Santa Monica Press is not shackled by a narrow publishing niche. Instead, we publish books across a wide variety of categories. For instance, our Arts & Entertainment titles include the critically acclaimed Silent Traces: Discovering Early Hollywood Through the Films of Charlie Chaplin and Footsteps in the Fog: Alfred Hitchcock's San Francisco; the cutting-edge L.A. Noir: The City as Character; and the wildly divergent photography books The Sixties, Childish Things, and My So-Called Digital Life.      Chris Epting's trilogy of pop culture location books, James Dean Died Here, Marilyn Monroe Dyed Here, and Elvis Presley Passed Here leads off our best-selling Travel and Popular Culture titles, which also include the now-classic Offbeat Museums and the groovy The Encyclopedia of Sixties Cool.      Other terrific travel books with a pop culture theme include Route 66 Adventure Handbook, Led Zeppelin Crashed Here, Haunted Hikes: Spine-Tingling Tales and Trails from North America's National Parks, and Creepy Crawls: A Horror Fiend's Travel Guide.      We also love humor, as evidenced by The Bad Driver's Handbook; Things You Can Do While You're Naked, Atomic Wedgies, Wet Willies, and Other Acts of Roguery; Redneck Haiku: Double-Wide Edition; and, of course, the infamous The Butt Hello.      Finally, we also specialize in "How-To" and Reference titles. Our "How-To" books provide readers with practical guidance in a wide variety of subjects, from the two volumes of Letter Writing Made Easy! (nearly 200,000 copies sold!) to French for Le Snob to How to Speak Shakespeare. On the reference side, we have published such titles as Calculated Risk: The Extraordinary Life of Jimmy Doolittle, Tower Stories: An Oral History of 9/11, French for Le Snob, and The Largest U.S. Cities Named After a Food: And Other Mind-Boggling Geography Lists from Around the World.      At Santa Monica Press, our goal is to inspire, inform, and entertain. Look for the shell! We love to receive book proposals from authors! You do not need an agent to submit a proposal to Santa Monica Press (though proposals sent through agents are more than welcome). Please send us the following information: A brief summary of the book, including its length (i.e., the approximate number of words in the manuscript). A table of contents Two sample chapters Photocopies of any photographs or illustrations you believe might assist us in evaluating your proposal (do not send originals!) A brief list of similar or competitive books, including title, author, publisher, ISBN number, and date of publication-all readily available on Amazon.com and other on-line booksellers. Tell us what makes your book unique. How does it differ from your competition? Please do not treat this request lightly; this is extremely important information! Marketing and publicity plans or ideas A description of your book's audience A brief autobiographical summary or resume. What do you, as the author, bring to the project? Your mailing address, daytime phone number, and e-mail address Please note that we do not accept proposals or submissions via e-mail or fax. If you would like a response, you must include a self-addressed, stamped #10 business envelope. If you would like your material returned, you must include a self-addressed, stamped envelope of the appropriate size with sufficient return postage. Note to authors who reside outside of the U.S. and Canada: We do not accept International Response Coupons and therefore cannot return your material. You may, however, include your e-mail address with your material, and we will send you a response. You can expect a reply within two months of our receipt of your proposal. Please do not follow up with a phone call or e-mail, and please do not send the package in any manner that requires a signature upon delivery. Send your proposal to: Acquisitions Editor P.O. Box 850 Solana Beach, CA 92075 Sorry, but no phone calls please!!