I make a point of ending each of our updates with a call for book proposals. This week I’m going to start with one instead. If you’d like to discuss a book project with us, please get in touch at proposals@tbarnpress.com.
But what are you looking for?
This is always a good question to ask your prospective publisher. And conveniently it gives me the opportunity to set out what our publishing aims are. I should clarify first that we publish in the realms of Humanities, Social Sciences and the Arts. We’re open to some flexibility on these for projects that relate to our core themes but are maybe even more interdisciplinary, but just to be explicit about what our baseline expectation is. Aside from that, we’re looking for books that are:
Rigorous and Readable
I’ve written before about what we mean by this and I won’t rehearse everything here, but the fundamental challenge we’ve set ourselves is to publish books that meet scholarly standards of rigour that are accessible to readers who are educated but not necessarily subject specialists. We want our books to appeal to intellectually curious people without the need for a detailed background in the given subject area, or a substantial amount of pre-existing knowledge.
Thematic
This is, quite frankly, a more flexible requirement for us. We currently have four main Themes that we’re looking to use as a way to organise our books and help readers find titles that interest them. That means we’re particularly excited about books that relate to one of these themes, but it by no means rules out the possibility of books that may not. Indeed we have a book proposal under review at the moment that, should we accept it, will require us to invent a new theme.
A quick reminder, those Themes are:
- Power — books about what power is, where it comes from, how it is used and how it can be resisted.
- Migration — books about the movements of people in large or small numbers, what pushes them, what pulls them and what impact do they have on host societies and the places they leave behind.
- Laughter — what makes us laugh and why? What impact do comedy and satire have on our society and politics? How does humo(u)r vary across time and space?
- Seafaring — oceans and rivers shape so much of human geography and history, and we want to publish books that address our civilisational connections to (and through) waterways.
And why should I publish with Tithebarn Press?
I’d hope many of the most persuasive answers to this question are also the answers to the previous one. However, there is more to say here. We offer a range of flexible support to our authors that we think makes us an attractive option for authors who want to have a more human relationship with their publisher. That might be because you’re looking for a lot of support, or for a minimum of fuss, we personalise our processes to suit your needs.
Specifically, I’d highlight these points as key elements of this:
- Personalised editing from content discussions all the way through to copy-editing and proof-reading;
- Formal peer review at proposal stage;
- Rapid production — our first book went from manuscript to paperback in under two months;
- Paperback books at reasonable (we think) prices;
- Focussed and dedicated promotional efforts (we need to sell books so we can eat).
What do your books look like?
If you haven’t heard already, our first title — Eden’s Alternative to Appeasement, by Malcolm Murfett — is out now, and you can see more about it, including a free first chapter and an interview with the author here. We’re very proud of it and it should give you a good sense of what our production and pricing look like in practice.
So, what are you waiting for?
I’ll finish where I started, by urging you to get in touch at proposals@tbarnpress.com you can also find our proposal form and guidelines here if you’d like to take a look at those first.
