Editorial Submission Guidelines

North Atlantic Books has two subimprints: Frog Books and the martial arts imprint, Blue Snake Books.

Unsolicited manuscripts account for only 5% of our publications. The vast majority of what we publish comes from a proactive acquisitions program.

Niche areas dominate our publishing: alternative health, somatics, martial arts, live food, spiritual topics, but we also publish very broadly in a wide variety of subjects and categories of mainstream and general-trade interest. These cannot always be extrapolated from our niche areas.

We are looking only for original books. We do not publish repeats, journalistic accounts, books developed from market analysis, derivative books, etc... We want books that people live, books written from inspiration because they have to be written, books by innovators and active practitioners of what they are discussing; we do not want books written to sell what other people are doing.

Remember, we are a nonprofit (501c3) publisher, and our publications must reflect our mission statement (as described elsewhere on this website) in one way or another.

In addition to what should be obvious from perusing our website, we are interested in manuscripts in the following areas, some of which we hope to develop or expand:

• Practitioners and innovators of bodywork and somatics
• Practitioners and innovators of martial arts, especially of regional martial forms we have not yet published (for instance, we are looking for someone to compile a manuscript on North American Indian martial arts from Penobscot and Iroquois to Tlingit, Tewa, and Cherokee; other unexplored genres, such as South Asian Indian martial arts and Middle Eastern martial arts are also of interest)
• Climate change; historical ecology; human ecology; environmental discussion and explication; alternative, tribal, and ghost technology
• Parenting (innovative only)
• Alternative health for children (specific conditions such as asthma as opposed to general books and guides)
• Fiction and literary nonfiction in translation: contemporary memoirs, short stories, novels from Iran, Turkey, the Balkans, Sri Lanka, Muslim countries, Southeast Asia, Scandinavia, indigenous regions, and other regions not generally well represented in English
• Current affairs, sustainable development, globalization and critiques of globalization (see our Terra Nova series)
• Quality children's picture books or chapter books (for instance on topics like vegetarianism or indigenous and developing-world lifestyles)--please no more books on bodily functions; Walter the Farting Dog was a one-trick-pony title for us
• Dance, theater, visual arts, performance art, edgy blogs and mutations of conceptual internet sites--cutting-edge theory of same
• Cultural studies, feminist theory and practice
• Literary nonfiction
• Radical, creative, and outsider pop culture
• High-school sports (see When The Game Stands Tall)

Please do not submit:

• Poetry
• Fiction
• "Popular" art and photo books (we only do radical and outsider work)
• Stories of personal healing or disease
• Books written as commercial agendas to exploit so-called "hot" markets
• "Knock-off" books--i.e. an easier 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.

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

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 not written yet, and do not encourage submissions from agents on proposal only.

Please DO NOT send a copy of the complete manuscript unless we request one.

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 comparative titles to which your book will be compared? How do they differ from your book?
7) Why is North Atlantic Books or Frog Books the best publisher for this book? What can we do for you that other publishers can't?
8) What is the length in pages, double-spaced, 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 endorsement? These should be people of stature whom you know and who can help speak for your book.
10) What help will you be in the promotion of 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 business 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. Send SASE for all responses.

Address queries and submissions to:

Acquisitions Board
North Atlantic Books and Frog 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. Reply time: three to six months.