A blog about Bloomsbury Academic's 33 1/3 series, our other books about music, and the world of sound in general.

Wednesday, January 24, 2007

3 weeks to go...

Just a quick reminder for anyone who missed it first time around, we are currently accepting new proposals for the series, and the deadline is Wednesday Feb 14th. Below is the original announcement:

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We're now accepting proposals for future 33 1/3 books, to be published in 2008 and 2009. Here are some rules, guidelines and ramblings:

* Proposals on artists already covered in the series (or under contract to be covered) will not be accepted. In other words, these people:

The Smiths
The Kinks
Neutral Milk Hotel
Pink Floyd
Joy Division
Velvet Underground
Rolling Stones
The Beatles
Radiohead
Love
Neil Young
Beach Boys
Dusty Springfield
DJ Shadow
Jimi Hendrix
Led Zeppelin
The Replacements
David Bowie
The Band
Beastie Boys
Jeff Buckley
Prince
Pixies
The Ramones
R.E.M.
Bruce Springsteen
Bob Dylan
Elvis Costello
James Brown
Abba
Jethro Tull
Nirvana
Sly and the Family Stone
The Who
The MC5
The Stone Roses
Guided By Voices
Magnetic Fields
Joni Mitchell
Guns N Roses
My Bloody Valentine
The Byrds
Stevie Wonder
A Tribe Called Quest
Sonic Youth
Captain Beefheart
Steely Dan
The Clash
The Minutemen
PJ Harvey
Celine Dion
Nine Inch Nails
Richard and Linda Thompson
Tom Waits
Belle & Sebastian
Throbbing Gristle
Nick Drake
U2
Brian Eno
Lucinda Williams
Patti Smith
Kate Bush
Television

* The deadline for submission of proposals is Wednesday February 14th - how very romantic.

* Only one proposal per person. Seriously!

* If you've submitted before, you're perfectly welcome to do so again.

* All proposals must be submitted via email - the address is pitches33@yahoo.com Please don't send any proposals to my regular work email. I'm trying to concentrate on Biblical Studies for the next few weeks.

* Choice of album is important - we're here to sell some books, after all. We're more likely to accept a proposal on Odessey & Oracle than on Angels With Dirty Faces, as much as I love them both.

* Your proposal should take the form of a Word document attachment. Do not include your proposal in the body of your email.

* Your proposal needs to include these simple things: your name; a brief outline (up to 1000 words) of how you would approach your album of choice; a brief bio of yourself (up to 500 words), outlining why you're awesome, and why you're the best person to write about that album; a couple of sentences on which 33 1/3 book you've enjoyed the most so far, and why; that's pretty much it.

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Last time around (towards the end of 2005), we received about 170 proposals, and ended up offering contracts to 21 of them. I've no idea how many we'll get this time, or how many we'll end up signing, but we do promise to read them all and to give them all equal consideration. Once we've narrowed it down to a shortlist (by the middle of March), we'll contact those authors to finalise manuscript deadlines, etc. I hope this covers everything! If you have any questions, leave them in the comments section to this post, and I'll do my best to answer them.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Will you be contacting those who submit either way, whether their submission is chosen or not?

David said...

Yes, we'll get back to everyone, as soon as decisions are made.

Anonymous said...

Not much of a writer myself, but I would love to read a book about Talking Heads "More Songs About Buildings and Food"?

Anonymous said...

You keep mentioning that you need to sell books, did you sell lots of copies of the Neutral Milk Hotel one?

David said...

Yes, that's currently the third best selling book in the series, behind the Smiths and Kinks books.

Anonymous said...

I bought my first 33 1/3 book recently, The Replacements one, because I love that band and was so happy to see a book about their music. Though it wasn't too much about the record, it was still a really great read. I liked Mr. Maloy and have sought him out as a musician that I'd previously never heard of. I just bought my second 33 1/3 book, though this time I chose the writer as the reason, Bill Janovitz. As a big fan of Buffalo Tom, I am excited to read what album inspired him. All this is my long-winded way of stating that sometimes who writes the book can sell it, just as much as, or even more than who it is about. I would have never looked twice at a Rolling Stones book, considering the number of them out there. But, I saw who wrote it, grabbed it from the shelf, and wouldn't let go. Okay. Regardless, thanks so much for the series. I just love it and can't wait to read more.

Anonymous said...

I thought I left this comment yesterday, but I guess the computer ate it.

I'm looking at doing a book, but in order to keep my SO happy, it'd be good for me to have an idea of the financial arrangements. If there's some likelihood that I'll lose money on the project, I'd best not go there. Do authors get royalties? Is there any other payment?