Query Letter for : [i]Dazed in Dongbei: Ten Months in Northeast China[/i]
by 
Cornelia
|
Posted: Friday, November 21, 2008 Word Count: 528 Summary: This query letter is in a format I found in a book about getting published. It said to include: likely readership appeal, summary with chapters, stage of development and why the author is qualified to write it. |
Dear xxxxxx,
While business interest in China as a rising world superpower is growing, a general reader wants to know about how ordinary people live at the grass-roots level. My book about the experience of working for a Chinese company will interest both these groups.
Book Proposal for Dazed in Dongbei: Ten months in northeast China
Dazed in Dongbei tells how the author spent ten months living and working in a China largely unknown to westerners. The publishing company where I was employed as a 'foreign editor' from Aug 2003 to June 2004 was located in the foothills of the Changbai Mountains, near the North Korean border. It was in stark contrast to China's 'boom' cities and to my life in London. The book is partly personal chronicle, partly a portrait of a company run on the traditional ‘danwei’ or work-unit system and partly an introduction to the people and the culture of a relatively unknown region.
Contents
At about 80,000 words, the 30 topic-based chapters range in subject matter from the differences in office routines and management styles to the distinctive regional cuisine. Side visits to cities of the Manchurian hinterland, such as Harbin at Ice Festival time, the Yellow Sea resort of Dalian at New Year, and Changchun, home to China’s Last Emperor, ring the changes on the company’s rural setting. Dialogue and character descriptions will appeal as much to the general reader as to potential travellers, businessmen and educationalists - in fact, to anybody interested in China’s astonishing rise from third world country to a nation of major economic importance.
Chapter Headings
The following chapter headings (with a brief indication of content) give some idea of the book’s scope and approach
All the Comforts of Home : Daily Life in a Chinese Office
A Hundred Ways with Dofu : Canteen Fare
Ice Statues in Harbin : A stay in China’s Northernmost City
The Barefoot Teacher: Portrait of a Tonghua family
Plastered : Inside a Chinese hospital
Border Incident: Under Arrest
Frontier Town : Life in a town on the Korean Border
The Last Emperor’s Villa :A Visit to Changchun
Walking on Water :Winter in Tonghua
‘Ping! Ping! : Shopping in Tonghua
The Emperor of Swindlers :A Shenyang taxi driver
Thank you, thank you, Jesus: Christian Worship in Tonghua
Hotpot and Dumplings : Regional cuisine
Laid-off Workers : Unemployment Problems
The Well-travelled Daoist : A Visit to a Local Monastery
About 20 of the proposed 30 chapters are completed, with the rest partially completed.
About the author
A full-time writer based in London, Sheila Cornelius lectured in the UK and Singapore in English and Film Studies. An enduring fascination with Chinese language and culture led to the publication of New Chinese Cinema: Challenging Representations (2002 Wallflower Press and Columbia Press) adopted as a course book in UK and US universities. She has contributed to An International Encyclopaedia of Censorship, edited by Derek Evans (2001 Fitzroy -Dearborn) and to magazines China Review (London) and Beijing Review (China) as well as reviews for China-related websites. Sheila is currently writing a book on the life and work of Chinese director Zhang Yimou.
Sample chapters will be forwarded on request.
While business interest in China as a rising world superpower is growing, a general reader wants to know about how ordinary people live at the grass-roots level. My book about the experience of working for a Chinese company will interest both these groups.
Book Proposal for Dazed in Dongbei: Ten months in northeast China
Dazed in Dongbei tells how the author spent ten months living and working in a China largely unknown to westerners. The publishing company where I was employed as a 'foreign editor' from Aug 2003 to June 2004 was located in the foothills of the Changbai Mountains, near the North Korean border. It was in stark contrast to China's 'boom' cities and to my life in London. The book is partly personal chronicle, partly a portrait of a company run on the traditional ‘danwei’ or work-unit system and partly an introduction to the people and the culture of a relatively unknown region.
Contents
At about 80,000 words, the 30 topic-based chapters range in subject matter from the differences in office routines and management styles to the distinctive regional cuisine. Side visits to cities of the Manchurian hinterland, such as Harbin at Ice Festival time, the Yellow Sea resort of Dalian at New Year, and Changchun, home to China’s Last Emperor, ring the changes on the company’s rural setting. Dialogue and character descriptions will appeal as much to the general reader as to potential travellers, businessmen and educationalists - in fact, to anybody interested in China’s astonishing rise from third world country to a nation of major economic importance.
Chapter Headings
The following chapter headings (with a brief indication of content) give some idea of the book’s scope and approach
All the Comforts of Home : Daily Life in a Chinese Office
A Hundred Ways with Dofu : Canteen Fare
Ice Statues in Harbin : A stay in China’s Northernmost City
The Barefoot Teacher: Portrait of a Tonghua family
Plastered : Inside a Chinese hospital
Border Incident: Under Arrest
Frontier Town : Life in a town on the Korean Border
The Last Emperor’s Villa :A Visit to Changchun
Walking on Water :Winter in Tonghua
‘Ping! Ping! : Shopping in Tonghua
The Emperor of Swindlers :A Shenyang taxi driver
Thank you, thank you, Jesus: Christian Worship in Tonghua
Hotpot and Dumplings : Regional cuisine
Laid-off Workers : Unemployment Problems
The Well-travelled Daoist : A Visit to a Local Monastery
About 20 of the proposed 30 chapters are completed, with the rest partially completed.
About the author
A full-time writer based in London, Sheila Cornelius lectured in the UK and Singapore in English and Film Studies. An enduring fascination with Chinese language and culture led to the publication of New Chinese Cinema: Challenging Representations (2002 Wallflower Press and Columbia Press) adopted as a course book in UK and US universities. She has contributed to An International Encyclopaedia of Censorship, edited by Derek Evans (2001 Fitzroy -Dearborn) and to magazines China Review (London) and Beijing Review (China) as well as reviews for China-related websites. Sheila is currently writing a book on the life and work of Chinese director Zhang Yimou.
Sample chapters will be forwarded on request.