Acquisitions

What We Publish

Avalon travel guides feature a combination of practicality and spirit, offering a traveler-to-traveler perspective perfect for planning an afternoon hike, around-the-world journey, or anything in between. ATP publishes seven major series: Rick Steves, Moon Handbooks, Moon Metro, Moon Outdoors, Moon Living Abroad, Road Trip USA, and The Dog Lover’s Companion.

Each series has a different emphasis and a different geographic coverage. Our main areas of interest are North America, Central America, South America, the Caribbean, and the Pacific. At any given moment, we are seeking to acquire only a handful of specific titles in each of our major series.

Please note that we are only looking for books that fit into our current series at this time and are not interested in the following genres: fiction, children’s books, and travelogues/travel diaries.

How to Get Our Attention: The Pitch

For book concepts that fit into any of our current series, please send a resume, a cover letter, and up to five relevant clips to acquisitions@avalonpub.com. In the cover letter, explain why you are the best person to author the guidebook that you are interested in writing. A full proposal is not required at this preliminary stage.

We will contact those applicants that we think might be a good fit for the book and ask them for a phone interview. Unfortunately, we cannot respond personally to every applicant. After the phone interviews, we will invite the best candidates to write full proposals for the project.

Proposal Instructions

All potential authors must be willing to submit a full proposal in order to be considered. The proposal must include ALL of the following information.

1. Introduction. Give an overview of the destination, including its personality or character. Evoke a sense of place—successful proposals should make us want to go to the destination.
2. Author credentials. What are the reasons that you would be the best author for this book? Include applicable experience, education, and other materials previously published. Be sure to attach a copy of your resume and contact information for at least three professional references.
3. Competition analysis. Describe all other books currently available that would be competition for your proposed book. Analyze the coverage, voice, and strategic information of each. Also discuss how your book would be different and why the market needs your book. (This can be included in the evaluation of each competing title, as a summary at the end, or both.)
4. Outline. Compose a detailed outline the contents of your proposed book. The outline should show the general structure of the book and how each region will be covered. The outline and other proposed content must match the requirements listed in our series guidelines. For each chapter, include a brief (at least 4–5 sentences) description of the area or subject covered in that chapter.
5. Marketing and promotion. Share the ways in which you think your book could be most effectively promoted and what your contribution to those efforts would be.
6. Manuscript specifications. Talk about the details: estimated page count, time needed to complete the manuscript, number and types of photographs you would include in the book (and how they would be obtained), and number and types of maps you would like in the book (and will provide materials for).
7. Sample photos. Include five photos, with accompanying captions, that are representative of the photos that you would take or obtain for the book.

The Work in Brief

Avalon travel guides range in size from 250 pages to approximately 700 pages. The destination and focus of the guide determine its size, and the author typically has 6–12 months to research and write the book. Each book must conform to its respective series guidelines (we will provide guidelines only to those candidates who are selected to write a proposal). The author is also responsible for providing photos and map materials.

Address all correspondence to:

Acquisitions Editor
Avalon Travel Publishing
1700 4th Street
Berkeley, California 94710
email acquisitions@avalonpub.com