Things That Worked: Book Proposal for The Second Book (Part 1)

Sample materials to simplify your life

Gooooooooood morning, afternoon, or evening, wherever you happen to be! And welcome back for another round of ‘Things That Worked’!

This time, I’m sharing the book proposal I submitted for my second academic monograph, which ended up being published by Manchester University Press in 2019. I’m really proud of this book, and not just because it got some great reviews (and even honourable mention for an MLA book prize!). I’m proud because I managed to write and revise it when I was a new mother. I’m proud because when I wrote it I felt like I really had something to say, something that mattered. Heck, I’m just proud that it got written at all!

So what’s up with The Second Book?

I think it’s fair to say we all know what The First Book means in academia. It’s that all-important line of italics on your CV that makes prospective employers sit up and take notice when you’re a freshly minted PhD. It’s the book that’s supposed to get you tenure (unless you’re an independent scholar or employed at an Ivy League university, in which case it’s the book that keeps you afloat). You can read more about The First Book and the proposals you write for it here and here (sample proposals included!).

But The Second Book is important, too! If you already have tenure, The Second Book is often the book that helps you get promoted from associate to full professor. At many European institutions, The Second Book is the piece of scholarship you submit for your habilitation, the highest university degree you can be granted in countries like Germany, Italy, France, and Switzerland (among others). In these countries, The Second Book is the piece of scholarship without which you cannot ever achieve the title of ‘professor’.

When I first started work in Switzerland, my boss told me that The Second Book was in some ways considered more important than The First Book, which in some countries can take the form of a minimally revised PhD thesis. Of course, in most English-speaking countries, The First Book may be based on your PhD thesis, but it’s usually expected that it will be significantly revised; in fact, you often have to explain exactly how you plan to revise it in your book proposal. But as they say, ‘When in Rome…’ (or, in my case, ‘When in la Romandie…’).

The proposal process

The proposal process for my Second Book was very similar to the proposal process for my First Book, though in this case I actually ending up approaching two publishers. The first one I approached went so far as to send my proposal and materials out for review, and even got three positive reader reports back, but then things stalled. As someone who was precariously employed, I couldn’t afford to wait around for them to get their communications sorted out, so after a couple of months of silence from them, I wrote a polite email withdrawing my proposal for consideration (they later wrote a very apologetic email in response).

The second publisher I approached, Manchester University Press, ended up being an absolute dream to work with. I really can’t praise them enough. The series editors were fabulous about communicating with me regularly. The reader reports were clear and constructive. AND, after my book had been out for a couple of years, the press automatically published it in a much more affordable paperback form! Woohoo, books for everyone!

I followed the same steps for both proposal processes:

• I wrote an ‘approach’ email to find out whether the publisher would be at all interested in seeing a proposal for a book like mine.

• Following the instructions I was given by each publisher, I submitted a simple proposal that was very similar to the proposal I’d submitted for my First Book, except in this case I didn’t have to write anything about the revisions I was proposing to make to my thesis.

• I also submitted some sample chapters for feedback.

The press was great about getting my reader reports back to me quickly (and so were the two anonymous readers!). I then wrote a response to their feedback and suggestions, and was offered a contract shortly thereafter. I’ll share that written response in a follow-up TTW post—the art of responding to anonymous reader reports is a delicate art indeed!

Sample proposal for The Second Book

Below is a link to the proposal I submitted to Manchester University Press for Practising shame: Female honour in later medieval England: