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The Pluto Press
Author Guide page is made up of the following sections. Please click on
any of the sections
below to view the contents.
Guidelines on Submitting a Proposal to Pluto Press
Notes on Doctorates
Who To Contact at Pluto Press
Why Publish with Pluto
Guidelines
on Submitting a Proposal to Pluto Press
Pluto is primarily
an academic press, publishing for students and academics in higher education
worldwide.
Our list is an unashamedly challenging one, with a sharp critical edge and
an intentionally political focus. We offer a forum for scholars and activists
who wish to produce work within an avowedly radical tradition.
Pluto Press is always interested
in receiving proposals for new books. The following guidelines are designed
to ensure that your proposal reaches us with as much relevant information
as possible; the proposal you submit is the basis on which we judge a book's
suitability, and it is also what we send to specialist reviewers. If we
have the right information, the job of assessing the quality of your work
and offering constructive criticism and comment is that much easier. Not
every section will necessarily be relevant: if you have queries, we will
be happy to discuss them with you.
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Title
The obvious starting point!
Although provisional at this stage, a good title is enormously helpful -
and vital in the marketing of your book. It should be explicit, informative
and descriptive - remembering that in bibliographies and reference lists
(and on the web) it may be the only indication of content.
Rationale
A brief statement of aims:
the main themes and objectives of the proposed book
why you feel it's needed
what makes your book special, original, important and marketable
what makes it particularly suitable for the Pluto list.
Synopsis and Table of
Contents
a brief description of the book - what is it about? (400 words)
a clear impression of the overall structure and level
a table of contents with chapter headings and (provisional) main subheadings
(where appropriate),
and a paragraph or two describing
the contents of each chapter. If any sample chapters are
available, even in draft, they can
also be helpful.
In the case of edited volumes,
a list of contributors and their affiliations should also be supplied.
Format
How long do you estimate that the manuscript will be (as a total word count,
which would include
notes and references and bibliography
where appropriate)?
Do you plan to incorporate illustrations - line drawings, photographs, etc?
Please bear in mind that
our standard publishing contract
requires that authors cover the cost of clearing any permissions
involved and the supply of reproducible
artwork.
Delivery
When do you plan to submit
the complete manuscript? If you are proposing an edited volume, please factor
in the additional time required to solicit contributions, revise and edit
- it's invariably longer then you think!
Market
Identify as accurately as
possible the intended market for your book, listing:
primary and secondary markets
courses for which it would be appropriate
rough estimates of the size of each market, as far as possible
main subject area(s)
any international markets which you feel are relevant - particularly North
America.
Some indication of readership
level is also useful, i.e. introductory, intermediate, advanced/graduate,
academic, professional and/or general.
Review of Competitive
Books
Brief review of the competition:
what else is out there (author, title, publisher and year of publication)
how does your own proposal differ, what does it add to the field, how does
it fill a gap?
We need to be able to place
your work in a wider context, and to get a feel for where it fits. In comparing
and contrasting the strengths and weaknesses of other titles, you can help
us to highlight what makes your own work special.
CV
Please include a CV listing
your academic and/or professional qualifications and experience and any
previous publications.
Referees
Wherever possible, please
supply the names and addresses (including email details) of suitably qualified
referees in the UK and North America whose opinion you would value. Although
we welcome support from supervisors and external examiners in the case of
material that has been adapted from existing theses, we also need to solicit
comments from 'disinterested' scholars in the field.
Submitting Your Proposal
Please submit your proposal by email to one commissioning editor only. The commissioning editors, with their subjects of interest, are listed below:
Anne Beech
Email:
beech@plutobooks.com
Areas of interest: Current Affairs; Media Studies; Gender Studies; Anthropology; Law and Human Rights
David Castle
Email:
davidc@plutobooks.com
Areas of interest: Politics; Political Theory; History; Social Issues; Cultural Studies; Environmental Studies
or
Roger van Zwanenberg
Email:
rogervz@plutobooks.com
Areas of interest: International Studies; International Political Theory; Political Economy; Green Economics; Development Studies; Peace Studies; Middle East Studies; Irish Studies
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Notes on Doctorates
People often produce doctorates
for potential publication, so we thought it might be useful if we outlined
some of the problems associated with publishing doctorates.
A doctorate is an apprenticeship
into scholarship. It is an intensive piece of writing and research for the
individual concerned. It is probable that the depth and intensity of the
research will never be repeated again.
There are three points to
make about the differences between a Ph.D. and a book.
First, a book does not require
all the apparatus of a Ph.D. A large quantity can be removed: if necessary,
reference can be made to the Ph.D. We still require references and a reading
list, but it has to be much shorter. In a Ph.D. there is a compulsory chapter
on methodology. This can almost certainly be removed in its entirety for
a book.
Next, a doctorate is likely to be a micro study.
Micro studies only occasionally make good books and need very considerable
alterations. The criteria by which a Ph.D. is assessed are not those used
for a book. Not least, the Ph.D. is demonstrating the ability of the student
to undertake a sustained piece of research and write it up into a coherent
whole. A doctorate is written for one's peers, and almost by definition
there aren't many of these around. A book is, or ought to be, written for
a wider audience from day one.
Finally, even if the material
is of interest in a book, there will be too much of it. Ph.D.s have
no need to control length; books do, and we would prefer it if you could
keep to around 80,000 words.
So it will save a lot of time if you think critically
about your Ph.D. before offering it to us. We need you to give us answers
to the following:
what about it is sufficiently important to be made into a book? Is
it the research or the theoretical
apparatus? It could easily be that your theoretical approach is so
interesting that all that empirical
information which you spent three years collecting is only interesting
as a by-line on the theory.
what would need to be done to make it into a book?
who are the 2000 people out there who will want to spend o10, o12 or o15
to buy it?
Please send us your supervisor's
report, and, if you can get them, other reports from the examiners. We are
not experts in your field, examiners or supervisors: we need to be
told why your micro study is important. We don't know why the communist
party in Palestine in 1948, for instance, is worthy of being
published in English now. This is just one example. We
could provide many more.
Remember - we receive lots
of Ph.Ds. To you your work is unique, you have spent three or maybe more
years sweating over it, and now nobody appears interested. At our end, we
want to help. Help us, if you want a publication.
Attached is the standard
guidance to authors on submitting manuscripts, spelling out the questions
we need answered.
Roger van Zwanenberg
Anne Beech
Publisher
Editorial Director
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Who To Contact at Pluto Press
Key roles within Pluto Press
Editorial and Production
Sales, Marketing and Publicity
Royalties
Rights
Editorial and Production
For any enquiries relating
to editorial matters, contracts and proposals:
Roger van Zwanenberg, Chairman
Email:
rogervz@plutobooks.com
Tel: 00 44 (0)208 374 2192
or
Anne Beech, Managing Director
Email:
beech@plutobooks.com
Tel: 00 44 (0)208 374 2193
If you are an author under
contract and or have any enquiries regarding Post-delivery editorial and
production processes, or you wish to view the Pluto Style guidelines:
Robert Webb, Managing Editor
Email:
robert.webb@plutobooks.com
Tel: 00 44 (0)208 374
2190 (Thursday)
Sales, Marketing and Publicity
For Sales enquiries:
Simon Liebesny, Sales
and Marketing Director
Email:
simon@plutobooks.com
Tel: 00 44 (0)208 374 2188
Tel: 00 44 (0) 208 374 6426
For Marketing enquiries:
Melanie Patrick, Head of Marketing
Email:
melanie@plutobooks.com
Tel: 00 44 (0) 208 374
2189
For Publicity enquiries:
Jon Wheatley, Publicist
Email:
jonw@plutobooks.com
Tel: 00 44 (0) 208 374 6424
Royalties
For Royalty enquiries:
Anil Sharma, Finance Manager
Email:
anil.sharma@plutobooks.com
Tel: 00 44 (0) 208 374 2191
Rights
For Rights enquiries:
Gilly Duff, Rights Manager
Email:
gilly.duff@plutobooks.com
Tel: 00 44 (0)208 372 0269
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Why Publish with Pluto
History
Founded in 1969 as a publishing
arm of international Socialism, the forerunner of the Socialist Worker party
in the UK, in 1979 we broke with this political affiliation and became truly
independent, building up a book list based on the best in progressive, critical
thinking across the social sciences.
Our Expertise
Our particular strengths
lie in the fields of politics, political theory, current affairs, international
studies, and in particular Middle East Studies, peace studies, anthropology,
development, and media studies.
Sales
Although the publishing industry
as a whole has suffered due to the recent economic downturn. Pluto Press
goes from strength to strength. In the last two years our turnover has doubled
to almost two million, Sterling. Today with over 550 titles in print, Pluto
Press is one of the world's leading radical book publishers.
Worldwide Distribution
Based in London,
Pluto Press has agents and stockholders based in the USA, Canada, Australia,
South Africa, Japan and South East Asia. Pluto works closely with independent
American publishers, which includes a fruitful partnership with South End
Press, sharing rights on many titles and distributing their titles in the
UK, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. Following on the success of
this relationship we are delighted to announce that we will be distributing
Autonomedia
titles in the same territories
in the latter part of 2003.
Further partnerships are in development.
Audience
A small independent press,
Pluto is primarily an academic press, publishing for students and academics
in higher education worldwide. On occasions we also publish what are described
as "trade" non-fiction books i.e. books printed in paperback, and often
in hardback edition only reaching out to a wider general audience. Our list
is an unashamedly challenging one, with a sharp critical edge and
an intentionally political focus within the radical socialist tradition.
Who we Publish
Our authors include many
of the world's leading thinkers, past and present. We publish political
classics by writers including Karl Marx, Frederick Engels, Leon Trotsky,
Frantz Fanon, Andre Gorz, Manning Marable, Jack London, and Antonio Gramsci.
Contemporary political writers and voices of conscience include Noam Chomsky,
Edward Said, Howard Zinn, bell hooks, Ariel Dorfman, Susan George, John
Pilger, Ziaddin Sardar, Israel Shahak, Greg Palast, William Rivers Pitt,
Boris Kagarlitsky, Robin Hahnel, Saul Landau, Sheila Rowbotham, Joseph Rotblat,
Frank F_rdei, Eduardo Galeano and Vandana Shiva.
Author Copies
As well as complimentary
copies of the author or contributor's book, the author and contributors
can supplement these by ordering further copies at a special discount of
33.33%.
Rights
Pluto Press is very active
in obtaining foreign translated editions of its
titles. Our success in this area has grown dramatically
recently. We maintain a growing database of international
partners and send details of our titles out to
our most extensive list of contacts across the world
twice a year. We go to the Frankfurt Book Fair every
October where we present our titles in individual
meetings with scores of publishers and our stand
is one of the busiest in the hall! We have the same lively presence
at the London Book Fair every Spring. We also provide
a prompt and efficient service to meet requests for re-use of Pluto-published
work for example in anthologies, new works etc.
This can provide some auxiliary income for authors. For
more information on rights please contact Gilly Duff at
gilly.duff@plutobooks.com. See contacts in this page
for more information.
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