
This is What Your Art Book Proposal Needs
Hello. My name’s Bridget and I’m the senior art book editor here at Chronicle Books. It’s nice to meet you.
I am frequently surprised when people tentatively ask me if it’s ok for them to put their artist or photographer friend in touch with me in my work capacity. Or ask if it’s ok for them to send me their own body of work for consideration. Dude! Of course it’s ok! That’s the whole point!
But it’s a good reminder that, weird as it seems to dorky awkward twelve-years-old-on-the-inside me, perhaps to the outside world the job title Art Book Editor might be a bit intimidating. So, in the name of total frankness and clarity, here is what I do.
I edit books (and sometimes non-book things like notecards or blank notebooks) that feature: fine art, illustration, photography, and design (graphic design, fashion design, industrial design, occasionally a bit of architecture).
I welcome book proposals and the chance to see bodies of work from: artists, illustrators, photographers, designers, writers, and creative thinkers. I love developing ideas and collaborating with folks on projects.
Like all reputable publishers, Chronicle offers on its website a handy batch of submission guidelines, letting folks know what elements to include in their book proposals, how to send them in to us, etc. But it’s the nature of such documents to have to cover a lot of ground–they must be general enough to encompass what to put in a cookbook proposal, a humor book proposal, a parenting book proposal, or whatever the case may be. Which is why I often hear from artists that they’re a bit unclear about what I really need to see in order to evaluate their project. So here’s the essence of it, in four easy steps:
1. Visuals
First and foremost, I need to see the art. Remember—you’re a visual person pitching a book to a visual publisher—lead with the visuals! A representative sampling of images (around twenty is usually a good number) that shows the scope of what you’re doing and that can be looked through easily. That last word is of paramount importance. Make it hard for the editor to review your work, and your work will be getting reviewed by a cranky editor. And no one wants that. Nice quality laser prints or easy-to-open electronic files, either one is fine. Avoid common pitfalls: overkill (huge portfolios of dozens of fine art prints that come with little white cotton gloves in the box, myriad unlabeled disks); underkill (photo prints from the drugstore, crummy home printouts); technical difficulties (DVDs—not every computer has a DVD drive—software specific file types, Mac or Windows-only files).
2. Text about the project
What is the book? If it’s a monograph, photobook, or other fine art book, this could be a draft artist’s statement. If it’s a how-to book or other book where text accompanies the images, this could be an outline and a short sample text chunk. This is also the place to make it clear what you’re envisioning; to talk about where and why and how the images where made; how many of them there are; how you imagine them being presented; what your general concept and thinking behind the project are. Common pitfalls are long-windedness on the one hand, and skipping this step entirely on the other. A page or two should suffice. And don’t bury the lead—start right at the beginning making it clear what your book idea is and why it’s awesome.
3. Text about you
Include a brief author/artist bio detailing your career highlights up to now (previous books, websites, media, exhibitions). Also detail your platform. That may sound like a buzzword (because it is) but all it really means are the things that will help you to promote and publicize your book, be they statistics like the number of visitors to your website (don’t inflate with non-unique hits), number of Facebook likes, number of Twitter/Instagram/Pinterest followers, or life nuggets like your upcoming gallery or museum shows, relationships in the media, potential sales outlets for the book. Don’t worry if you don’t have all of the above—almost no one does—just talk about whatever’s relevant, whatever’s great about you that I can’t see in the images.
4. Comps
You should familiarize yourself with the other books in your category and on similar subjects. Include in your proposal a list of other relevant books, and note which ones are points of inspiration for the sort of book you want to make, which are your competition, and which you think missed opportunities which your book will fill. Bonus points for making a distinction between comps published by the publisher you’re submitting to, and ones from other publishing houses.
And that’s it! Happy proposing!
– – –
To learn more about the nuts and bolts (or backbones and headbands) of the publishing business, you can read about…
- How to submit your children’s book
- An editor’s thoughts on how to get published
- More thoughts on how to get published
- How a book gets published from start to finish
- What it’s really like to be a cookbook editor
- The surprisingly complex principles of a successful picture book
Bridget Watson Payne
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julie rowan zoch November 11, 2014 at 2:33 pm
Thanks for sharing all this!
kathrynmcole November 13, 2014 at 7:44 am
Thank you for sharing this! It's great information Bridget!
Have a beautiful day! Kathryn
Ming Platt November 14, 2014 at 12:19 pm
Thank you Bridget! This is great info! 🙂
@leagulino November 14, 2014 at 4:12 pm
Thanks Bridget for making Art Book Editors seem a little less intimidating! @chroniclebooks
Susanne DeNeef November 30, 2014 at 11:06 am
Bridget: I recently read an article that described a new book from Tipoteca: Alphabets of Wood by Luigi Melchiori and the History of Italian Wood Type; authors James Clough and Chiara Scaholin-any possibility you can get this book to sell here in the states?
Thanks for your time,
S. DeNeef
@leagulino December 9, 2014 at 4:00 am
I'm about to hit send on my art book submission! The awkward 12 year old inside me appreciates your candor, Bridget. Great post.
Armina December 15, 2014 at 2:54 am
Susanne: this book is available for (pre)order in US via Hamilton Wood Type museum – http://woodtype.org/store/item/215
Armina
Susan DeNeef February 23, 2015 at 4:27 pm
Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Susan
Anne-Louise Ewen October 19, 2015 at 8:32 pm
Good to know!
Vinny Verrillo March 29, 2017 at 12:50 pm
Very informative info that you don’t usually see. Thank you
Vinny Verrillo March 29, 2017 at 12:57 pm
I have been wondering how to submit an art book proposal, you gave precise instructions, thank you
Edwina Owens Elliott July 25, 2017 at 10:26 am
Finally! Answers. Now I know how to go about this thing. Thank you.
Denise Allan August 14, 2017 at 7:34 am
Brilliant information delivered in a lighthearted fun way. Thanks Bridget 😀
Now to implement it (gulp)
Leanne Thomas October 16, 2017 at 10:38 am
thank YOU! love your writing style – conversational & funny, your content – totally helpful & relevant, and your generosity – of spirit & info! i looove chronicle books, and i am currently dreaming of collaborating on a project – or projects, i have a bunch binging around in my head! – with you all 🙂
Andrew Brett Noske November 7, 2019 at 5:15 pm
Love this article! Thanks Bridget. 🙂
It actually live in San Francisco, and it actually inspired me today to walk down to Chronicle Books to see if I could show anyone my books. Nobody was about, however I’ve made a submission online! 🙂