Publishing with APhA

The American Pharmacists Association (APhA) publishes annually between 15 and 20 printed and digital textbooks and professional references for pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, and students in these fields. APhA copyrighted titles include Krinsky et al., Handbook of Nonprescription Drugs: An Interactive Approach to Self-Care; Chyka, The APhA Complete Review for Pharmacy; Allen, The Art, Science, and Technology of Pharmaceutical Compounding; Cohen, Medication Errors;  Kowalsky, Weatherman, Radiopharmaceuticals in Nuclear Pharmacy and Nuclear Medicine; Trissel, Trissel’s Stability of Compounded Formulations.

APhA would love to receive your proposal for consideration.

Submitting a Book Proposal

APhA is eager to consider proposals for new books.  Whether you are a veteran published author or an aspiring writer, you are invited to submit a book proposal to APhA.  Although APhA will review unsolicited manuscripts, it is best not to invest countless hours in writing an entire book only to learn that it may not fit APhA’s editorial plans.  Besides, we prefer to receive proposals so that we can help authors in the development of their books.

New Book Proposal Form

Your book proposal should contain three items:

• A cover letter that includes (a) your working title, (b) the anticipated manuscript length (double-spaced), (c) a comparison of your idea to published books on the subject in which you explain why you think your treatment of the subject is unique, and (d) your qualifications to write the book.
• A two- to four-page chapter outline.  Indicate in a sentence or two the contents of each chapter plus the significant illustrations and appendices you would include.
• Your curriculum vitae or résumé.

Please note that the quality of the proposal you submit may be our best guide to the quality of the book you intend to write. Send your completed proposal to aphabooks@aphanet.org.

The Evaluation Process

All submissions will be acknowledged. Proposals considered for publication are subject to a rigorous peer review process to ensure that the high standards associated with all APhA publications are met.  In general, three to five reviews are solicited for each book proposal.

If the review process offers support for the proposed book, the product will then be submitted to the senior APhA publishing and marketing staff, which will consider your book’s editorial merits, its compatibility with APhA’s other titles, its projected production costs, and its sales potential.  If the publishing-marketing group endorses the product, you will be offered a publishing agreement.  This proposal-evaluation process usually lasts two to three months.

Final Acceptance

When your completed manuscript is submitted, APhA may send it out for peer review and request that appropriate revisions be made before accepting the manuscript for publication.  After final acceptance, the manuscript is prepared for publication, with normally six months elapsing between acceptance of the final manuscript and publication of the book.

Marketing

APhA is a vigorous and successful marketer of its books domestically and internationally.  APhA promotes books on its websites, in APhA periodicals, e-mail promotions and traditional direct marketing of brochures, display in the APhA booth at national and state pharmacy meetings, and news releases to the APhA house list of more than 200 trade media outlets.  Your book would be sent out for review to appropriate print and electronic journals that publish book reviews. 

Additionally, APhA sells its books to medical book wholesalers both domestic (e.g., Baker & Taylor, Matthews, and Rittenhouse) and international (e.g., Eurospan Group, covering Europe, and iGroup Ltd., covering Asia).  The wholesalers in turn sell the books to bookstores and libraries in their respective region.  APhA books appear on the major book retail websites (e.g., www.amazon.com).