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Submission Guidelines
Before contacting us with a query letter or proposal for your book, please read these guidelines. We receive more than 800 submissions a year, and publish only around fifteen new titles a year. At least half of the submissions we receive are declined out of hand, because they fit neither Chelsea Green’s mission nor the topics in which we specialize.
We specialize in books that promote the “politics and practice of sustainable living” that are suitable for a general audience. Some of our books are used in educational settings, but our books are not written with an academic audience in mind. For example:
- Organic gardening and market farming (e.g. The Four-Season Harvest)
- Local agricultural movements and healthy food supplies (e.g. Full Moon Feast)
- Environmentally friendly building techniques (e.g. The Straw Bale House)
- Renewable energy sources and energy conservation (e.g. Wind Energy Basics)
- Lifestyles that are simpler and require less consumption (e.g. A Handmade Life)
- Economic systems that account for environmental and social needs (e.g. The Company We Keep)
- Political activism that promotes sustainable economies (e.g. An Unreasonable Woman)
- Philosophical writing/social commentary that promotes sustainable living (e.g. A Language Older Than Words)
The rules about what we do and do not publish are a little fuzzy, but if your work does not fit into the categories above, you will have to overcome an extra large hurdle. In short, before submitting a query or proposal to us, please spend some time reviewing our recent publications on our website. If you think it is unlikely that your work would fit into our pattern of publishing, we will certainly think so as well.
That does not mean that your book has no merit; it only means that we are the wrong publisher for you. If you don’t want to use a literary agent, the best way to find an appropriate publisher is to see what other books are similar to yours. Contact the publishers of those books.
We avoid books that
- Have a regional focus (i.e., that only appeal to a regional readership; we do publish books on particular places when the approach and quality of writing will be of interest to readers from near and far – e.g. Sippewissett and Pinhook)
- Are for an academic audience
- Are cookbooks, though we publish many books on food
- Deal with agriculture/gardening and fail to promote organic methods
- Are New-Agey
- Cover material that has been dealt with in many other books (e.g., a summary of why George W. Bush has been a bad president)
- Offer top-down political policy prescriptions
Here are some examples of books that we rejected because the topics do not fit our work.
- Restless Natives: Alabama’s Native Plants (regional focus)
- The Sociology and Proper Practice of Logic: Coming to Terms With Logic (no connection to sustainability; also too academic)
- The Carolina Cooking Cookbook (cookbook)
- Arnold Schwartzenegger: A Biography (no connection to sustainability)
- The Jenny Jones Show Murder (ditto)
- Acoustics From Architecture (ditto)
- Real-Life Plain Talk About Smoking (ditto)
- Dealing With Auto Repair Shops (ditto)
If you think that your work is a good fit for Chelsea Green, then we are willing to consider a query letter or proposal from you. Please address query letters and proposals to
Chelsea Green Publishing
Acquisitions Editor
PO Box 428
White River Junction, VT 05001
We prefer to receive query letters via email (to submissions@chelseagreen.com), and we ask that you send full proposals through the mail. When sending queries by email to Jonathan, enter your last name and the book title in the subject line. (For example: "Jones - Nature vs. Nurture - query") Please don’t go to the expense of paying for Priority or Express mail services. It usually takes us several weeks to review incoming proposals, so you will not be saving any time. Submitted materials will only be returned if accompanied by a self-addressed, stamped envelope.
A query letter should be one or two pages long and give an overview of your book’s topic, along with information about you as an author (who you are, why you are the right person to write this book, evidence that you will be able to complete a high-quality manuscript in a timely fashion).
If we think that there is a reasonable chance that we might pursue your book, we will request a full proposal. A full proposal should include most or all of the following:
- A cover letter summarizing the book
- A preliminary table of contents
- An expanded table of contents with one- or two-paragraph summaries of each chapter
- Marketing research such as
- descriptions of other books on the same or similar topic (with sales history if possible) and an explanation of why your book is different
- any special sales potential (organizations that might want to buy large numbers of your book; specialty catalogs or stores that don’t usually sell books but might be interested in yours; events where attendees will be interested in your book)
- your target audience (who they are, why they will be interested in your book. Be specific and realistic, for example, “readers of The Nation magazine” or “fans of Gertrude Stein.” Do not say things like “all women should like my book because I write about problems women face,” or “every American must read my book because we all face the danger of global warming together.” Also, please do not refer to “cultural creatives.” This mythical group is referenced in nearly one-third of the proposals we get, and carries no weight with us.)
- Biographical material about you (expanded from that in the query letter)
- Two sample chapters
Please feel free to print your materials single-spaced and double sided, to save paper.