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Submission Guidelines
Please note: poetry collections are not being accepted for consideration at this time.
Procedures
The University of Illinois Press publishes scholarly books and serious nonfiction, with special interests in Abraham Lincoln studies; African-American studies; American history; anthropology; Appalachian studies; archaeology; architecture; Asian-American studies; communications; folklore; food studies; immigration and ethnic history; Judaic studies; labor history; literature; military history; Mormon history; music; Native American studies; philosophy; poetry; political science; religious studies; sociology; southern history; sport history; translations; transnational cultural studies; western history; women's studies.
Before submitting a proposal, please be sure that we are the appropriate publisher for your work. Note that we do not publish original fiction.
University of
Illinois Press
1325 South Oak Street
Champaign, IL 61820-6903
Submitting a Proposal
Our acquisitions editors prefer to consider a written proposal prior to inviting submission of a complete manuscript (at which time you will be asked to submit two copies of your manuscript for evaluation by expert referees). If you do not already know which editor to contact, please consult our staff listing for editors' names and their areas of interest. If you are still uncertain, address your submission to the editor in chief, who will relay it to the appropriate acquisitions editor. If you wish to have your proposal returned, should we decide not to pursue publication, please include a self-addressed envelope and adequate return postage.
Your proposal should include the following items:
- a cover letter describing the length of the manuscript (number of words or number of double-spaced pages) and any intended elements other than text, such as photographs, musical scores, graphs, line drawings, or tables; also, if the manuscript is not yet finished, let us know when you expect to finish it;
- a table of contents;
- one or two sample chapters that accurately reflect the nature and quality of your work;
- a copy of your résumé or curriculum vitae;
- the names of any experts who have already read your manuscript or are familiar with your work.
Proposals are generally evaluated within three weeks of receipt. You should feel free to submit your proposal to as many presses as you wish, but please inform us if you have done so.
Submitting a Manuscript
Although we prefer to receive proposals first, unsolicited manuscripts will be considered for publication, though it may take longer for us to reach a decision. If you wish to have your manuscript returned, should we choose not to pursue publication, please include a self-addressed mailer and adequate return postage.
We normally do not send out for evaluation any manuscript that is under consideration elsewhere. If your manuscript has been or will be submitted simultaneously to other presses, you should immediately inform us of that.
Manuscripts should be prepared in accordance with our style guidelines for the preparation of manuscripts and our guidelines for the electronic preparation of manuscripts. Please let us know if there are any intended elements such as photographs, musical scores, graphs, line drawings, or tables that are not with the manuscript when you submit it.
Series
If you would like your manuscript to be considered for inclusion in one of the Press's series you should so inform your sponsoring editor. It is possible that he or she may also initiate series consideration for your manuscript. Books included in series must be approved by the editors of that series, and no book will be included in a series without the author's consent. We can and do publish books independent of series, even if they might fit into particular series.
Edited Collections and Festschriften
We occasionally publish edited collections of essays but prefer works written by one or two authors. For best consideration an edited collection should be original (no previously published contributions), cohesive, consistently styled and formatted, and concise.
The University of Illinois Press does not publish festschriften.
The Review Process
Like other academic presses, we encounter many manuscripts that exhibit excellent scholarship but are poorly written and are longer than they need to be. We encourage you to be clear and concise, to avoid jargon and pretension, and to make brevity one of the strengths of your manuscript.
Before a manuscript can be accepted for publication it must appeal to an acquisitions editor. If it does, he or she will send the manuscript to one or more expert referees for evaluation. Referees typically recommend for or against publication, but often they recommend acceptance contingent upon certain revisions. Usually a referee requires six to eight weeks to evaluate a manuscript.
If the referees recommend publication, the editor who is sponsoring your project will present it to the Press's internal review committee, which is made up of the director, the editor in chief, the sales manager, and the heads of the editorial, design, production, and marketing departments. This committee reviews the referees' reports and relevant correspondence, considers the subject, length, costs, difficulty, potential audience, and quality of the manuscript, and then decides whether the project fits into the general plans for the Press.
Approval by the internal review committee is necessary before a project can be presented to the University of Illinois faculty members who constitute our Press Board. Contracts are generally offered following Press Board approval, though sometimes an advance contract will be offered with the approval of the internal review committee.
The Press Board is expected to guard the imprint of the University by weighing the merits of each project. The board takes great care in its deliberations and, on occasion, may approve manuscripts only on the condition that certain revisions are made or additional outside readings are obtained.
Usually you and your sponsoring editor will work together on final revisions, which may involve cuts and condensation. The production manager and the managing editor will also review your disk and manuscript prior to final submission and may request that you make further changes in accordance with our style guidelines for the preparation of manuscripts and our guidelines for the electronic preparation of manuscripts.
Time Frame
A well-written manuscript can enter the publication stream in as little as three to four months from the date of initial submission, though much depends on the cooperation of referees and your willingness to make any necessary revisions in a timely manner. If extensive revisions are called for, the time frame expands according to your professional and personal commitments and the availability of one or more of the referees to evaluate the revised manuscript.
On average, and depending on the seasonal list to which your manuscript is assigned, it takes about a year from the submission of a final manuscript to the publication of your book. During that time yours will be one of approximately 160 projects we will copyedit, design, typeset, proofread, and have printed and bound. We will do our best to keep you involved in and informed about the progress of your manuscript as it makes its way through the publication process.
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