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Choosing the right book publisher

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So you’ve got a clear sense of the book you want to write. But who do you want to publish it? This is an important decision. You’ll develop a close working relationship with your editor and the rest of the team working on your book. Ideally this will be a positive relationship that will build as you think about your next book, and the one after that…

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Questions to consider when choosing your publisher

  • Look at your bibliography: who published the books you reference? Pay particular attention to recent books: these publishers are currently active in your area.
  • Which publishers do you see at conferences? Browse their books to see if yours would be at home amongst them. Don’t be shy: speak to the publishers. Tell them about your work and ask what they are looking for. Publishers want to meet potential authors; we can’t do our job without you!
  • Look at publisher websites and catalogues to see what’s new and forthcoming – would your book sit nicely alongside these titles?
  • Talk to your colleagues. Who would they recommend? Don’t forget about social media: we often see academics asking for publisher recommendations on Twitter.
  • Think about the type of press you’d like to publish with. Is it important to you to publish with a University Press? Would you prefer a commercial academic publisher? Are you looking for an academic-led open access press?

Answering these questions should mean you now have a list of potential publishers and commissioning editors.

Rank them in order of preference and get ready to write your proposal. Most publishers prefer to have sole consideration of a project, given the time and cost invested in getting to the point where they can offer you a contract.

Making initial contact

Contacting the commissioning editor

You might want to drop the commissioning editor an email before you put together your proposal to get an initial idea of whether they’re interested. Give them a very brief description of your book and ask if they would like to see a proposal (noting that you will follow their proposal guidelines).

This isn’t a necessary step, but it can be helpful. The benefit is that you don’t spend time on a proposal that doesn’t fit their list.

There are potential downsides. You may have to wait some time for a response (depending on how overflowing the editor’s inbox is). And if you didn’t pitch your book well, you might get a ‘no’ where a full proposal would get a ‘yes’. It’s tricky to pitch a book in a paragraph of clear writing, but it’s something you should be able to do!

Contacting the series editor

If your book might fit in a particular series, it can be a good idea to contact the series editor before writing your proposal. This way, you can sound them out about whether they’d be interested in including your book in their series. You can also ask whether you should send your proposal to them or the commissioning editor.

Where to now?

Choosing the right book publisher | Edinburgh University Press