Submission Guidelines for Prospective Authors

Your proposal should give members of the Charleston Briefing Editorial Board a clear and
detailed idea of what your book will be about. Please include a cover letter, your curriculum
vitae or résumé, and a proposal as outlined below. Please be concise in your proposal.
To ensure that your work receives proper attention, we ask that you submit the following:
Content:

o Proposed title;
o Author or Editor Name(s); in the order, you expect them to appear in the
briefing.
o The purpose or rationale of your book and a brief description. Include what you
consider to be the outstanding, distinctive, or unique features of the work;
o A table of contents;
o An outline of your chapters (this should be no more than a paragraph or two
describing the content of each chapter);
o an introduction or detailed overview of your project; if you have no
introduction, please supply a sample chapter (or other material);

Market and other factors:

o Similar or competing books in the field and how your briefing will be similar to,
as well as different from, these works;
o The audiences you envision for your book and the contributions your work
offers;
o Why you think your manuscript is suited to ATG Media's list;
o The length of the manuscript and the number of illustrations incorporated;
o Timetable for completion of the project (if it is already finished, please let us
know that, too);
o Reviewers. Please provide the names and contact details for three or four
people you feel would be competent to review your material and whose opinion
you would find valuable.

Marketing Your Book

Marketing is a team effort in today’s world of digital communication and social media.
Promotional activities have the most impact when ATG Media and its authors work in tandem to
promote their books to the broader community of librarians, publishers and vendors as well as to
their own network of colleagues and friends.
Promotional Efforts
ATG Media will:
 promote your book to Charleston Conference attendees, subscribers to Against the Grain
as well as to the broader scholarly communications community
 distribute your briefing through a range of channels, including online retailers and
websites
 work to secure review coverage in publications appropriate for the content of your
briefing
 feature your briefing and make it available via our websites the ATG Newschannel, Books
from Our Crowd and the Charleston Conference website
 ensure that your briefing will be available in Google Book Search, one of the most
effective ways to drive online book sales
 utilize enhanced search engine optimization to ensure that your title appears at or near the
top of Google search results
 feature your briefing in our eblasts that go out to subscribers with new book
announcements and other news
 send your title to the relevant academic meetings attended by press staff
 develop a targeted review list for your briefing and submit review copies or e-galleys to
the appropriate media and review outlets
What we hope you will do:
 complete a marketing questionnaire once manuscript in the acceptance phase
 tap into your personal networks to promote your work once it is published
 utilize online marketing, including posting on listservs and blogging
 participate in social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and
Goodreads
 If you are associated with a university or other institution, utilize what marketing
resources they offer to promote your book
 make presentations at relevant conference including the Charleston Conference
 assist ATG Media staff create a 1-3- minute video about your book
 assist in promoting your book via ATG: The Podcast
 participate in ATG Media webinars about the book and its topic, as well as related topics

To expedite publication, we recommend that perspective authors:

1. Use APA style (the least intrusive style of citing, I think
2. Make sure any images are at least 300 dpi (and not pirated!)
3. Use Word to create the document.

And number manuscript pages consecutively in the following order:

Front Matter
 Page 1: Half title page (with title only)
 Page 2: Title page (with title and subtitle and author name)
 Dedication or epigraph (if any)
 Contents
 List of abbreviations or chronology (usually not necessary)
 Foreword
 Preface
 Acknowledgments (if not part of the preface)
Body

Text

Back Matter

 Appendix(es) (if any)
 Notes
 Glossary
 Bibliography/References
 Tables
 Captions for figures/illustrations/photographs/maps
 Copies of figures/illustrations/photographs/maps (one per page)
Queries and proposals should be sent via email to the Editorial Board,