Subjects
Submission guidelines for major works
In general, when preparing a proposal the more information you can provide the greater likelihood that your proposal will be accepted. We send all our proposals out for peer review and if there is not sufficient information reviewers are more likely to give a negative opinion of a project.
The following information is essential: View a sample proposal
Title
Please give the provisional title of your project. In general, Pickering & Chatto favour relatively straightforward descriptive titles. For examples please consult our catalogue.
Reasons for the project
This is your opportunity to sell the idea for your project. At Pickering & Chatto we will need to sell your project to other academics in your field, to librarians, to distributors and to booksellers. We need your help to do this. In this information you need to convince us and our reviewers of the academic need for this project and also that there are enough people interested in the topic to make it a success.
Academic reasoning behind the proposal
Please give details of the publishing history of the works to be included. Have they been collected before? When was the last edition published? Have they been edited to an academic standard before? Are there any problems with previous editions? How widely available are these texts?
Who would be interested in purchasing this project once published ?
What are the main interest groups/societies? Which academic departments would be interested? Are there any relevant courses? Are some countries more interested in this topic than others?
If there is more than one interest group for the project please state who the primary interest group will be.
How your project relates to Pickering & Chatto
If this is similar to any existing Pickering & Chatto project please state which one and in what way.
Please state how this project would fit with the rest of the Pickering & Chatto list.
Who will be involved in the project?
We need details of who you are and why you are suitable to undertake this project with us. Please give biographical details for all the people you plan to involve in the project and their role. Also, please let us know if you have their agreement to be involved or whether you just think they should be involved. In general, as our publications sell to an international market we like our editorial teams to reflect this. Please give the affiliations, addresses of all those involved together with details of any previous publications undertaken.
How will the project be organised?
Once you have established the need to the project we also need details of how work on the project will be organised and how the project will appear in print.
Number of volumes?
If the work is to be a multi-volume edition, please state how many volumes there would be. Please note that, in general, there are approximately 350 pages in a Pickering & Chatto volume. Please also make allowances in you calculations for introductions and editorial apparatus.
Editorial apparatus
What editorial apparatus do you intend to include from the following list and why?
- General introduction
- Headnotes
- Footnotes or endnotes
- Textual variants
- Index (state type i.e. consolidated, keyword, editorial matter only)
- How will the text be presented?
Presentation
There are three ways of presenting a project, each of which has their own merits. They are:
- Facsimile where the project collects and reprints the original texts with added editorial apparatus
- Retypeset projects where the texts are retypeset by Pickering & Chatto from the original texts with notation added to the texts
- Editor/author Camera Ready Copy (CRC) where the editor/author supplies Pickering & Chatto with retypeset pages which are laid out to agreed guidelines exactly as they will appear when printed
Timing
It is essential that we know how long a project is likely to take so that we can promote and schedule a project at the right time. Please give us your best estimate of the amount of time you require to complete a project, breaking down the timing as much as possible into significant events such as the submission of the first material, dates for subsequent submissions and final submission of all material. If there are any external events (such as a centenary or other anniversary, or a key academic conference) which might influence the timing of a project, then please give details. Also if a project depends on your getting external funding then please also give details of these timings.
Who can give an opinion?
As already mentioned, Pickering & Chatto ensures that all projects peer reviewed to ensure academic relevance. If you know of people who are in a good position to give a fair opinion of your proposal then please give us details. Also details of the type of reviewer who would be relevant are useful. Please note that we wish our projects to be successful internationally and that we need to draw opinions from reviewers worldwide.
Contents list
This is one of the most essential parts of a proposal and one on which our reviewers often make their decision. Lack of detail on the contents list may delay or jeopardize a proposal. While this list is not necessarily the final list used for a project, it needs to be representative of what you have in mind. Pickering & Chatto specialize in republishing rare or scarce material. For a project to be successful this must be reflected in the contents list of your proposal. If there is a thematic breakdown for the proposal please give details of this breakdown as well as how the texts fit into these themes. Please also state whether texts will be included in their entirety or as selections. If possible a page breakdown is also helpful together with dates of original publication.
Other details
If you have any other information relating to the proposal then please do include it. For example you may have other plans for events, publications or research projects associated with the proposal. There may also be plans for electronic websites to support or supplement the proposal. Please give details no matter what stage these plans may have reached.
Thank you
Thank you in advance for any proposal you decide to send us. We are always happy to receive proposals and to discuss them with you. If you have any questions before submitting a proposal, our editorial team will be delighted to help you. Please email our Editorial Team.