ABORIGINAL STUDIES PRESS
Further understanding of Australian Indigenous cultures, past and present through undertaking
and publishing research, and providing access to print and audiovisual collections
Ph: 02 6246 1183 Fax: 02 6261 4288 sales@aiatsis.gov.au
www.aiatsis.gov.au/asp/welcome.html
BOOK PROPOSAL (General)
Please complete this proposal and send it to us with your manuscript. Read General Notes about this
Proposal on p.4 for more information.
The information in this proposal lets us assess your work for publishing by Aboriginal Studies Press.
Publishing with us on the ASP website outlines the way we assess manuscripts.
Keep your answers reasonably short, but provide enough information for us to make a decision. Call
Rhonda Black on 02 6246 1184 if you need help completing this form.
You must provide with the proposal:
 1–2 page outline of the contents (describe what the manuscript is about).
 A contents list or detailed chapter outline (if there is one).
 Complete manuscript as a hard copy
 Complete manuscript and any illustrations on a CD-Rom
1. THE PROPOSED BOOK
Author/Editor name(s):
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Working title and subtitle:
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Author/editor (s) biographical details: a couple of paragraphs about yourself as they might appear on the
back cover of the book. Please include any present position or affiliation, especially if relevant to teaching
related to the book’s subject.
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Summary, or rationale for publishing: from a few paragraphs to a few pages.
For example you may be writing in a new theorising, you may have completed some pivotal research, or taken a new
approach to an already well-published area. Yours may be a cross-disciplinary approach to an established subject, or it
may be a rebuttal to another publication. Note. The following pages ask for more detailed information that supports this
rationale.
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Revised March 2010
2. MARKETING / SALES INFORMATION
To help us work out how such a book could be sold, please tell us why you think your manuscript should be published.
For example, is it about a new subject, or an extraordinary life? Or does it provide new information about a subject that
others have written about? In other words, tell us how your manuscript is different or special compared to other books
or stories.
Who do you think will buy your book? For example, the general public, your community, libraries,
students.
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ASP sells books through bookshops but also sell direct to interested people. Do you know of any people,
groups or organisations that ASP could approach directly?
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3. PRODUCTION INFORMATION
What stage of writing are you up to? When do you think your writing will be finished if it’s not yet
complete?
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About how many words will be in the final manuscript?
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Do you want illustrations included? If so, how many?
Black and white drawings: ______________________
Black and white photographs: ___________________
Colour photographs: ___________________________
4. AUTHOR(S) INFORMATION
Full name(s):
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Date(s) of birth:
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Work address(es) (if applicable): include telephone number, fax and email, if available
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Home address(es): include telephone number, fax and email.
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Main author contact (if more than one author): One person who will consult with the publisher and pass on
information to the other authors.
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Preferred contact details:
 Work (details above)
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 Home (details above)
Revised March 2010
GENERAL NOTES ABOUT THIS PUBLISHING PROPOSAL
Aboriginal Studies Press (ASP) is a small publisher in the area of Indigenous Studies. As an Indigenous
publisher we’re keen to encourage and support Indigenous authors. We publish up to twelve manuscripts a
year (we’re committed up to twelve months ahead) and we work hard to market and publicise our list.
Unfortunately we don’t have the staff, or the money, to publish every manuscript we receive. So, if we don’t
accept your manuscript you shouldn’t take it to mean we don’t believe your story is important.
As well as receiving manuscripts from people who haven’t been published before, we also publish new
books from authors we’ve already published, and we commission new work. We make decisions about what
to publish based on the story and the writing, how well it fits our publishing list, and whether we can
produce and market the book. Read Publishing with us on the ASP website to see how we assess
manuscripts.
Your proposal needs to make clear how your manuscript fits with the other books we publish and you need
to tell us why it’s important that it is published. Remember to stay passionate about your manuscript, but be
realistic about who might buy it.
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Revised March 2010