First and foremost, it is important to find presses that have a reputation for publishing in your field. A go-to resource is AUPresses’s Subject Area Grid. It is also good to look at the presses that exhibit and advertise at your professional conferences. This is a great opportunity to investigate who is publishing what and how that might align with your own scholarship. Talk to your colleagues, especially those who have recently published books on similar topics. Find out who is publishing the leading scholars and award-winning books in your field. Combing relevant academic journals and even your own bibliography with an eye toward identifying suitable publishers is also a great option!
Beyond finding a publisher that actively publishes in your field, there are a host of considerations worth keeping in mind. As you make your initial search for presses, submit your proposal or manuscript for consideration, and have early conversations with acquiring editors, remember that your publisher isn’t just a printing press—they are a long-term collaborative partner.
It is important to find a press that helps you achieve your goals as a scholar and an author. Your relationship with a publisher is one that lasts at least a couple years, and you should feel good about that relationship when you sign your contract. Having a supportive publisher that is as invested in your work as you are and whose goals align with your own is key.
Different scholars will have different priorities for choosing a publisher. Is the tenure-track clock ticking? Do you need a publisher that can work quickly to publish your book? Is the prestige of being published by the leading press in your field important to you? Are you looking for a hands-on editor with strong developmental editing skills? Do you have a sense that your book may find a crossover audience among scholars and general readers? How do financial considerations (e.g., royalty structure, cost of indexing, potential subvention requirements) factor in your decision-making?
Every author will have different answers to these kinds of questions, and every press offers something slightly different. These are all good questions to raise with acquiring editors who have expressed initial interest in your proposal or manuscript. Also consider the publisher’s mission statement and what values they prioritize, often found on their website. Finally, you may find it helpful to talk to colleagues, mentors, and others about what is important to them as authors and what their publishing experiences have been like.
—University Press of Kansas, September 2025,
incorporating insights from Fordham University Press and Michigan State University Press
in a 2021 Ask UP post, “How do you find publishers for a particular topic or field of study?”
See also Is a trade press or an academic press a better fit for my book?
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