Book Proposal Submission, How to Handle First Contact with Publisher?

[Boomvang]

I notice that some publishers' websites instruct writers to send a complete book proposal (with sample chapters, etc.) to the appropriate subject editor right from the get-go. I would much rather have some preliminary contact with the editor, such as emailing a book description and introducing myself, to find out if they are interested enough to want a complete proposal. Should I do the latter anyway, hoping that they will respond? In my past book publishing experience, I have met editors in person and discussed my project before sending anything, but that's not possible at the moment. 

[Wahoo Redux]

I just signed a contract this year.  I had been in contact with the acquisitions editor before because I had been a reader on one of their manuscripts, so it was not complete cold-calling, but it had been a while since I had had any communication with her.  I simply emailed and said, essentially, I have a project, it is as XXXX number of words at the moment and I think I can finish it this year, would you be interested?  She was very nice and prompt and said, 'Sure, we'd love to see your idea.'  After that, I sent her a draft of a preliminary proposal, she send back a few notes, I got down on one knee and proposed, and they sent me back a contract.  Easy as that.

My academic editors are pretty nice (nicer than journalists, I'll tell you that much), so look through the acquisitions editors and just send whoever looks best an email.

Best of luck.

[Hegemony]

I think your procedure just adds another not-very-useful stage to the process. Almost always the editor will respond, "Okay, send me your proposal."

If the topic of the book is way out of line with the kind of thing they publish, I suppose querying beforehand could save yourself the trouble of sending the proposal. But whatever publisher does publish your topic will also want a proposal, so you'll have to write one anyway.

I think querying them and saying "Hello, I have a book about X, would you like to see my proposal?" runs the risk of the editor thinking, "Here's a person who thinks the directions — which clearly instruct authors to send a proposal — don't apply to him, and insists on adding more emails to my day by sending me a preliminary query." Kind of like students who don't read the syllabus and then send you a question that's clearly answered on the syllabus. So you've already given the editor the impression that you're higher-maintenance than the other authors. That's something I'd avoid, personally, but you choose. My guess is that the editor is going to respond, "Okay, send the proposal."

[Sun_Worshiper]

I've done it both ways:

For one book project, I emailed acquisition editors with a one-page synopsis of the book and asked if they'd like to see the full proposal. Two said yes, two said no. The full proposal is now out for review at one of the presses that said yes.

For another project, my coauthor and I sent the full proposal to the editor without any prior contact. The editor was interested, but asked us to change the proposal a bit and resend. We're hoping to have it back to them in early November.

So either approach can work, but in the future I'll probably opt for the one-pager approach.

[ciao_yall]

I notice that some publishers' websites instruct writers to send a complete book proposal (with sample chapters, etc.) to the appropriate subject editor right from the get-go. I would much rather have some preliminary contact with the editor, such as emailing a book description and introducing myself, to find out if they are interested enough to want a complete proposal. Should I do the latter anyway, hoping that they will respond? In my past book publishing experience, I have met editors in person and discussed my project before sending anything, but that's not possible at the moment. 

From the editor's perspective, ideas are cheap. They would be flooded with emails saying "I have an idea... what do you think of it?" If they hold off on only accepting inquiries about people who are serious enough about the idea to put in the actual effort that lowers the flood of inquiries.

They also don't want to be in the position of saying "Sure, send me a proposal" and then the writer thinks "They asked me for a proposal, so they are obligated to take my study of The Threat of Flying Spaghetti Monsters seriously."