Gathering submission information from target presses and determining my book's fit

In my ongoing venture of preparing to pitch my book to a publisher, I am starting to shift my attention from finding presses that align with my book's subject area to creating a digital file which includes email contacts and submission guidelines for each.

If you don't know anything about this process, let me enlighten you. It is probably important to know, not all academic presses operate the same way. Special shout out to Julia K. Kostova and Patrick H. Alexander who wrote a little book called Building a Scholarly Career: The ATS Guide to Religious and Theological Publishing. Kostova and Alexander describe in detail the many types of publishers in the field of theological publishing. Their book even includes a helpful 11 x 17 spider diagram outlining a taxonomy of presses. The book groups dozens of presses into nine different categories. Drawing on Kostova and Alexander's work I will describe only three of their categories, those most relevant to my project. 

Press Categories

1. University Presses

University presses, like Oxford or Cambridge, are not-for-profit publishers of scholarly books. They are committed to the process of academic peer review and potential books are approved by a board comprised of faculty members from the university. 

2. Non-denominational Presses

 

Non-denominational presses, such as Eerdmans, Baker Academic, IVP Academic, etc., are for-profit companies that are committed to religious and theological publishing. They are not affiliated with a specific denomination or religious group and usually publish both scholarly and non-scholarly books.

3. Commercial Religion

 

Commercial presses, like Wiley, Routledge, or Bloomsbury, publish religious and theological books as well as books in the social sciences and humanities. Their audiences can be quite large. They have traditionally focused on selling reference works to libraries.

Within each of these categories I compiled a short list of presses to approach. Getting to know each press gives me better sense of how my book might fit. This week I started drafting statements about how I think my book aligns with the mission and repertoire of each press.

Gathering Submission Information

With my narrowed list of presses I scoured each of their websites in search of two things: submission guidelines and contact names. I want to know what editors are looking for in a proposal package and who to contact when the time comes. While non-academic authors generally need an agent to pitch their work to a press, most presses accept unsolicited manuscripts from academic authors. Some publishing houses have generic email addresses and a bulleted list of items to include in the proposal; others have the names and contact information of their acquisitions editors, those who were work authors to bring new books into presses, for authors to contact directly. While all presses have acquisitions editors, some make it easier than others for new authors to contact them directly.

Multivocational Ministry Book Project

Back in November, 2022 I set out on a journey to research and write a book on multivocational ministry. This was my rough Table of Contents (without strike-throughs):

Chapter 1
Biblical accounts of multi-vocational ministry
Chapter 2
History of multi-vocational pastoral ministry
Chapter 3
The multi-vocational life: the types of pastors needed
Chapter 4
The multi-vocational church: preparing your congregation
Chapter 5
The multi-vocational denomination
Chapter 6
The multi-vocational seminary

Now, my first two chapters have become my whole project. After only a few months diving into the history of the pastoral vocation, I was excited to wake up early to read and write. I started with a book from my historian colleague, Alan Guenther, called God's Ambassadors: A History of the Christian Clergy in America, and worked my way backwards. In December of last year I arrived in the New Testament. I have unearthed fascinating findings that have lead me to question my previous assumptions about pastoral work and the early church. My current research question, did the apostle Paul intend for congregational leaders to be paid full-time by their churches? is being met with a tentative, not likely. But, I have more research to do. I'm not sure how far outside the first few centuries I will get but the biblical and contextual research I've already found are likely going to comprise my first two chapters.

 

My original ideas (chapters 3-6) could likely become part of a series of books on multivocational ministry. I am fairly confident that the biblical and historical story I've started to write, the evolution of the pastoral vocation from tentmaking to full-time profession, could easily be assembled into one book.

 

A few weeks ago I started listening to The Book Proposal Book: A Guide for Scholarly Authors by Laura Portwood-Stacer on Spotify. It is an excellent book and I am looking forward to implementing Portwood-Stacer's wisdom as I assemble my portfolio then reach out to presses to find someone to publish my work. I am hoping to start posting here more regularly about my progress toward the goal of finding a press to publish my work. Portwood-Stacer has an eighteen step process culminating in submitting a proposal to an academic publisher. This week I am working on Step 2: Research and Evaluate Target Presses. I have already signed up for press catalogues so I can get a good sense of my book's potential fit at each. Stay tuned and feel free to reach out and let me know if you find this helpful.