Book Proposal

Your Book Proposal

We publish books written for professional counselors, clinicians, counselor educators, and counselors-in-training. Your proposal should be written with this audience in mind (i.e., it reflects that counseling is a professional relationship that empowers clients to accomplish mental health, wellness, education, and career goals; the terminology used is counseling-based; the majority of the citations/references are counseling resources).

The Proposal Package

Your proposal should include the following items:

A cover letter that describes the content and rationale for the manuscript, why it will be of interest to professional counselors, and how it will address issues of diversity (e.g., ethnicity, culture, sexual orientation, gender, ability).
Information about the publication: Its purpose; a Table of Contents; a detailed outline or chapter-by-chapter summary that describes the material covered in each chapter; a brief listing of current key references; intended target audience(s) and how this book will benefit them; key sales features; competing publications in the field; and an estimate of page length and date of completion.
At least one complete chapter or a sample of your recently published writing.
A statement describing the author(s) expertise for writing/editing the book and current CV for each author.
If this is an edited book or if certain chapters will be written by other authors, please provide names, degrees, and affiliations of contributing authors.
If the proposal is under consideration by another publisher, or includes material previously published in whole or in part, please inform ACA at the time of submission.

Submit your manuscript proposal to: publications@counseling.org

Review Process and Procedures

Each proposal received by ACA goes through an internal and peer review process. The steps in this process are outlined below.

Proposals are received and evaluated by ACA. An acknowledgment of receipt of your proposal will be sent within 2–4 weeks. If ACA believes that your manuscript is not appropriate for the ACA publishing program, it will be rejected at this stage.
If the proposal is deemed of interest to our audience, it will be submitted to the ACA Editorial Advisory Board, or other selected reviewers, for further consideration. If the review is positive, the proposal will be brought before the ACA Publications Committee.
Pending positive feedback and support for publication, a contract is issued that specifies when the complete first draft and final draft will be submitted.
The first draft is reviewed concurrently by ACA and several peer reviewers. ACA assesses the manuscript’s organization, coherence, and other publishing elements. The peer reviewers, selected with author consultation, assess the manuscript’s content and accuracy.
The author uses these preliminary reviews to refine the manuscript and prepare the final draft.

Clinical Supervision in the Helping Professions

Theory and Practice of Couples and Family Counseling

Suicide Assessment Treatment Planning

The Creative Arts in Counseling

Antiracism Counseling