Submission Guidelines

Thank you for your interest in North Atlantic Books. Please note that unsolicited manuscripts account for only 5 percent of our publications. The vast majority of what we publish comes from a proactive acquisitions program. We are a nonprofit (501c3) publisher, and our publications must reflect our mission statement.

North Atlantic Books has two imprints:
EVOLVER EDITIONS
Blue Snake Books

Niche areas dominate our publishing. We are most interested in holistic and alternative health, bodywork, somatics, healing practices, raw food, healthy eating and nutrition, sustainability, ecology, spiritual practices, new consciousness, and martial arts. We also publish some social sciences, lifestyle, and political titles, but these generally have to overlap with one of our other categories. We prefer books that focus on a single practice or tradition, rather than general overviews of a broad subject area. For our martial arts imprint, we are most interested in documentations of specific lineages, translations of historical documents, and in–depth examinations of specific techniques and practices.

See NAB Communities for further information about and examples of our subject areas of interest.

Please do not submit:

• Poetry
• Fiction
• “Popular” art and photo books
• Stories of personal healing or disease
• “Knock–off” books—i.e., a simpler rendition of a master book we’ve published or with which someone else has had success
• Redundant material that duplicates what we’ve already published
• Very general books on topics like health, spirituality, etc.
• Cookbooks without some affiliation, usually a restaurant
• Memoirs

You may note that we do publish poetry, fiction, photography, and art, but we do not publish unsolicited poetry, fiction, photography, and art.

We accept simultaneous submissions, but ask that you let us know the status of the manuscripts submitted to other publishers.

To submit: Send a proposal for your book by regular mail. We do not encourage proposals by e–mail. Queries don’t describe books fully enough, so don’t send a query. We rarely accept books that are not yet written and do not encourage submissions from agents on proposal only.

The proposal should include as much of the following as it is feasible and expedient to include:

1. Table of contents with subheads listed; a chapter summary is a plus.
2. Sample chapters—ideally, the first, the middle, the last.
3. A 75–word statement describing the book’s intention and argument.
4. Statement of your qualifications in this area: education, books or articles; what makes you a leader in this field. Tell us what your “platform” is, why someone is going to listen to you on this subject, what you do to make your work well–known, where you speak, what associations feature you, where you have performed or made contact with the readership of this book previously.
5. A marketing plan describing how you will reach your book’s potential audience: journals, magazines, interviews, etc. List the most important publications that could excerpt or review your book as well as anyone you know who is a leader in this field who could review it.
6. Review of comp titles: What are the four leading titles in the field to which your book could be compared? How do they differ from your book?
7. Why are you interested in publishing with North Atlantic Books?
8. What is the word count of your manuscript? Is the manuscript complete? If not, what is the completion date?
9. List a few suggestions for foreword writers if appropriate. What are your ideas for back cover endorsements? These should be people of stature whom you know and who can help speak for your book.
10. If you plan to include photographs or illustrations in your book, please let us know how many of each and provide samples.
11. How will you help promote your book? What plans do you have to travel nationally, to do workshops or speaking engagements with organizations involved in your subject?

Enclose a self–addressed stamped envelope for our response to your proposal. Without this, you will not hear from us. To receive any materials back, enclose a self–addressed, stamped mailer. Please do not send original artwork or irreplaceable documents; we cannot assume responsibility for these.

Address queries and submissions to:
Acquisitions Board
North Atlantic Books
2526 Martin Luther King Jr. Way
Berkeley, California 94704

Please do not attempt to contact us by phone or by email, especially to see if we’ve received your manuscript. Due to the volume of proposals we receive, it may take three to six months for us to get back to you.