Questions for editor of edited volume

[Sun_Worshiper]

Hello all, I'm reaching out for some advice.

Background:
I've been invited to submit a chapter for an edited volume and I am going to do it (I know there are plenty of reasons not to do these, but in this case I've decided that it is worth my time).  This is the first time I have done one of these.  The book is with a known publisher, but not a top UP - think Palgrave or Sage.  The editor wants a one page proposal, and has presented a pretty short timeline for completing the chapter.  Based on our correspondence, the editor seems very on top of things and she has published edited volumes before.

My questions for the forum is:
Should I assume that she has a contract with the publisher already? 
Are there any other questions I should be asking the editor at this point, before locking myself into this task?

Thank you for reading, and I look forward to your replies.

[Parasaurolophus]

My experience is relatively limited (I have two chapter contributions), but:

Should I assume that she has a contract with the publisher already? 

I think that if the contract had been secured, it would have been mentioned. So she's probably aiming to pitch it with a list of contibutors and anticipated contributions once she has the proposals in hand. But that's just a guess. One of my contributions was for a volume whose contract was preliminarily secured, and the editor was upfront about it; the other wasn't, and the editor was upfront about that too, but told us where she was aiming to have it published.

Are there any other questions I should be asking the editor at this point, before locking myself into this task?

I can't think of any general questions, especially if the editor is being good about communication and has clear timelines. Unless, perhaps, you want to get a sense of who's already committed to contributing, and haven't yet been told. But others here are far wiser about such things than I am.

[Cheerful]

Congrats on the invite.  Sounds like the editor has credibility due to a track record of published edited volumes.

If she didn't specify chapter length, I would ask.  Clarify whether the length includes the references list.  Ask about formatting and citation style.  Request a list of the chapters and contributors, and ask whether a contract has been secured.  I would express enthusiasm about contributing and submit the chapter on or before the deadline.  This gets you into a new network and gets your work out to potentially new audiences.

I've contributed to a few projects with contracts that eventually did not get published (not nice), volumes that were delayed for years but finally published, projects delayed for months due to some chapter contributors being "difficult people," and some that kept things nicely on track for timely publication.  I've also edited.

I like edited volumes for many reasons.  (Not everyone does.)

[adel9216]

I have also been invited to contribute to a book, and I was sent the contract agreement, with the name of the publisher, and I also had to sign a contract as well.

I've seen instances, in other cases, when they say "we don't have a book contract yet, but we expected an editor to be interested for that or that reason" which is transparent.

Seems to be common practice according to the two posters above me.

[jerseyjay]

I am co-editing a book in history. We have already sent out a CFP and selected those we want to include, and have begun receiving first drafts.

We do not have a contract with a press. Instead, we have been in contact with an editor at the press (a university press) who is interested in the project (in fact, it was his idea, based on a panel we organized at a conference). We are waiting till we have all the chapters we want and then we are sending them to the press for peer review.

Another process was raised--assembling a few chapters and a toc and then sending to the press for a contract. We chose the first one because it seemed simpler, and because we are not entirely sure if we are going to get all the chapters from the contributors in a state ready to publish.

Of course, the downside to this is that we do not have a contract, and it is possible that the press decide that it doesn't want to publish us. (Although that is possible in many cases even with an advance contract.) But this is a real project, in the sense that a publisher has shown real interest and a commitment to publish the volume assuming it ever gets done in a usable form.

I would ask the editor what the status is--is there a contract, or no? But my guess is that he or she has at least been in contact with the editor from the press and is not just blowing smoke.

I would also ask what the audience of the volume is (undergraduate classroom? graduate students?) and, of course, the length and whether that includes notes. Also what style (MLA, Chicago, etc) and whether is should be in American or British spelling. Some of these might be obvious.

[Ruralguy]

Just ask the volume editor if there is a contract, etc.. I've certainly seen some of these with a contract from the beginning.

[Sun_Worshiper]

Thanks for the replies!  Very helpful.

[Morden]

Hi OP. I'm editing a collection now. We didn't have a contract until all the chapters had been completed and had gone out for peer review. But I certainly told my contributors that. I would just ask the editor.

[Wahoo Redux]

And don't be dismayed if it does take a while to find a publisher.

I'm in a forthcoming edited collection that took almost two years to find a home with a good university press.