Guidelines for Authors

The Boise State University Publications Office welcomes proposals for nonfiction books of popular scholarship about Idaho and the West. 

We are not a publisher of professionally focused academic monographs for specialized audiences.  Nor do we publish memoirs of the living, contemporary political advocacy, fiction, poetry, or genealogy. 

All manuscripts are juried by experts and approved by a faculty board.  We cannot guarantee the return of unsolicited manuscripts.

The first step should be an email or call to Todd Shallat, editor, at tshalla@boisestate.edu; (208) 761-0485.   Proposal should be sent as a Word attachment.

Generally, a book proposal should include:

• A tentative book title and your contact information
• A two- or three-page summary of the book’s content and scope.
• An argument for the book’s importance.  What would it contribute? How would it compare with other books in print?
• A proposed audience, market, or readership.  Who might purchase the book?  Who might review it?
• An annotated chapter-by-chapter table of contents.   Include a tentative word count for each chapter.
• A sampling of graphics such as maps and illustrations, if any.   Low resolution JPEGs or photocopies are fine.
• A best-case and worst-case timeline for completion of the research and writing.
• A word-count estimate of the manuscript’s length.  If you prefer to estimate in pages, assume 250 words per double-spaced typescript page.
• A sample chapter or excerpt, if available.   If not, authors can provide a previously published book or recently published essay.
• A resume or curriculum vitae.

Adapted from the University of Virginia Press “guidelines for authors.”