Book Proposals
Dalhousie Architectural Press is an academic press; we are happy to receive book proposals for publications aimed at scholarly, professional, and public readerships in architecture, architectural history, landscape architecture, design research, and urbanism, as well as interdisciplinary projects that are architecture-focused. Our publications principally, but not exclusively, address Canadian subjects and their relationships to regional, national, and global architectural and cultural contexts. Our goal is to foster a wider appreciation of architecture and its allied disciplines in Canada and provide a critical context for a broader discussion of the built environment.
Each proposal is assessed initially by the Chair or another Board member, such as the relevant series editor; it may then be sent out for external peer review. The Board assesses reviews and makes a decision as to whether to accept the proposal. This process usually takes several months.
If you have questions about the book proposal process, would like a Wd file version of our book proposal, or would like to submit a proposal, contact DAP’s Publications Manager, Susanne Marshall, at archpress@dal.ca or 902 494 3925.
Our book proposals request the following information from authors:
Title
Author/editor(s)
Address and affiliation
Email
Telephone
Statement of aims: provide a summary of approximately 250 words, written in accessible language, that describes the core concept and argument of your book; a broad description of its context, scope, and contents; and its main themes and objectives.
Audience: define the market for your book within Canada, North America, and on a global scale. Identify primary and subsidiary readerships, and potential use of your book.
Table of contents & chapter synopses: list working chapter headings and, for each chapter, provide a short explanatory paragraph that describes what you (or your contributors) intend to address in the chapter. Please include details of geographic range of content, case studies, illustrations, and any supporting media that may accompany the book. Distinctive features: describe why you feel your proposal is distinctive and highlight the features that distinguish your book. Is it an exhibition catalogue?
Length: estimate the book’s word count (including subtotals for front matter, chapters, notes, bibliography, and captions) and image count (including subtotals for drawings, colour photographs, and b&w photographs). Estimate image sizes as well: number of full-page, quarter-page, and thumbnail images.
Permissions: If you plan to include material in your final manuscript for which you do not hold copyright (such as photographs, illustrations, figures, or extensive sections of text) provide preliminary details of the permissions which have been, or must be, obtained. It is the author’s responsibility to obtain permission to use copyrighted material. If you have any queries about this process, please speak to Susanne Marshall, Publications Manager at DAP.
Schedule: provide the estimated date on which the final manuscript (including all images, notes, captions, and cleared permissions) will be submitted.
Review of field: provide an annotated list of the books that are related to your work, or could be seen to be directly in competition with it. If you see no direct competitor, it is worth listing books also of interest to your intended audience. For the annotations, please provide each book’s title, author, publisher, year, format, page count, price, a brief analysis of its strengths and weaknesses, and an explanation of the ways in which your proposed book would differ from it. Consider media such as journals and websites in your assessment.
Materials to include: along with the completed proposal guidelines please include
- 1-3 page CV for each author, editor, or contributor
- Sample text: an introduction or chapter, or a writing sample
- Sample images with captions
Please let us know if this proposal is currently under consideration with another publisher. All proposals, ideas, and materials submitted to DAP remain the property of the author.