Join us for the 2025–2026 Ideas on Fire First Book Publishing Series, a free webinar series on getting your first book into the world.
Resources for first-book authors
Get holistic support to go from draft to published
Finding the Right Publisher for Your First Book
Research scholarly presses, identify good fits for your first book, and craft targeted pitches based on what publishers are currently seeking.
Crafting a Winning First Book Proposal
Create a winning first book proposal by approaching it as a pitch process aligning your book with publisher goals.
Working Productively with an Editorial Team
Build successful relationships with developmental editors, copyeditors, production editors, and indexers to navigate feedback and manage timelines in the collaborative publishing process.
Navigating Peer Review on Your First Book
Decode reviewer comments, respond strategically to critiques, and revise effectively to ensure the best possible book that both you and your publisher can be proud of.
Publishing in a Series for Your First Book
Understand book series requirements, pitch effectively to series editors, leverage series affiliation for greater visibility and sales, and position your first book within established scholarly conversations.
Marketing Your First Book
Create compelling book descriptions, build your author platform, leverage online and offline marketing tactics, and build lasting networks to ensure your first book makes a big impact.
Balancing Interdisciplinarity and Legibility
How authors can create legible interdisciplinary texts that resonate with varied readers across fields, backgrounds, and communities.
What to Do with a Copyedited Manuscript
Learn how to best navigate copyedits on your manuscript and how to create the final draft you’ll send to the publisher or journal.
What to Do with Developmental Edits
How authors can respond to developmental edits and improve their scholarly manuscripts for publication.
Promoting Your Book at Academic Conferences
Best practices for promoting your book at conferences, with tips on partnering with publishers, using social media, and networking.
What to Do When You Get a Scholarly Book Contract
Next steps for authors after receiving a scholarly book contract, including manuscript preparation and marketing.
Budgeting for Editing and Indexing on Books and Articles
How interdisciplinary scholars can best budget for editing and indexing on their books and journal articles.
Getting Started with Image Permissions for Your Book
Image permissions can be overwhelming. Here are some guidelines to get you started as you illustrate your book.
Book Promotion for Introverted Scholars
Book promotion strategies, tips, and options that work with—rather than against—an introverted disposition.
Editing as Worldmaking: Critical Generosity in Editorial Practice
Cathy Hannabach’s keynote address on how building critical generosity into editorial practice is a key way we build the worlds we want to inhabit.
Why an Interdisciplinary Book Needs an Interdisciplinary Index
How an interdisciplinary index helps an author meet their goals, reach diverse audiences, and change the world for the better.
Building Community through Acknowledgments
How scholars can use acknowledgments pages to build community, recognize intellectual and affective labor, and strengthen genealogies.