The timeline varies greatly among presses and books, but after you submit a final manuscript for peer review, it will probably take at least six months before your book is in production and one-and-a-half years before you have a finished book. Peer review commonly takes three to six months. If revisions and another round of peer review are required, more time will be added, depending on how long you take to revise your manuscript and how long the second round of peer review takes. Once the peer-review process is complete, all projects will need to be approved by the press’s editorial board. Depending on how often the board meets, you may need to wait up to a few months for final approval. Once your project is approved, it can be scheduled for production. Production cycles range from eight to eighteen months, depending on the press and the type of book. A first-time author who is just starting to make inquiries should probably count on the whole process’s taking two to four years.
—AUPresses Faculty Outreach Committee