Submission Guidelines

Submission guidelines

The University of Iowa Press seeks proposals in the following areas: literary studies, including Whitman studies; poetics; food studies; fan studies; literary nonfiction; the craft of writing; theatre studies; Andean and Midwestern archaeology; the natural history of the Upper Midwest; and regional history and culture. We publish single-author short fiction and poetry through series only.

Please refer to the series lists on our website for information about submitting proposals for the Bur Oak Books and Bur Oak Guides, Contemporary North American Poetry series, Iowa and the Midwest Experience, Iowa Poetry Prize, Iowa Series in Andean Studies, Iowa Short Fiction Award, Iowa Whitman series, Kuhl House Poets, Muse Books, the New American Canon series, Sightline Books: The Iowa Series in Literary Nonfiction, Studies in Theatre History and Culture, and Writers in Their Own Time.

We are also interested in out-of-print books in these areas that would be strong candidates for reissue.

If you are submitting a proposal for a book in one of our series, please see the guidelines specific to that series.

To submit a proposal for a book outside the series framework or to ask whether your project would be of interest, contact

James McCoy, Director, james-mccoy@uiowa.edu, for short fiction, poetry, general trade, and related series: Contemporary North American Poetry and Kuhl House Poets.

Catherine Cocks, Acquisitions Editor, cath-campbell@uiowa.edu, for regional history and culture, archaeology, food studies, fan studies, literary criticism, literary nonfiction, and related series: Iowa and the Midwest Experience, Muse Books, the New American Canon, Sightline Books, Iowa Series in Andean Studies, Studies in Theatre History and Culture, and Writers in Their Own Time.

Holly Carver, Series Editor, holly-carver@uiowa.edu, for natural history and related series: Bur Oak Books and Bur Oak Guides.

For more information about the Iowa Poetry Prize, see http://uiowapress.org/authors/iowa-prize.htm

For more information about the Iowa Short Fiction Award, see http://uiowapress.org/authors/iowa-short-fiction.htm

Whether to Submit a Proposal

One of the first—and most important—decisions an author should make is where to submit his or her proposal. Every publishing house, large or small, has its own strengths. Before submitting your proposal, consider which press has published the books in your field that you admire most. Which publishers' lists include books that are related to yours?

Likewise, please consider the sorts of books a press does not publish. In the case of the University of Iowa Press, we do not publish conference proceedings or symposium volumes, Festschriften, plays, novels, unrevised doctoral dissertations (for advice on revising your dissertation, please see our guidelines), or manuscripts on topics outside of our acquisitions focus.

Your proposal should give the editors and marketing staff a clear idea of what your book is about, how you came to write this book at this point in your career, and where the work fits within your field. It may be helpful to consider the following questions:

• What problems are you setting out to solve?
• What confusions do you wish to clarify?
• What previously unknown or neglected story are you planning to tell?
• Why is this book important?

Editors and marketing professionals are also interested in knowing what potential audiences you foresee. Is your book for specialists in your field, or will it appeal to a broader audience? Is this book intended for use by students? Is there potential for classroom adoption? Is this a trade book, intended for general readers?

Proposals should include the following:

• A brief narrative description of the book, including its themes, arguments, goals, and place in the literature.
• A description of the projected audience and competing titles.
• A brief statement on how the manuscript fits into a particular series or the areas that the press acquires in.
• An estimate of the probable length of the book (both a page count and a word count are helpful), numbers of illustrations and tables, and a note on potential permissions issues (reproduction of illustrations or excerpts of poetry or musical lyrics).
• A table of contents with brief descriptions of each chapter.
• The introduction and another sample chapter (about 50-60 pages altogether).
• A current vita for the author(s) or editor(s) summarizing professional experience, past publications, and relevant research.
• For multiauthored or edited works, please identify which authors have committed themselves to contributing to the book and which are still negotiating. Also note whether any of the material has been previously published, and where.
• If the manuscript is not complete, please provide a projected completion date.

Please email or mail your proposal to the appropriate acquisitions editor and series editor. Our typical response time for a preliminary inquiry is about 5 to 6 weeks.

We look forward to hearing from you.