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Where to Publish Your Research

Identify book publishers

Ask colleagues what publishers they are using.

Ask your subject librarian what publishers are producing the books they are purchasing for the library's collection.

If you have access to course syllabi for classes that require students to read books that are not textbooks, check the publishers represented on these reading lists.

Search online databases to discover who publishes books in your area.

Check directories of book publishers.

Check publisher websites to see what books they are publishing.  Search older book titles on Google Scholar to see if they are being cited in the scholarly literature.

Become informed about a publisher

  • Ask a colleague, mentor, advisor, or your subject librarian - what do they know about this publisher?
  • Determine who is on the editorial board.
  • Confirm that editors are really serving on the board by checking online CV's or contacting them via email.
  • Contact the subject editor for your area.
  • Look for clear guidelines for authors.
  • Check to see if any of the publisher's books have won awards.
  • Look for book reviews of the publisher's books.

Be wary of questionable practices by publishers

Questionable Practices

  • Fees of various kinds. Agents who charge reading fees, evaluation fees, retainers, “marketing” or “submission” fees. Publishers that require writers to buy critiques, pre-purchase books, or pay for some aspect of the publication process.
  • Conflicts of interest. Agents or publishers that recommend their own paid editing services. Agents who consistently steer clients toward publishing or editing operations they themselves own. Independent editors who pay kickbacks for referrals.
  • Abusive or nonstandard contract terms. For instance, an agent who claims an inappropriate financial interest in a client’s future work, or a publisher that demands temporary surrender of copyright.
  • Unprofessional practices. Agents who shotgun-submit or use their clients’ own query letters. Publishers that turn their authors into customers by encouraging or forcing them to buy their own books. Independent editors who claim that manuscripts must be “professionally” edited in order to be competitive.
  • Nonperformance. Agents who’ve been in business for more than a year and still have no sales. Publishers that don’t fulfill their contractual obligations. Independent editors that take clients’ money and don’t deliver.
  • Dubious qualifications. An agent, publisher, or other purported literary professional who sets up in business without a relevant professional background. Such people are often well-intentioned, but have no idea how to do the job.

From: Writer Beware (Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America)

Understand book publication contracts

Consider making your work open access

Additional information