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  • Genre Fiction Sightlines
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• Proposals

1.Sightlines will (like all Humanities-E-Books series) be published only in encrypted PDF format. A template of the styles &c. to be used will be provided and must be followed exactly. No advances will be paid. Payment of royalties will be in accordance with the established profit-sharing principles of Humanities-E-Books.

1. The target writers are primarily English-language authors of crime, SF, and children’s books. Works in other languages will be considered only when they have made a substantial impact in translation.


2. Each Sightline must be of 20–30,000 words, comprising: (i) Notes, (ii) Annotations, (iii) an Essay, and (iv) a Bibliography. Broadly, the Notes should be of usebefore, the Annotations during, and the Essay after reading the subject work.


3. The Notes are short, summary, factual essays on the author, if appropriate the series, and topics or themes specific to the novel/s in hand. (Thus, for one of Robert B. Parker’s Spenser novels, say, the notes might be headed ‘Robert B. Parker’, ‘Spenser and Hawk’, ‘Boston’, and then two or three particular issues raised by the novel—for The Judas Goat perhaps ‘Terrorism and the Olympics’, ‘An American PI in London’, and ‘Millionaires’ Vengeance’.)


4. Information in the Notes should be given crisply, and tables or charts as well as illustrations may be used as necessary, but the basic house rule is that grammatical prose be maintained throughout. Bulleting &c. will be allowed only when a strong, clear case can be made for benefit to readers.


5. The Notes will normally amount to 5–7,500 words.


6. The Annotations go page by page through the novel/s in hand, providing factual (including literary) information to elucidate the text/s. Density and slant of annotation may reflect critical strategies, but the Annotations are to provide data, not to carry criticism.


7. The categories of data Annotations will normally provide are geographical, historical, and biographical fact, including concern with anything presented as factual in the text; distinction of real and fictional locations, persons, and events, with commentary as appropriate; translations &c. of any non-English, loan, or otherwise unusual diction, including period, regional, or racial idiolect; literary, popular cultural, and other allusions, including intra-generic or intra-series significations; identification and commentary on any music cited; biological or botanical and cultural data about plants and animals cited; and identification of any evident misprints, or major textual variations between, for example, US and UK editions.


8. The Annotations will normally amount to up to 15,000 words.


9. The Essay offers a critical interpretation of the book/s that have been annotated. Style and method are open, but a general readership must be borne in mind; technical or theoretical terminology &c. is in no way debarred, but will need to be explained, and familiarity with literary references etc. cannot be assumed, though anything dealt with in Notes or Annotations may be cross-referenced.


10. The Essay will normally amount to 5–7,500 words.


11. The Bibliography comprises (i) as complete a print bibliography as possible for the subject writer, including US and UK editions; (ii) a selective print bibliography of secondary materials, including reviews; (iii) an AV bibliography of any tape, CD, VHS, NTSC, and DVD adaptations or documentary resources; and (iv) a selective ‘webliography’ of relevant sites.


12. Entries for secondary materials (categories ii–iv) are briefly annotated, providing some description and any particular commendations or warnings.


13. The Bibliography will normally amount to 750–2,500 words. The upper limit allows for books forming part of a substantial series.


14. Where a series of Sightlines is commissioned to cover a particular series of novels, (i) the ratio of Sightlines: novels, and (ii) the overall and section word-limits, will be negotiated by the author and the general editor. Online publication makes flexibility possible, but the basic format outlined in 4–14 above must be preserved.