Dear All,

From time to time, I get queries on where to propose books or submit journal articles. I want to share with you a useful tool and a few general comments on leading book publishers. In the next few days, I’ll post notes on good venues for journal articles, on the topic of turning PhD dissertations into books, and comments on three specific publishing firms.

In my view, you should start by looking at the top presses. You lose nothing by offering a book to the best publisher that you can get to publish your book. The place to start is at a publisher’s own web site. Study their backlist. Check their series. Then examine their proposal and submission process. Many publishers have detailed information on their web site. Many also publish contact lists of the acquisition editors — those are the professional editors within the publishing firm that work with the series editors, and they may also handle individual titles in their subject field.

There is one thing to remember: you can have an initial query with as many publishers as you wish. Once you submit a formal proposal, you should narrow your inquiry to a single publisher, and you should offer to your book to only one publisher at a time. It takes time to evaluate a book proposal. Acquisitions editors and series editors must read the proposal and possibly the manuscript or sample chapters. Then, the press asks for outside reviews. You should not ask two publishers to do this at the same time. If you’ve written a Robert Grisham-style thriller and you have Hollywood producers lining up for the film rights, you can hope for an auction and you can talk with all the firms that want to bid. If you’ve written a book on service design for improved public transportation, stick with one publisher at a time. I hope that I haven’t offended anyone who plans a service design title with action-movie potential. If someone out there has written a book on service design with possible lead roles for Jason Statham, Denzel Washington, and Chloe Grace Moretz, go for it. If not, one publisher only.

There are two good ways to find publishers. One way to find publishers is to search Amazon for similar books. The publishers of those books may want to consider your book. An Amazon search will help you in three ways. First, you’ll need to know the other titles that form the context and possible competition for your book. Nearly every publishing firm will ask for this information in the proposal process. If you keep good noes, you’ll be ready to answer questions. Second, you’ll get an idea of who is publishing — this will tell you publishers in the field that may find your book interesting — and you’ll see that your book may be less interesting, say, to a firm that already has the leading title. Third, a good sense of current titles will help you to refine your proposal by allowing you to highlight differences and added values in your book.

The other way to find appropriate publishers is to use the Norwegian Register for Scientific Journals, Series and Publishers. This web site is available in English as well as Norwegian, so anyone can use it. Just click on the little Union Jack. This list has been such a successful tool that the five Nordic nations are now working together to generate The Nordic List — Nordic cooperation on research publication channels towards a common list.

Here’s how to use the tool. First, go to the main web site at: 

https://dbh.nsd.uib.no/publiseringskanaler/KanalTreffliste

If you get the Norwegian site, click on the Union Jack for English. Then go to the line that reads:

Switch to advanced search

Click on this and it will take you to the search tool.

The search tool permits you to search book publishers as well as journals. Set the field “type” to publishers. Then set the language field to the national language you want, or to the English language for the broadest international audience — or leave it set to “all” to get all likely publishers. Finally, set the level — leave it at “all” to show you 3,033 publishers, or set to level 2 to see the leading publishers. You can also use the top search box that says “title” to search by specific publisher names.  

From the publishers lists that you choose, you can then click on the name of any specific press. From that page, you will generally find a link to the web site of that publishing firm. 

If you’ve taken the time and effort to write a serious book, the time you invest in learning about likely firms is a good investment. The better your proposal, the more likely a good publisher is to consider your title.

Several strong publishers are producing interesting design books. BIS and Bloomsbury both have strong design series. These books are positioned between professional titles and academic titles. Both of these do especially good marketing to the design community and the design academic community. 

Several more presses have good titles or professional series in design. Springer, Elsevier, and Birkenhauser all have good design titles, and Elgar, Macmillan Palgrave, or Idea Publishing might be an appropriate venue for titles with a smaller likely market. Same for Wiley. For the best information, you’ll do well to do an Amazon search as your starting point. One house may do well with architecture, while another is strong in graphic design, and a third house in service design or design for public choice.

Among leading university presses, The MIT Press has a series with a focus on research issues and scientific approaches to design. (Full disclosure — Erik Stolterman and I are the editors of the Design Thinking, Design Theory series for The MIT Press. Doug Sery is our acquisitions editor. And I can say, first hand, that we are always looking for exciting new books) 

While there are many good scientific publishers and university presses, five are especially strong in terms of shelf space and marketing. The MIT Press is one. The others are Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, University of Chicago Press, and Harvard University Press. To publish a book with any of these outstanding publishers assures you of massive impact. All have very solid marketing, especially to researchers and research libraries, with strong shelf space in good bookstores.

Among professional publishers, Harvard Business Press had a major book with Roberto Verganti’s book — HBP is located at the boundary of research and professional interest. Sage and Routledge are strong companies that have also demonstrated interest in design and design research. Intellect is a good firm that has moved up dramatically in recent years. They do some titles in design, and they do a serious job. 
 
At the foot of this post, I’ve copied the 86 level-2 book publishers from the Norwegian Register. As you’ll see, there are many strong publishing firms to choose among. 

A good book deserves a good publisher. If you have written one, give your book the publisher it deserves. Take the time to check the opportunities and select among the most appropriate firms.

Yours,
       
Ken

Ken Friedman, PhD, DSc (hc), FDRS | Editor-in-Chief | 设计 She Ji. The Journal of Design, Economics, and Innovation | Published by Tongji University in Cooperation with Elsevier | URL: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/she-ji-the-journal-of-design-economics-and-innovation/

Chair Professor of Design Innovation Studies | College of Design and Innovation | Tongji University | Shanghai, China ||| University Distinguished Professor | Centre for Design Innovation | Swinburne University of Technology | Melbourne, Australia 

Email [log in to unmask] | Academia http://swinburne.academia.edu/KenFriedman | D&I http://tjdi.tongji.edu.cn 

2	Mohr Siebeck	
2	Presses Universitaires de France	
2	Verlag J. B. Metzler	
2	Universitätsverlag Winter	
2	Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht	
2	C.H. Beck	
2	Wallstein Verlag	
2	Palgrave Macmillan	
2	Edition text + kritik	
2	James Currey Publishers	
2	I.B. Tauris	
2	Praeger	
2	Verso	
2	Falmer Press	
2	Belknap Press of Harvard University Press	
2	Berg Publishers	
2	Berghahn Books	
2	Blackwell Verlag	
2	Brepols	
2	Brill Academic Publishers
2	Cambridge University Press	
2	Duckworth	
2	Duculot	
2	Edinburgh University Press	
2	Duke University Press	
2	Columbia University Press	
2	Cornell University Press	
2	Edward Elgar Publishing	
2	Franz Steiner Verlag	
2	Equinox Publishing	
2	Frank Cass Publishers	
2	Harrassowitz Verlag	
2	Hart Publishing Ltd	
2	Harvard University Press	
2	Honoré Champion	
2	IKO - Verlag	
2	Johns Hopkins University Press	
2	Kluwer Law International	
2	John Benjamins Publishing Company	
2	Lawrence Erlbaum Associates
2	Brill Nijhoff	
2	M. E. Sharpe	
2	Librairie Droz	
2	Max Niemeyer	
2	MIT Press	
2	Motilal Banarsidass	
2	Mouton de Gruyter	
2	Ox Bow Press	
2	Multilingual Matters	
2	Princeton University Press	
2	RoutledgeFalmer	
2	Sage Publications	
2	Brill - Rodopi	
2	Stanford University Press	
2	Stauffenburg Verlag	
2	Suhrkamp	
2	University of Minnesota Press	
2	Syracuse University Press	
2	University of British Columbia Press	
2	University of California Press
2	University of Chicago Press	
2	University of Washington Press	
2	University of Hawai'i Press	
2	University of Michigan Press	
2	Waxmann Verlag	
2	Yale University Press	
2	Walter de Gruyter	
2	Wilhelm Fink Verlag	
2	Boydell & Brewer	
2	Intersentia	
2	Polity Press	
2	Pendragon Press	
2	University of Pennsylvania Press	
2	Manchester University Press	
2	Ashgate	
2	Intellect Ltd.	
2	Mentis Verlag GmbH	
2	Oxford University Press	
2	Peeters Publishers	
2	Prentice-Hall
2	LIT Verlag	
2	AltaMira Press	
2	Zed Books	
2	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers	
2	Bloomsbury T&T Clark	
2	Routledge


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