quoted verbatim and/or identified; artwork or poetry that is not created by the author(s)/editor(s), etc)?
  • What portion of the material is now complete?
  • At this stage, when do you realistically anticipate being ready to deliver the final manuscript?

6. Definition of the Market

  • To which subject areas do you think this proposal/manuscript would principally appeal? At whom is your book primarily aimed? Who will buy it? Who will read it? Are there any secondary audiences who might be interested in this book?

  • Is it aimed at a professional, undergraduate, or postgraduate student audience? Does the book assume a fair amount of prior (specialist) knowledge, or does it introduce the topic?

  • Please list a few courses where this book might be used or adopted

  • Is the subject area of the proposal widely taught or researched? Is it a new or trending area?

  • Would this subject have international appeal? If so, where, and why?

  • What keywords would you use to describe your book? Please list 5–10 keywords, terms, or buzzwords that are associated with the subject of your book.

7. Competition

It is important that you are aware of your book’s place in the existing literature and are familiar with competition to your proposed book. Please list books here which are either directly in competition with your book or else could be related in some way to your own proposed volume. Please list the following details: author, publication date, title, publisher, and price–along with a brief explanation of the ways in which your proposed book will improve upon or be different to the competing/related title.

8. Related Titles

Which, if any, books are related and/or competitive? How is your book similar to and different from each of these books?

9. Your Qualifications

Why are you the right author(s)/editor(s) for this project?

10. Product Category

  • Do you anticipate the book being required, recommended, or supplementary reading on any academic courses? If so, at what level?
  • Is it a relatively specialist/high-level scholarly volume?
  • Are there any stipulations by your funding body or institution that require any of this material to be published Open Access?

11. Marketing Leads

In academic publishing, it can be vital to begin publicizing and marketing a book at an early stage—we would appreciate your input to the following questions which may prove helpful in evaluating the commercial viability of your proposed book:

a) Key selling points:

  • Please list at least three brief selling points that would make your book appealing to its intended audience.

b) Societies and Organizations:

  • Do you belong to any societies, associations or organizations that could be used for promotional purposes? Please provide a list.
  • Would any of these societies or organizations be interested in purchasing a bulk number of copies of the book at a discount?
  • Is the work reported in the book the outcome of any funded project? Can you suggest any institutional support for discounted bulk purchases of the book or for assisting in marketing the book?

c) Journals:

  • One key promotional tactic is to send review copies to relevant journals. Please list in order of importance the top five or ten key journals whose readership you think would find your book most interesting and would be likely to either purchase a copy.

d) Conferences:

  • Routledge are represented at many academic conferences. Please give details of conferences or professional meetings at which it would be useful to advertise your book.

12. Reviewers

We will select appropriate reviewers of our own choice, but we will consider inviting reviews from individuals whose opinion you feel will be particularly valuable. Please feel free to make suggestions. If the book has several distinct markets, try to recommend at least one reviewer for each.

We aim to reflect cultural diversity and an even gender balance in our reviewers and commission reviews that truly represent the communities we reach—please consider this when making reviewer suggestions.

Click here to download the proposal guidelines and checklist. For additional tips on how to write a successful book proposal, click here to download a helpful resource guide.

Preparing your manuscript and images for submission

Manuscript size: Total word count for your manuscript should be in the 75,000–130,000 range. (A count over this may result in a longer production schedule or request to re-edit.)

Format your files in Microsoft Word with the following specifications:

  • 1” margins on all sides.
  • 1.5 line or double spacing.
  • 12 point Times New Roman font.
  • Use bold and italic as needed.
  • Italicize titles of books and paintings, but not names of exhibitions.
  • Titles of articles used within the manuscript should be placed in quotation marks.
  • Format text as necessary for design instruction, i.e., bulleted lists or indented quotes.
  • Do not use hyphens, tabs, or extra spaces as indents, or to force line breaks.
  • Use Word formatting as necessary.
  • Place footnotes as endnotes at end of chapter/section.
  • References should be flush left, separated by a line space or formatted space. Do not use tabs or
  • spaces to create indents or forced line endings.
  • Use APA Style, 7th Edition. Section or paragraph headings should follow the five-level hierarchy indicated by APA. Do not begin with the heading ‘Introduction.’
  • Important—all text citations must be listed in references and must match references. Be sure spelling and dates of publication are consistent and correct within both.

Images and figures:

  • Include all images, figures, tables, and other graphics as separate files. Do not place final images into a Word file or save as pdfs.
  • Use “Insert photo 1 here” or “table 1 here” or “Figure 1.1” to indicate placement within text or place a low-resolution version of the image. (Please note, if you are placing a low-resolution file in the document as a placeholder, the high-resolution files must also be submitted separately.)
  • Include captions in the text or in a separate Word file accompanying the images.
  • Include permission/releases for all images, including any required wording for captions.
  • Images, image permissions, and caption files should be in folders by author name.
  • If images are not of high print quality, please do not include them.
  • All submitted images, figures, or other graphics should be at least 1300 pixels wide and 300 dpi. Anything smaller than this will not be accepted.
  • We accept JPEG, TIF, or EPS graphic files. Please do not send PowerPoint files or Word documents with embedded photos (unless to indicate photo placement).

Submission Process

Name and organize your files.

  • Each manuscript element should be submitted in an individual file. Every chapter, section, or other text file (including the introduction and conclusion) should be a separate .doc or .docx Microsoft Word document. Each figure should be submitted in a separate file in its original format, unless created in Word. Editable Tables should be embedded within chapter files.
  • Name and number chapters consecutively and consistently so their order in the manuscript file folder reflects their planned order in the book and your table of contents (this will help you spot any holes or duplicates).
  • Name artwork files by their figure (or other type) number, exactly as presented in callouts and captions (i.e., to reflect the chapter number and the order within that chapter). Captions must not be included in the file name.
  • If your book is organized into parts, supply files to indicate each part in the appropriate place, including the title. If a part has an introduction, include it within the relevant “Part Title” file.
  • Keep file names short and simple to avoid confusion and errors transferring and saving. File names should have a maximum character count of 30 characters (not including the file extension).
  • Please do not use special characters in any file names.
  • Please avoid the use of subfolders, other than one level of subfolder for all artwork.
  • Example file naming and structure (with parts): 00a_Prelims.docx 00b_Introduction.docx, 01a_Part 1.docx, 01b_Chapter 1.docx, 02_Chapter 2.docx, Figure 1.1.jpg, Figure 1.2.tif , Figure 1.3.eps, Figure 2.1.jpg

Confirm that all your files are the correct and final version.

  • Sending multiple versions of files creates extra queries and could cause confusion as to which files to use. Therefore, please send only one version of each chapter/artwork file.
  • Only send revised files if we request them to address any issues.

Send your files electronically as email attachment:

  • Please put all files into one folder and zip if necessary (use your surname for the folder name).
  • Sending several emails risks things being overlooked.
  • If files are too large to email, please use a reputable file hosting or transfer service (such as Dropbox, OneDrive or Google Drive).

Submitting your proposal

Please click here to submit your proposal package. Please include any supporting material (such as your CV). Note that draft or sample material is only helpful in support of, but not as a substitute to, a comprehensive proposal form.

Questions? Please contact: Jamie Klinger-Krebs, NAEA Publications Manager at jklingerkrebs@arteducators.org

Opportunities