The Sixth Seminar for Authors of Theological Texts "Writing a Book Proposal to Present to a Publishing House" Was Held
Eastern European Institute of Theology held the sixth seminar of Foundations of Academic Literacy for Authors of Theological Texts. A speaker of the sixth seminar was Dr Roger Standing, Senior Research Fellow at Spurgeon’s College in London and author of ten books, the latest of which is Cultural Hermeneutics: the World Through the Lens of Theology. At the seminar, Dr. Standing shared his experience of working with various publishing houses and reviewed in detail the structure of a book proposal to a publishing house.
... it's not enough, by a long way, merely to have a great subject to write about, the academic credentials and ministry experience to write with... an engaging writing style to put it onto paper. No, the key thing to have in mind is that commercial publishing is just that, it is a commercial enterprise. Their intention is to make a profit on what they publish. ... As a theological writer, therefore, I have to know who I am writing for. Who is my audience, and will they want to spend their money to buy what I’m writing? This is so very different to doing academic research where the objective is the more pure intellectual pursuit of knowledge.
The Revd Dr Roger Standing is a Senior Research Fellow at Spurgeon’s College in London. He has a BA degree in theology from the University of Manchester, where he was also awarded an MPhil research degree for his thesis in historical missiology. His doctorate in homiletics was awarded by Denver Seminary in the United States. Dr Standing taught missiology and practical theology at Spurgeon’s College between 2007-17, alongside which he also successively served as the Director of Training, Deputy Principal and Principal. He has authored ten books, the latest of which, Cultural Hermeneutics: the World Through the Lens of Theology, will be published by the SCM Press in October.
