The start of 2026 marks four months since the public launch of Tithebarn Press. The change of year feels like a good time for reflection on how far we’ve come already and where we’re hoping to get to this coming year.
If we’re tracking progress over 2025 then we really need to go back to May, when I reached out to a handful of authors I’d worked with at Routledge to ask them how they would feel about a new independent academic publisher. The whole idea was very embryonic back then, our Theme structure – – still in its early stages even now – – had yet to be conceived. I just had the germ of an idea that I could provide closer support to authors while taking them through the full publishing process personally.
With a heartening level of enthusiasm from several of these old friends, Tithebarn Press started to take shape (including eventually finding a name) and I thought very hard about what kinds of books we should be publishing. I wanted to publish books that I would want to read, that would maintain the standards of an academic press, but with the aim of being reasonably approachable for what we might call interested laypeople. I decided on the Thematic approach both because I hadn’t seen it done before, and because it would allow us to neatly sidestep questions of subject discipline. It presents its own challenges, of course, precisely because it does not map neatly to departments where prospective academic authors are affiliated. So far, however, I’ve been very pleased with how many people seem to have been enthused by the idea of approaching publishing in this way, and it should only get easier to explain as we start to publish books under each Theme.
Then there was a very practical question to address – – what exactly would the process of converting a manuscript to a book look like?
Fortunately, one of my old friends had a 30,000 word piece of work that he was able to donate for me to use as a prototype. This gave me a chance to put a real and previously unedited piece of writing through a full production process, including copy editing, laying out, proof reading, indexing, and cover designing, before producing some hardbacks paperbacks and ebooks. This was a lot of fun, and gave me confidence that I can handle the parts of the process that weren’t directly in my wheelhouse back when I worked for Routledge.
I proceeded to design a website with WordPress and after much agonising, launched officially on the 1st of September. Then began the real work of reaching out to prospective authors and other former contacts to see if I could find people who were as excited by the tenets of Tithebarn Press as I was. I also began these weekly posts where I both expand on my vision for the press and try to share some of the lessons I’ve learned from nearly two decades working in publishing.
So, what does 2026 hold for Tithebarn Press? Well I’m afraid I still have to be quite vague at this stage, for confidentiality reasons. What I can say is that we’re currently working on five live book proposals, mostly within the Power theme but also within the Laughter theme. I’m really excited about working on every one of these, and I’m looking forward to being able to share them with you in much more detail as they take shape. There’s an eclectic range of topics including contemporary China and Korea, 20th Century British foreign policy, and how to fix democracy. Hopefully of course there will be several more coming in 2026 that I don’t know about yet, as well as a few I might know a little about, but don’t yet know whether they will come through…
In the meantime, I’m also trying to expand our reputation for robust and candid publishing advice, by giving publishing seminars for early and mid career academics (or anybody else who wants them). Do drop us a line at seminars@tbarnpress.com if you and your colleagues would be interested! For the foreseeable future I’m offering these sessions for free, while I build the profile of Tithebarn Press.
So, wishing you all a happy and successful 2026, and if you think this might be the year for you to write your book, do get in touch through proposals@tbarnpress.com.
