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 In the case of the University of Iowa Press, we do not publish the following: novels, unrevised doctoral dissertations, conference proceedings or symposium volumes, Festschriften, plays, or manuscripts on topics outside of our acquisitions focus. (For advice on revising your dissertation, please see our guidelines.)
The University of Iowa Press seeks proposals in the following areas:
We publish single-author short fiction only through the Iowa Short Fiction Award and the John Simmons Short Fiction Award.
We publish poetry through the Iowa Poetry Prize and the Kuhl House Poets series.
Short fiction, poetry, and general trade:
Literary criticism, literary and general nonfiction, military and veterans’ studies, the craft of writing, and related series (Contemporary North American Poetry, Iowa Whitman series, Muse Books, the New American Canon, and Sightline Books):
Book arts, fan studies, food studies, midwestern history and culture, natural history of the Midwest, public humanities, theatre history and culture, and related series (Bur Oak Books, Humanities and Public Life, Impressions: Studies in the Art, Culture, and Future of Books, Iowa and the Midwest Experience, and Studies in Theatre History and Culture):
Some series have their own guidelines. Please check the series description before submitting a proposal.
Please note that the Iowa Poetry Prize, the Iowa Short Fiction Award, and the John Simmons Short Fiction Award have their own submission procedures. The University of Iowa Press does not handle these submissions. Please contact the Iowa Writers’ Workshop with questions about them.