How to Submit a Proposal

Washington State University Press, a member of the Association of University Presses, welcomes proposals for book projects by both established and first-time writers. Great books are the lifeblood of any publisher, and we are committed to publishing well-written, well-researched books focusing on the American West, particularly the prehistory, history, environment, politics, and culture of the greater Northwest region.

The Press publishes in a wide variety of genres, including scholarly and trade monographs, essays, and biographies. We are not at this time accepting novels, poetry, or literary criticism. We initially prefer to receive a proposal submission as outlined below, rather than the full manuscript.

Upon receipt of your proposal, we will review it and respond to you quickly. If we find your project of interest, we will ask to see the complete manuscript or, if the manuscript is yet to be completed, we will discuss with you how we might go forward. If we proceed with formal review, a decision to publish usually requires three to six months. On average we publish 12 to 18 months after a contract for a manuscript has been finalized.

We ask that your proposal document contain some basic information that will enable us to present your work to others within and outside the Press. Please answer the questions below as thoroughly as possible, and include the materials requested in your packet. Your doing so will help us speed the consideration process.

Find proposal guidelines for Basalt Books, the WSU Press trade imprint, here.

Find proposal guidelines for The New Histories of the American West series here.

Please provide:

1. A copy of your curriculum vitae or resume, including your contact information, occupation, education, book publications (with publisher, publication date, and estimated unit sales), and journal and magazine articles.
2. A summary of the proposed work.
   • Describe the content and theme in about three hundred words.
   • Tell us why people will want to read your work.
   • Tell us how your work relates to existing scholarship. We appreciate your including the author, title, publisher, and date of publication of significant comparable books.
3. The specifications of the work:
   • Length, including notes and bibliography. Please use the word count provided by your computer or an estimate based on the number of words per typed page.
   • Number and type of illustrations to accompany the text. Please specify color and/or black-and-white photographs, line drawings, maps, charts, graphs, and any other graphic images.
   • Number of tables.
   • Projected completion date of the manuscript, if it is not yet fully written.
4. Suggest the names and addresses of three to five experts in your field of study who might be willing to review your manuscript and do so objectively.
5. The primary audience and any secondary audience(s) for your book.
6. Sections of your work that have been published previously and by whom.
7. A table of contents with a brief summary of the content of each chapter.
8. A sample bibliography.
9. One or two chapters that are representative of the work.

We assume that we have an exclusive opportunity to review your work. If this is a multiple submission (presented to other publishers as well), please explain.

Project proposals should be directed to:

Linda Bathgate, Editor-in-Chief
WSU Press
Cooper Publications Building
PO Box 645910
Pullman, WA 99164-5910
509-335-7630

Electronic submissions are encouraged: linda.bathgate@wsu.edu