Submitting a query letter

We are principally academic publishers, though we also publish other books like biographies and books of general interest. We especially invite manuscripts that are written in a very fascinating style and which offer different perspectives from what are currently available in the literature.

Send a query letter first. Your query letter should include the following:

1. A) The working title of the proposed book and two alternate titles
2. B) A synopsis/Abstract of no more than 300 words. The synopsis should be able to tell us the topic you want to explore and why, including how your work differs from existing discussions in the literature on the subject.
3. C) Table of Contents
4. D) A sample chapter (maximum: 5000 words)
5. A clear statement about the market for the book, and your role in promoting and marketing the book.
6. F) Your resume or CV – which clearly answers the question of your authority to write or edit the manuscript.

Please Do NOT SEND your full manuscript to us with your initial inquiry, and always make sure that you retain a copy of whatever you send to us as we will not be liable for any material lost in transit, or even in our possession.

The Review Process (academic titles)

There are two stages in the review of our academic titles - Review of the submitted proposal (publishing query) and review of the full manuscript

Review of the Proposal

Based on the submitted synopsis, sample chapter and Table of Contents, we will ask an expert to advise us on the following:

• • the strengths and weaknesses of the book
• • the potential contributions of the manuscript, if published, to the existing literature in the field.
• • Its market potential, in particular if the book is likely to be adopted as a class text if the reviewer were to teach a course on the topic.
• • If the Reviewer will recommend the publication of the manuscript as a book.

Review of the full manuscript

• I. If the expert recommends publication, then we will send the full manuscript to him/her when available for detailed comments and advise on the strengths and weaknesses of the manuscript and how it can be improved. If the expert is unavailable to deliver the reviewed manuscript within a specified time frame, he/she can assist us in finding another Reviewer who can do so.
• II. In returning the revised manuscript following the comments by the Reviewer, the Author is expected to attach a Corrections Log indicating how the comments by the Reviewer have been addressed.
• III. We will revert to the Reviewer with the revised manuscript and Corrections Log to advise if his/her observations have been satisfactorily implemented and if he/she can advise publication at that stage.
• IV. The Author will bear the cost of the honorarium to be paid to the Reviewer, which will typically be between GBP200-GBP400, depending on the volume of the work.

Review of non-academic books

Review of non-academic books follows similar steps as academic books. Depending on the nature of the manuscript, we may request that the Author should also do libel-reading to protect us from any potential defamation proceedings.

Plagiarism test

If the manuscript is accepted for publication, it will be subjected to plagiarism test. Our threshold is 15%, excluding in-text citations.

Proofreading

• • The Author is responsible for proofreading his/her manuscript. Though we offer proofreading services at £10 per 1000 words, it is not part of our conditions for publishing and an Author is free to source for professional proofreading services elsewhere.
• • We will run a sample test on any manuscript submitted to us as having been professionally proofread, using track changes. If we reject the quality of the proofreading, we will also decline to offer our proofreading services to avoid potential conflict of interest.
• • If we offer a proofreading service, we will give an evaluation form for the Author to evaluate the quality of the proofreading. If it is scored less than 6/10 (where 10 is Excellent and 1 is very poor,) we will send the manuscript to another proofreader at our expense

Indexing

The Author is also responsible for indexing the manuscript. We can also offer the service for a fee, typically £2 per page.

Formatting the manuscript

The manuscript, including introduction, quotations, tabular material, notes, and references should be produced in Word, font size 12, and in the English language. It should be double line-spaced, allowing one-inch margin on all sides. Where a special programme is required to read aspects of the manuscript, the Corresponding Author should send such a programme as a zip file to us or the link where the programme can be downloaded if it is free. The Corresponding Author is welcome to contact us on info@adonis-abbye.com to discuss how such a special programme can be sourced.

The publisher is responsible for formatting the manuscript to fit into the appropriate trim-size for the book.

Tables, Figures, images and diagrams

• • Type all tables, using a standard Word processing programme and number them consecutively (eg Table 1; Figure 1). Authors should insert all Tables and Figures within the text to where they are cited.
• • Authors should ensure that the minimum resolution for any table, images, figures and diagrams is 300dpi.
• • Authors should ensure that they have the copyright or permission to use any image in the article.
• • Sources of figures, Tables and diagrams must be clearly indicated, using the Author’s surname and the page number of the publication where such is sourced from. Example: Source: Ogbuefi, 2000:9)

Headings, Subheadings, Sub-sub headings, Sub- sub-sub headings (three levels)

Use three descending levels of headings consistently throughout the paper. This should be descriptive but brief.

HEADING

• • Put all your headings such as chapter headings in Bold CAP and centralize it.
  Example:
OBI IS A BOY

Sub-heading

• • Put your subheadings in bold, sentence case, and left justify it.
  Example:

Obi is a boy

Sub-sub heading

• • Put your sub-subheadings in italics, bold, sentence case and left justify it. Example:

  Obi is a boy

Sub-sub-sub headings (three levels)

Put your sub-sub-sub headings (three levels) in italics, without bold, sentence case and left justify.
Example:

Obi is a boy

References

Authors are free to use any referencing style popular in their field but must be consistent in the use of such referencing style throughout the book