IBM PRESS
PUBLISHING PROPOSAL GUIDELINES
Thank you for considering IBM Press for your writing project. The first step to writing a book is
composing and submitting a publishing proposal. Just as any building cannot be constructed without a
blueprint, so a book cannot be written without a proposal.
The proposal serves several purposes. It allows you to define the content and key elements to be covered
as you write, providing a framework around which a book is developed. This exercise will give you a
better picture of what, why, and for whom you are writing.
The proposal also allows IBM Press and our publishing partner John Wiley & Sons, Inc. to make an
evaluation of your ideas, providing you with feedback on the direction of your book. Additionally, we
will be able to make sure we are in agreement on the scope of the project, offer improvements to the
content, and help differentiate your project in a competitive marketplace.
As you are working on your proposal, please keep in mind the audience for this document. First and
foremost, the proposal will be read and reviewed by IBM peers and individuals with subject matter
expertise. Therefore, the proposal must be technically accurate, while explaining the rationale for your
editorial decisions. In particular the table of contents should illustrate the depth and complexity of your
discussion.
Additionally, acquisition, marketing, and sales professionals within Wiley will review the proposal. As a
result, the tone of the discussion needs to be conversational. Unless necessary, within the proposal, you
should avoid complex descriptions and explanations that drill down into a particular facet of a technology.
You should simplify explanations when possible and focus on the book’s highlights. Using analogies and
examples will also aid the publisher, while providing them with context. This is an important mission as it
will affect the way in which your book is perceived. Ultimately, the proposal will be used to generate
cover copy, sales sheets, marketing pieces, and web copy. As you are writing your proposal, please keep
these uses in mind.
Please note: It is very important that you fill out the proposal form completely. All of
the requested information is critical to making an informed decision about publishing
your book.
If you have any questions at all about completing this proposal, please feel free to email Steven Stansel,
Editorial Program Manager for IBM Press at: stansel@us.ibm.com and he will be happy to assist you.
Additional information about IBM Press can be found at:
http://w3-03.ibm.com/marketing/ibmpress/press.html
Here is what you will need to include in your publishing proposal:
1
Guidelines for Completing the IBM Press Publishing Proposal Template
Proposed Title: (This can change so don’t spend too much time pondering this however the title should
encapsulate the benefit of the audience in a succinct manner.)
Subtitle:
(If applicable to clarify the title)
Author(s):
(Listed in order they will be listed on the book)
1. Topic Summary
The topic summary should introduce readers to what you are planning to cover. The topic summary can
be general, providing readers with a snapshot of the topic and its importance. If this is a technical/productrelated book, describe for a non-technical person why this topic is of considerable commercial market
interest and what problems the technology or product helps to solve. Within the topic summary, include
information and statistics that support your case for a book. For example, why do people need the
technology? Why do they need a book on the subject? Why do they specifically need your book as
opposed to other books or resources? Please end the topic summary with a sentence that explains why
your book will fulfill the outlined market need.
2. Brief Description
In several paragraphs, but not more than one page, describe the work, its rationale, and its approach.
Begin with a paragraph summary of the book. This should be pithy and engaging, and it should be written
as if you were trying to describe your book's benefits to someone not expert in your subject matter (just
like a prospective purchaser/reader of your book will be.) Include a more specific discussion of the
"pedagogical" elements you envision for your book. Will the book include examples, cases, learning
objectives, questions, problems, glossaries, a bibliography, references, or appendices?
Clearly outline the approach to the topic. Is it a reference or a tutorial? Is it an overview or really handson? How does the combination of topic, approach, author, timing, weaknesses of competition, etc. all
come together to make this book worth publishing?
If your book is a revision of an existing book, what is new in this edition?
3. One Line Sell Line:
Before you submit your proposal, if you really want to road-test how honed your message is for your
book, try putting the idea through the "10-second sell" test. In one sentence, please summarize the book.
Our sales teams often have to pitch new books to booksellers in a very limited time, and copy space in
retail catalogues and in-store systems is very limited indeed. Both require a snappy elevator pitch.
To come up with this line, the following three exercises will help immensely:



Try capturing your book's pitch to the reader in 50 words or less.
List the five most compelling messages that your book will contain; bullet-points will do.
Finally, imagine that you are about to make a presentation about your ideas to a large audience.
What one question would you ask them to engage their minds and make them realize that this was
something relevant to and compelling for them and their businesses?
2
Try all this on a separate page. This is not an attempt to dumb-down thought-leadership; we really believe
that this is a great discipline to apply to any book idea. Even the most sophisticated ideas will benefit
from being communicated with simplicity and clarity, and even the best writers will create a better book if
they begin with the reader's pitch clearly in mind
4. Sales Features
Summarize in 5-8 short, one-sentence bullets what you consider to be the outstanding, distinctive or
unique features of the work. What value does this book provide? What tasks does it help readers to
perform? What makes the book so different from others in its subject matter area? (Include for example:
organization, examples, case studies, software included, experience of author, etc.) What is going to grab
someone's attention and encourage them to examine the book more closely?
These selling features need to be salient statements about the book’s highlights and coverage. Bullets may
be used in marketing pieces, cover copy, and sales presentations. They should be short but descriptive,
providing readers with an encapsulated statement about the book’s purpose.
5. Planned format (these are your suggestions for price, page count, etc.)
Would the reader benefit from online supplements to the book such as sample files, code snippets, or
videos? What content will be on these supplements?
You need to estimate your finished book’s length. Review the outline and estimate the length of each
chapter and appendix to accomplish this task. You should add an additional 50 pages to the final page
count of the chapters and appendices to account for front matter and the index. Let us also know what
portion of the material is now complete? (More complete material is not necessarily a good thing. The
earlier we are involved in feedback on the material the less rework you will have later.)
How many and what type of figures do you plan to include? Specify separately the number of photos,
screen captures, and the amount of line art (diagrams, tables, charts, graphs, drawings). Will you be
rendering these or will you need professional assistance? Are the figures that require full color printing to
convey their meaning? If so, how many, are the throughout the whole book, and provide some examples.
(Please note that in almost all case, screen captures can adequately convey meaning without color.)
How much would you expect to pay for a book like this? (Looking at the suggested retail prices of
competitive books of similar length can be good indicators.)
For targeting the in-stock date, identify ideally when you would like this book to reach the market.
Consider whether or not there are important external publication timing pressures such as key product
releases or trade shows. You will also need to estimate the time it will take you to write the manuscript. It
typically takes 6-9 months to write the first draft of a technical manuscript then another few months to go
through editing and layout, though schedules vary greatly. Many factors will impact this calculation,
however. A conversation with your editor will help to make this a realistic timeframe taking all the factors
into account. How big is the book, first of all? Consider whether or not you can leverage any of your preexisting work. Ask yourself how many pages can you feasibly write per day or per week and how much
research will be required for each chapter. We will then need to be able to assess whether your book can
be completed in a timely manner to meet that date. Please be realistic based on your work and family
commitments, and work load.
3
It is important that you are confident you can commit to these dates as they will be contractual milestone
dates with Wiley, setup in this format:
Milestone
First Quarter of Manuscript
Second Quarter of Manuscript
Third Quarter of Manuscript
Fourth Quarter of Manuscript
Submission date
6. Related and Competitive Titles
Within the Related and Competitive Titles sections you need to differentiate your book from books
already published on similar subject matter, whether they come from IBM Press or from other publishers.
This also helps us size up the potential of the market for which you are proposing a book.
Consider the existing works in this field and discuss specifically their individual strengths and
weaknesses. This material is written for reviewers and not for publication, so please be honest and direct.
You should describe what advantages your book has over the competition, and how your book will be
similar to, as well as different from, its competition, in terms of level, style, topical coverage, and depth.
If relevant books are now available, you should explain why you chose to write another book in this area.
Note that a “Related” title would cover content that is complementary to your book. A Competitive Title
would compete for a reader’s attention. The titles could be out of date material (in that case your comment
would state that). Or it could be that this type of information only exists currently in white paper or some
other format...we need to know where this potential reader might go and what product parameters we are
up against introducing a title of our own.
In particular, you should focus on important differences, such as target audience, aim and scope,
coverage, timeliness, book features, etc. If possible, you should research competition on Amazon or visit a
bookstore. I would also visit your own bookshelf. What do you read and why? When you include a title,
please include the title, author, publisher, ISBN, publication date, price, and page count, and a brief
description of how your book will differ.
7. Target Audience
Who is the book’s intended audience? Be as specific as possible. Ideally, you should differentiate the
primary and secondary audiences. Provide example affiliations, disciplines, titles and responsibilities of
these audiences. What prior knowledge or skills will the audience need to understand this book? What is
their level of experience (Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced, or Expert)? What other books should they be
familiar with? Identify some of the most important obstacles faced by this target audience when it comes
to mastering the proposed topic.
What is the size of the audience? Depending on your topic, this can be difficult to quantify, but do your
best. Cite industry statistics if possible. Or how would you quantify the market in terms of the numbers of
readers who will be looking for the information contained in your book over the next 1-2 years?
8. Market Information
Provide a brief overview of the state of the topic or technology market and the direction it is headed. Is
the market emerging or mature? Is it stable or rapidly changing? Is there a strong international market for
your book? Why (or why not)? When would the optimal time to release a book on the technology be?
4
Are standards efforts underway or completed? Include quantitative information on market size as
projected by IBM, industry experts, research groups, etc. in terms of $$ and growth potential.
If this is a product-related proposal, provide a brief overview of the state of the technology market and the
direction it is headed. What are the main competitive products? Provide specific installed base numbers or
annual sales statistics if available.
9. Complete Book Outline
The outline is the most important piece in your proposal. It will demonstrate exactly what you intend to
cover and how the book will be structured (like a table of contents.)
Be as comprehensive as possible, as reviewers will only have this document to read to understand exactly
what you intend to cover and the depth of coverage in each chapter. Please include chapter number, name,
estimated page count for each chapter and either a couple of sentences describing intended aim and scope
of each chapter or a list of main headings within each chapter.
Typically within an outline, you will include four levels of detail (parts, chapters, sections, and subsections). Parts are used to group and organize similar chapters. For instance, all of the chapters on linkstate protocols may be grouped into a single part. Not every book will have its chapters grouped into
Parts; this is an optional component of the outline. Chapters are devoted to discussions surrounding a
specific topic area. Hence, you may devote a chapter to a specific protocol. Sections are devoted to the
discussion of particular issues with a specific topic area, like a specific issue related to a protocol. These
are the top-level headings within any given chapter. Sub-sections further refine section topics.
Please keep the following issues in mind when you are developing your outline:
 Part, chapter, and section titles should be descriptive and engaging. Avoid the use of stayed words,
like introduction, summary, and conclusion.
 When possible, create active titles (Working with, Creating, Manipulating, Troubleshooting,
Operating, etc.).
 Ideally, your titles should describe the aim and scope of a part, chapter, or section.
10. About the Author(s)
Provide a brief professional biography that explains who are you and why should you write this book. In
your author bio, you need to provide information about your professional qualifications, experience, and
accolades. Focus on experience, highlights, and accomplishments that pertain directly to the book’s
subject matter. Ideally, you will include the following pieces of information:
1. Current Company and Job Title
2. Description of Current Job Responsibilities
3. Prior Experience (Companies and Positions)
4. Years of Experience (Quantify Work Experience)
5. Previous Writing Experience (Article, White Papers, Technical Documentation, Books)
6. Professional Awards and Accolades
7. Degrees and Certifications
You also need to fill out a contact information form for all participating authors (this information is for
internal Wiley purposes only and will not be provided to outside reviewers.)
11. Promotion/Sales
5
This section focuses on where and how to get the word out to your target audience about you and your
book. This information will seed a full marketing plan for your book. To that end, please include the
following information in your proposal (elaborate as you see fit):
Please list any professional organizations, user groups, or mailing lists that you are a member of or aware
of that would be useful in promoting the book.
Please list speaking engagements you have completed in the past year. Also include engagements that are
currently planned for the next 12 months.
If you have not been involved in speaking on your topic, do you believe you will be able to travel to
speaking engagements (pre- and post-publication of your book)? If so, which conferences would you
target?
In today’s publishing world you may be asked by our marketing team to provide articles, interviews,
podcasts, blogs, or otherwise contribute to and participate in social media outlets like Facebook and
Twitter to help to promote your book. If you currently participate in these forums, please provide your
URL/account for the following:
Blog
Twitter
Facebook (professional)
Other Social Networking activities including discussion groups
Do you participate in LinkedIn discussions on your topic? If so, which groups do you belong to on your
topic?
If you are not currently involved in blogging or social networking, would you commit to do so for your
book? If yes, please list which activities you feel would have the most impact for your book, such as
Twitter, Facebook, blogs, newsletter, communities etc…
Additionally, please include in this section any potential sales leads or special sales opportunities
including any you know of within IBM or with partners. Would this book be appealing to corporations as
an item to bundle and sell with their products or for use in training programs? Why or why not? Please
identify any potential sources here and be as specific as possible. Also include any regions, companies, or
partners outside the US that would be especially interested in this topic.
Identify any specific academic programs that would use this book as either a required text or as a
supplement? Identify corporate training programs or seminars (in-house and/or publicly held) that could
use this material?
12. Suggested Reviewers
We may use reviewers of our own choice but we will also try to include some whose opinion you feel will
be valuable. Therefore, within the proposal, you should provide a list of 5 to 10 reviewers either as target
audience members or subject matter experts. Reviewers will be used during the proposal stage, and their
help may be enlisted during the manuscript review. For manuscript review, individuals will need to be
subject matter or technical experts who can troubleshoot your work. It is preferable to have a mix of IBM
and non-IBM reviewers to give a balanced picture of the proposal and manuscript. Please include name,
title, company, and e-mail for each reviewer.
6