NF Publisher suggestions?

[DRW]

I've transcribed a collection of 340 letters exchanged between a soldier in the 6th New York Heavy Artillery and his wife from late 1862 through the end of the war. This symmetrical collection is complete with 160 letters from the soldier and 180 from his wife. This is a young, newlywed, working class couple from Westchester County NY. I'm annotating the letters and writing chapter introductions using my deep research into the regiment (while an interesting regiment, the 6NYHA doesn't really warrant a standalone book). I'm trying to find a publisher who might be interested in this project. I contacted a local university press but they declined after showing initial interest saying they couldn't "market" the book. Any suggestions on publishers to contact?

 

[lupaglupa]

The New York State Archives has a quarterly journal that might be a place to publish something about the letters. It could be easier to get an article done than a book.

Magazine Highlights: NYS Archives Partnership Trust

Discover New York's rich history with NYS Archives Magazine. Enjoy captivating stories, exclusive interviews, and insights into the state's archival treasures.

www.nysarchivestrust.org

 

[Belfoured]

I've transcribed a collection of 340 letters exchanged between a soldier in the 6th New York Heavy Artillery and his wife from late 1862 through the end of the war. This symmetrical collection is complete with 160 letters from the soldier and 180 from his wife. This is a young, newlywed, working class couple from Westchester County NY. I'm annotating the letters and writing chapter introductions using my deep research into the regiment (while an interesting regiment, the 6NYHA doesn't really warrant a standalone book). I'm trying to find a publisher who might be interested in this project. I contacted a local university press but they declined after showing initial interest saying they couldn't "market" the book. Any suggestions on publishers to contact?

How much of the correspondence relates to its infantry activities in the Overland Campaign and the 1864 Valley Campaign? Is there much that would be unique/insightful about that period? I ask because its duties as heavy artillery before Fall 1863 (Mine Run) are not of the type that generally get a publisher's interest unless the letters are really unique from a "home front", etc perspective. The reaction you got is not at all surprising.

As @lupaglupa suggests, it's often a little easier to attract interest from a journal-type publication.

 

[DRW]

How much of the correspondence relates to its infantry activities in the Overland Campaign and the 1864 Valley Campaign? Is there much that would be unique/insightful about that period? I ask because its duties as heavy artillery before Fall 1863 (Mine Run) are not of the type that generally get a publisher's interest unless the letters are really unique from a "home front", etc perspective. The reaction you got is not at all surprising.

As @lupaglupa suggests, it's often a little easier to attract interest from a journal-type publication.

About 20 of the soldier's letters deal directly with the Overland campaign. The regiment spent late 1862 in Baltimore and moved to Harpers Ferry in Jan 1863 where it remained until the evacuation at the end of June. They spent the rest of 1863 guarding the AOP's artillery reserve, so there's a lot of marching. They are detached from the Artillery Reserve a6 the Wilderness and serve with the V Corps until transferred to DC in mid August. They then spend a few weeks marching up and down the Valley guarding Sheridan's supply train. In Jan 1865 they are sent back to Petersburg to guard the mostly quiet Bermuda Hundred line until the end of the war. The wife's story - she is forced to move a few times and ends up in rural Vermont - and her extended family which includes soldiers and deserters, is quite interesting.

 

[Belfoured]

About 20 of the soldier's letters deal directly with the Overland campaign. The regiment spent late 1862 in Baltimore and moved to Harpers Ferry in Jan 1863 where it remained until the evacuation at the end of June. They spent the rest of 1863 guarding the AOP's artillery reserve, so there's a lot of marching. They are detached from the Artillery Reserve a6 the Wilderness and serve with the V Corps until transferred to DC in mid August. They then spend a few weeks marching up and down the Valley guarding Sheridan's supply train. In Jan 1865 they are sent back to Petersburg to guard the mostly quiet Bermuda Hundred line until the end of the war. The wife's story - she is forced to move a few times and ends up in rural Vermont - and her extended family which includes soldiers and deserters, is quite interesting.

You might have something from the home front perspective for an interesting article. As an aside, the Army of the Potomac's Artillery Reserve was disbanded by Grant after the Wilderness because its units had been inactive during the battle, largely due to terrain. Grant actually wanted to get rid of its batteries but Hunt negotiated a compromise - most batteries in the Reserve would be kept with the Army but assigned to the corps and the Army's batteries uniformly would be reduced from 6 guns to 4 guns. Obviously the heavies took on infantry assignments.

 

[gary]

If they were mine, I would edit it and annotate it. Properly done, a university press would publish it. However, you get fame, not fortune. But then again, writing history books don't really bring fame either; just respect within the Civil War community and prestige if a university press picks it up.

 

[Josh The Lighthouse Guy]

Writing a journal article could serve as proof of concept and help entice a book publisher.

NYU Press or The New York Historical (New York's state historical society) seem worth trying.

Common Civil War publishers are McFarland, UNC Press, LSU Press, and KSU Press.

If you can't entice a publisher, it might be worth exploring print-on-demand as this seems like a book that would have few, if any, maps or photos. You would need to market the book yourself, but would avoid upfront printing costs of traditional self-publishing.

 

[gary]

Univ. of Tennessee too.
Univ. of North Carolina in Chapel Hill deserves consideration too.

Remember, it must edited AND annotated. Every person mentioned should be researched.

 

[19thOhio]

Consider self publishing. You have full control on all editing, style and formatting; and marketing.

 

[RyanQ1864]

McFarland, Stackpole, or Savas Beatie are non-academic publishers all worth looking into.

If you hope to sell at battlefields or affiliated bookstores, don't self-publish— parks and other such sites by and large do not sell self-published books.

 

[Library Lady]

If you hope to sell at battlefields or affiliated bookstores, don't self-publish— parks and other such sites by and large do not sell self-published books.

Building on this, do the trained librarians here have a sense of how receptive libraries are to including self-published books in their collections? As a shelver, I didn't really notice, although some of the local author collection may have been self-published. There was a local writers group that had ties to the library so that may have provided an in. The library also had a shared catalogue so inclusion of a work at one library made it automatically available to the patrons at 100 other libraries, but I don't imagine that would get the author much money.

I guess another question would be whether self-published books are typically included on library digital services like Hoopla, Libby and The Palace Project. I thought E-read Illinois had an "Indie" section when it was on Axis 360/Boundless, but I don't know if that carried over to The Palace Project when Baker & Taylor closed. I also don't know how lucrative this option would be for the author.

 

[19thOhio]

Regarding self publishing and marketing. I just asked my phone about any books published about the 19th Ohio in the Civil War. Up popped my "Dixie Odyssey." Luckily, I have someone who is an archivist at a local museum that will sell these on Amazon, which she sold a copy a few weeks ago after publishing ten years ago. Anybody in the world who might have an interest (or ancestor in the regiment) would be able to find, and buy my book this way.

 

[Josh The Lighthouse Guy]

Building on this, do the trained librarians here have a sense of how receptive libraries are to including self-published books in their collections?

I think it depends on the library and the book. Some libraries will accept like-new book donations for circulation, but others won't. The chances of them buying a self-published book are probably almost zero.

 

[Belfoured]

If they were mine, I would edit it and annotate it. Properly done, a university press would publish it. However, you get fame, not fortune. But then again, writing history books don't really bring fame either; just respect within the Civil War community and prestige if a university press picks it up.

As we know, the academic press review process can be pretty rigorous. The ones I'm familiar with would likely be interested in an annotated letters collection only if it involved a prominent/important figure. For other publishers, marketing is often the primary factor and letters collections don't necessarily push that button. But "nothing ventured, nothing gained" and this advice is in the "you get what you pay for" category. I do think it's essential to come up with a good sales pitch based on something unusual or unique about these letters.

 

[gary]

One thing about public institutions like libraries, they might only be able to deal with llicensed vendors and a small self-published work won't be among the licensed vendors. Trinidad College has that problem but I managed to get the publisher to sent a damaged copy gratis (and the College was more than happy to accept).

 

[captaxe]

I've transcribed a collection of 340 letters exchanged between a soldier in the 6th New York Heavy Artillery and his wife from late 1862 through the end of the war. This symmetrical collection is complete with 160 letters from the soldier and 180 from his wife. This is a young, newlywed, working class couple from Westchester County NY. I'm annotating the letters and writing chapter introductions using my deep research into the regiment (while an interesting regiment, the 6NYHA doesn't really warrant a standalone book). I'm trying to find a publisher who might be interested in this project. I contacted a local university press but they declined after showing initial interest saying they couldn't "market" the book. Any suggestions on publishers to contact?

Sounds very interesting, and I have an affinity for the 6th NYHA as parts of it (and the 4th NYHA) were recruited where I grew up.

Content is king, and will go a long way to determine the letter's viability for publishing. How insightful are the letters? Do they provide any new or unique perspectives? What is the interaction like between husband and wife? Run of the mill, day to day type content won't go very far. Also, how many words is the MS with your edits? Based on feedback I'm receiving on a current project, it should be around 125,000 words or less (production costs, like everything else, have skyrocketed in the past 10 years). I have published 4 books of soldier letters, one with a commercial publisher and three with University presses, and it has gotten harder each time, as many university presses (UNC and LSU as examples) are not "in" to letter collections anymore (unless they are exceptional or from a well-known CW figure) as they don't generally prove to be economically viable. My last two books were rejected by a commercial publisher but were picked up by Kent State-- I would recommend trying them (along with U of Tennessee), as they are some of the only university presses that publish letters anymore. McFarland would likely be another option. Feel free to PM me if you'd like to discuss any more.

 

[Belfoured]

Sounds very interesting, and I have an affinity for the 6th NYHA as parts of it (and the 4th NYHA) were recruited where I grew up.

Content is king, and will go a long way to determine the letter's viability for publishing. How insightful are the letters? Do they provide any new or unique perspectives? What is the interaction like between husband and wife? Run of the mill, day to day type content won't go very far. Also, how many words is the MS with your edits? Based on feedback I'm receiving on a current project, it should be around 125,000 words or less (production costs, like everything else, have skyrocketed in the past 10 years). I have published 4 books of soldier letters, one with a commercial publisher and three with University presses, and it has gotten harder each time, as many university presses (UNC and LSU as examples) are not "in" to letter collections anymore (unless they are exceptional or from a well-known CW figure) as they don't generally prove to be economically viable. My last two books were rejected by a commercial publisher but were picked up by Kent State-- I would recommend trying them (along with U of Tennessee), as they are some of the only university presses that publish letters anymore. McFarland would likely be another option. Feel free to PM me if you'd like to discuss any more.

Kent State and UT are good examples of academic publishers that seem to have less aversion to letters collections. Coming at any publisher with something like this mandates a good up front "sales pitch" on why this one is different/has an audience.

 

[Library Lady]

One thing about public institutions like libraries, they might only be able to deal with llicensed vendors and a small self-published work won't be among the licensed vendors. Trinidad College has that problem but I managed to get the publisher to sent a damaged copy gratis (and the College was more than happy to accept).

This is definitely a consideration. When I wanted to donate (i.e., pay for new) books in memory or in honor of a co-worker or community member, my library preferred books available from a specific vendor. Amazon was sometimes a backup. A plus for the library was that the preferred vendor provided the cataloguing information. We had a trained cataloguing librarian, but this arrangement made her life so much easier when dealing with the shared catalogue. In a shared catalogue, you don't want 15 different descriptions of the same edition of a book from 15 different libraries. You want one entry (description) with a list of who owns it. The vendor-provided data tended to be (or to match) the standard description for the catalogue.

I said above that a local authors group might have had an in at the library because they had a relationship with the library. What that means is that the group would hold meetings in a library meeting room for which they paid the going rate. They would have a day once or twice a year where they would have tables in the lobby where patrons could discuss the books with the authors and buy the books. If the author wanted to donate one of their books to the library, it was accepted. This is why I think self-published books most likely ended up in the local author collection, although some of the local authors did have contracts with known commercial publishers.

 

[DRW]

Sounds very interesting, and I have an affinity for the 6th NYHA as parts of it (and the 4th NYHA) were recruited where I grew up.

Content is king, and will go a long way to determine the letter's viability for publishing. How insightful are the letters? Do they provide any new or unique perspectives? What is the interaction like between husband and wife? Run of the mill, day to day type content won't go very far. Also, how many words is the MS with your edits? Based on feedback I'm receiving on a current project, it should be around 125,000 words or less (production costs, like everything else, have skyrocketed in the past 10 years). I have published 4 books of soldier letters, one with a commercial publisher and three with University presses, and it has gotten harder each time, as many university presses (UNC and LSU as examples) are not "in" to letter collections anymore (unless they are exceptional or from a well-known CW figure) as they don't generally prove to be economically viable. My last two books were rejected by a commercial publisher but were picked up by Kent State-- I would recommend trying them (along with U of Tennessee), as they are some of the only university presses that publish letters anymore. McFarland would likely be another option. Feel free to PM me if you'd like to discuss any more.

Here's my proposal abstract which gives you the sense of the collection's scope and perspective: This book presents the complete wartime correspondence between Herman C. Weiss (1841–1926) and Adeline ("Addie") Clary Weiss (1843–1928), comprising 340 letters exchanged between November 1862 and June 1865. Herman entered the ranks of the 6th New York Heavy Artillery Regiment three weeks after the couple's marriage. They did not see each other again until Herman returned home from military service after two and a half years. This comprehensive, symmetrical collection is exceptional in its scope, and intimacy. With 160 letters from Herman and 180 from Addie, the correspondence documents how two young people separated by war sustained and strengthened their marriage. Addie's letters provide insight into the lives of a working class New York community from the perspective of a young woman while Herman narrates the story of a non-ideological, immigrant soldier serving and surviving in the Union army.

 

[Belfoured]

Here's my proposal abstract which gives you the sense of the collection's scope and perspective: This book presents the complete wartime correspondence between Herman C. Weiss (1841–1926) and Adeline ("Addie") Clary Weiss (1843–1928), comprising 340 letters exchanged between November 1862 and June 1865. Herman entered the ranks of the 6th New York Heavy Artillery Regiment three weeks after the couple's marriage. They did not see each other again until Herman returned home from military service after two and a half years. This comprehensive, symmetrical collection is exceptional in its scope, and intimacy. With 160 letters from Herman and 180 from Addie, the correspondence documents how two young people separated by war sustained and strengthened their marriage. Addie's letters provide insight into the lives of a working class New York community from the perspective of a young woman while Herman narrates the story of a non-ideological, immigrant soldier serving and surviving in the Union army.

From my own perspective I found this to be "different":

"The wife's story - she is forced to move a few times and ends up in rural Vermont - and her extended family which includes soldiers and deserters, is quite interesting."

I'd think about working that in if it makes sense based on the content of the letters.