Is there a format for presenting ideas to book publishers?

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Request for Question Clarification by czh-ga on 19 Oct 2005 23:55 PDT

Hello johnny_bravo-ga,

What kind of book are you asking about? Fiction/nonfiction? Romance,
horror, literary novel? Juvenile, teen, adult? Travel, health,
cookbook? As you can see, the varieties are endless. What kind of book
do you want to get in front of a publisher? Thanks.

~ czh ~

Book publishers are generally not interested in "ideas" unless the
ideas come from a very well-known author. If you are not an
established, best-selling author, a publisher will expect a
manuscript. If you have not yet finished writing the piece, a sample
of substantial length might be of interest, but submitting just a
story idea or an outline is not likely to get you anywhere unless you
are someone like Stephen King or John Grisham.

Submission guidelines of course vary from publisher to publisher, so
there's probably not a single format or process for you. For what it's
worth, many publishers include their submission requirements (extent,
format, contact, etc.) on their websites. And, be aware that many
publishers do not accept unsolicited or unagented submissions at all.

There are plenty of books, seminars, articles, and so on about how to
write a book proposal, how to submit it to literary agents and
publishers, etc.; they're probably worth tracking down at your
favorite library or bookstore. And I'm sure a researcher will be able
to turn up some good online resources as well.