Some of the most common components of a project rationale are: A working title for the proposed book: Do not spend too much time on this now. One suggestion is to come up with something catchy that tells what the book "does," e.g., Discussion Starters or Talk a Lot. The skill the book practices: List the skill(s) the book provides practice in, e.g., speaking, listening, or speaking/listening.

The level of the material in the book: Is the book for beginners? Intermediate learners? Advanced learners? If possible, try to define what "advanced" means to you, e.g., TOEFL 525-580.

The intended audience of the book: This answer might be elementary, middle school, high school, college, intensive program, ESL, EFL, adult ed, EAP, or any other specific population. If the materials will work equally well with several populations, list the ones that you think are most likely to benefit from your book.

A general overview of the book, including the book's outstanding features: This could be one to three paragraphs long. Describe what the book is, what it will do, and why this book is so good. Include a bulleted or enumerated list of outstanding features of the proposed book.

Information on competing books: List three or four of the most likely competing texts already on the market. Compare your proposed book with each of these books. For each one, tell why your book is better or how your book is different from the already published book. The book's organization: Send a table of contents. If the whole book is not finished, then send a proposed table of contents. How many units are there? What are the unit titles?

A unit organization: What is the format within a unit? Usually there is a presentation of new material followed by exercises and practice activities. What is your format? How is material presented? Does this vary from unit to unit? What types of exercises are there? Do the units have the same exercises in the same order? If yes, list this. If not, explain the format.

Two sample units: Do I need to have a completed manuscript before I can contact a publisher? No. But you can't send just a few pages. You need to send what you consider a completed, representative sample. I recommend two units.

Ancillary materials: Besides the proposed book itself, what else will the writing project include? Will there be a cassette? A script? A teacher's guide? A CD? Student tests? Workbook? Answer key? Art: Illustrations, photos, graphs, and charts. Include whatever is necessary in the two sample units that you are submitting. If you cannot draw or cannot get anyone to draw for you, simply put a small box on the pages where you envision art. Write in descriptions of what the art would be, e.g., "small map of Canada with Ontario highlighted." This will suffice for the project rationale. It is not necessary to hire an artist at this point.

Manuscript length: If you are not submitting the whole manuscript, then it is important to include an estimate of the manuscript page length, e.g., estimated length: 225 pages. This is important because it gives the publisher an idea of how long the actual finished product might be. Some publishers only want small books that are suitable for short intensive programs. Other publishers want only longer materials that can fill an entire nine-month school year for a class that meets one hour every day. In addition, this information tells the publisher if you are really on the ball or not. For example, if you say you have ten units and each unit will have ten pages, this would mean a 100-page book. However, the sample you sent in might have fifteen pages, so which is it: ten or fifteen? And if the sample unit is not representative of the book, then why did you submit that unit? My experience is that it is extremely difficult to write less. In fact, the hard part is saying what you need to say in the least amount of space.

Your background: Who are you? How long have you been teaching? What subjects, levels, and kinds of students have you taught? What makes you an expert for this kind of material? Include a CV with relevant teaching, work, and education information.

Your contact information: How can the publisher get in touch with you? Include your name, your street address (not a PO box because only the post office can deliver to a PO box), telephone number, fax number, and e-mail address. It is not considered ethical to submit a manuscript to more than one publisher at the same time. While I believe that you owe it to the publisher not to do that, I also believe that you should have some feedback within six weeks of the publisher's receipt of your materials. Certainly if you have not gotten a positive response from a publisher within two months, then I would say that it is time to submit them to a second publisher. The whole publishing process of one book takes a long time, sometimes up to three years. I have always enjoyed writing materials. I started in junior high when a teacher had us write practice quizzes for classmates. When I did my student teaching at an ELI, I started cranking out grammar worksheets. These worksheets eventually became my first book, English Structure Practices (University of Michigan Press, 1983). Though I was 25 when this book was finally published, I wrote many of the worksheets when I started teaching at 21. In other words, this first book took four years from the time I was creating worksheets for my classes (with NO idea that this would ever get published) to the actual publication of the book. Publishing takes a great deal of time and work. All teachers have folders of original worksheets which might be worked into a manuscript. With some creativity and perseverance, you can get your manuscript published, too!