I've been given some conflicting advice about preparing book proposals and manuscripts for academic presses. I'm aware that writing books is a lengthy process etc; however, I've also been told by a friend in the research office who handles applications that to be competitive at all for DECRA and other fellowships, I need at least 9 publications and one book behind me to be considered a strong applicant.

So I've been thinking about this book idea (cross-disciplinary social sciences/cultural studies) for awhile, some of which would come from my PhD, other bits as new material. It is something I would like to write, not for money, mostly for myself, somewhat for career. I submitted a brief enquiry to a potential publisher who said they'd be interested in seeing a book proposal on the topic I offered which I have the template for.

My question concerns whether the book should already be written, or if a proposal and sample material can suffice in early stage? Some colleagues have told me that the latter is preferred, I don't need to have a complete manuscript prepared. Advice online is conflicting, some telling me I should have a whole manuscript prepared as an ECR to be ready to submit, others telling me only a partial is fine.

Any guidance would be appreciated!

Below responses were not helpful:

• Is it bad practice to submit the entire manuscript for an initial book proposal to a publisher?
• What are the most important points to emphasize while pitching for a dissertation to be published as a book?
• Publishing thesis as a book
• When to publish a book?
• Publication Strategy for book manuscript
• How do I convert my PhD dissertation so that it can be published as a book?