Proposal Form Guidelines
Thank you for your interest in The AAAI Press. We have constructed a proposal form that you may find helpful in preparing your proposal for an AAAI Press book. The form asks a number of questions designed to help us evaluate your potential book. The questions are designed to help you think about your book, and aid you in crafting it.
AAAI Press edited collections are carefully crafted collections of interdependent chapters written by multiple authors. In general, AAAI Press editors will look more favorably on a proposal where the editors intend to write a substantive introduction and/or conclusion, where the authors of the individual chapters have not only read but refer to the other chapters in the book, and incorporate concepts or ideas presented in other papers, and where the individual papers have been carefully selected to form a cohesive whole. AAAI Press edited collections are not proceedings!
Procedural Questions
The first questions, of course, are procedural. We need to know who you are, where we can contact you, and who might be assisting you with this project. The information listed here will be used to contact you in the future.
The Market for Your Book
Your perception of the market for your book is important to us, which is why we ask several questions related to this subject. Whom would you envision reading your book? How many people do you think will buy this book? What special qualifications must they have before reading it. The successful book will appeal to a broad spectrum of readers, thereby increasing the potential for sales. Nevertheless, we do, on occasion, publish books for specialized audiences. Consequently, we would like your own best guess as to the size and depth of the market for your book.
Production Questions
We also need some information about the book related to size and complexity, from a purely mechanical point of view. Books that are less than 350 8-1/2 x 11 inch pages are desirable, for example. Books that are more than 400 pages are not. All books must be submitted in electronic form that contain standard formatting codes throughout. Formatting becomes even more important when special symbols (such as mathematics) are used throughout the book.
Special Features
Your description of any special features that the book contains is crucial to your proposal. Here is your opportunity to sell your book to our reviewers. Talk in detail about your field, and what contribution your book will make to that field. We want to know how your book is different from other books in your field, and how it is better.
The Introduction
Will your book contain an introduction? Successful books seldom omit this feature. If it does contain one, tell us what you hope to accomplish by it. Also explain what qualifications you have to write the piece.
Spin-Offs
The question related to spin-offs is ancillary. If a textbook might be developed from this book later on, we'd like to know about it.
Competition
What competition your book has will help us evaluate potential sales and also market size. We need to know what books will directly or indirectly compete with your book, and what books deal with related subjects.
Timing
Initial marketing plans are made for books nearly a year in advance. Consequently, we would like to know when you expect the book to be complete.
Summary
Please summarize your book, outline how it will be organized and designed to fit the needs of its perceived audience. Explain how your book will provide a coherent view of the field. Also demonstrate how it will stand alone for readers who are unfamiliar with your field. We would like some detail on these question. In a page or two, describe your book. Will it contain a tutorial introduction? Will it survey the field. Will it contain historical material that puts the field in context, as well as new, exciting papers that show breakthroughs in the field or interesting new avenues of research? Show us that you have given thought to this book, and that it will be carefully crafted and compiled.
Other Contributors
If you have a preliminary list of contributors, here is a place to insert it. If you can, give us some of your thoughts about why each contributor's work has been included, how their research contributes to the field, and consequently, why their work has been included.
Index, Photographs, and Illustrations
Again, we ask some more procedural questions. As for photographs and other illustrations, we'd like an idea of the kind and quantity to be included. Of course, we would like to publish books with fresh approaches to illustrative material (boxes and arrows get old!), too. As for the type of illustrations you provide, please note that we require high-resolution (300 dpi) electronic files. Material pulled off websites almost never suffices.
Table of Contents
Here is where you should attach a preliminary table of contents, briefly outline each paper, and discuss why it has been included and how it will be revised for publication. Elaborate as needed on your previous description of the contributors. If you have included a particular paper that has shortcomings, please let us know that you are aware of the deficiencies, and indicate how they will be addressed.
Preface or Introduction
Your preface should place your book in historical perspective, describe the field's origins, objectives, methods, and accomplishments. It should also emphasize what your book indicates about the state of the field. For example, how has the work in this field been evaluated? How should it be evaluated? Please outline or describe your plan for the preface. Give us several paragraphs on this topic. Again, we are trying to evaluate the market for your book, your book's potential longevity, and how that on the fringes of your field might be introduced to the field by reading your book.
Along with your proposal, please provide us with a sample chapter of the proposed book or two or more sample papers that are representative of the kind that you will include in the book. If you include papers that have some problems with them, tell us what problems you think the papers have, and how they will be fixed. Don't let our reviewers reject your proposal on the basis of obvious deficiencies that you intend to fix!
Please also suggest potential reviewers for your book (who are well known in your field, but not associated with your book). We don't guarantee that we will use them, but your suggestions are welcome.
If we can be of any further assistance, please let us know. Thank you again for your interest in AAAI Press. We forward to receiving your proposal, and hope that we will have the chance to work together on publication of an important contribution to your field.
Go to the Proposal Form