SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

As a publisher of career and business books, we welcome proposals from entrepreneurial authors with innovative ideas that fit into our current publishing program. Keep in mind that the lead time between submitting a proposal and seeing your book in print will probably be a year or more. Like other publishers, we publish in three distinct seasons, each with its own deadlines (May 15, September 15, January 15). And like other publishers, marketing is a key consideration in accepting or rejecting a proposal. You must be a marketable author who is both willing and able to market your book with basic PR support from your publisher.

Before submitting a proposal, please do the following:

1. Familiarize yourself with our publishing program by examining the types of titles we both publish and market. These are readily identified on our website. As you may well know by now, we are a niche publisher who primarily specializes in career books (see "About Us"). We are interested in publishing books that have a well defined market. Our "core" consists of resume, cover letter, and interview books. We also are interested in business titles, especially in the communication field, and books dealing with career development in business, government, and the military.

2. Organize your proposal as follows:

A. MARKET SURVEY: Tell us why we should publish your book. Demonstrate your familiarity with the competition and explain how your book differs from the others. Tell us why you believe your book will do well in today's highly competitive trade market. Be specific, including realistic projected sales figures.

B. MARKETING PLAN: This is the most critical element in your proposal. Tell us specifically what you plan to do to market this book via newspapers, magazines, newsletters, radio, television, the Internet, etc. Since we will need a detailed marketing plan six months prior to the targeted publication date, give us as much detail on what you will do to promote your book to the media (both print and electronic), including your present media contacts, the cities in which you plan to promote the book, and examples of materials to be included in your media kit. Identify any special markets for your book, such as direct-mail catalogs, corporations, government, seminar groups, and premium groups. Avoid self-serving "hype" on what a great book you have and that thousands of people will probably buy it. Instead, show us your action plan - the step-by-step details on what you will do to make your book sell, and sell, and sell.

C. RESUME: Enclose a resume that clearly tells us why you are qualified to both write and market this book.

D. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: This should be a 1-page summary of what the book is about. It should excite our Acquisitions Editor to take action.

E. DETAILED OUTLINE: This should include a Table of Contents and detailed summaries of what's included in each chapter and how you will approach each subject.

F. SAMPLE CHAPTER: This should represent your best writing effort.

G. SELF-ADDRESSED STAMPED ENVELOPE: If you want us to return your proposal or manuscript after our consideration, please enclose a self-addressed stamped envelope for that purpose or plan to issue a Call Tag through UPS to have it picked up.

If we are interested in your proposal, we will contact you within 30 days of receiving your materials and request that you complete a detailed "Author's Questionnaire." Keep in mind that in today's marketplace, authors need to tell publishers what exactly it is they will do to make their book successful. In other words,

"Ask not what the publisher can do for you -
tell the publisher what you will specifically do
to make your book a success."

Convince us that you have a winner on your hands and that you are prepared to do X, Y, and Z to ensure it will be a winner.

Please submit your proposal to:

Acquisitions Editor
IMPACT PUBLICATIONS
9104-N Manassas Drive
Manassas Park, VA 20111-5211

We look forward to possibly working with you on an exciting future project and joining our group of talented authors.