Submission guidelines

Considering sending us a proposal or manuscript?

We publish a range of non-fiction and poetry, but do not currently publish fiction.Please browse our website to make sure yours is the kind of book we publish.

Non-fiction submissions

Whether you are submitting a proposal or a finished manuscript, we need the following:

• A contents page, an overall synopsis AND a brief chapter-by-chapter synopsis.
• Two sample chapters OR the full manuscript text if available; OR other writing samples if no chapters have yet been finished.
• A proposal document/covering letter telling us about the manuscript: what it aims to do; how it fits in with the existing literature on the topic; who the audience is; whether there will be illustrations/photos; your proposed timeline if writing is still underway.
• An up-to-date CV.

Acquisition decisions are made by our Editorial Board. The board sends promising manuscripts out to readers/peer reviewers. We will acknowledge receipt of your material immediately, but the assessment process can take time.

The 2023 deadlines for submission of material for consideration by the Editorial Board are 19 January, 16 March, 25 May, 27 July, 21 September and 9 November.

Poetry submissions

We publish only four or five poetry manuscripts a year. You are welcome to submit a manuscript in the knowledge that it is a highly competitive process.

There are four submission deadlines a year for poetry: 1 January, 1 April, 1 July and 1 October.

If you submit outside these dates, your manuscript will be considered on the next due date.

Please send us the following:

• A full manuscript. (Note that we publish full-length books only, minimum 72pp).
• An up-to-date CV.

Points to note about submissions

• We do not accept submissions that are submitted simultaneously to multiple publishers.
• Your newly completed thesis is unlikely to be publishable as a book without substantial revision. For some tips on how to approach this, you might like to check out the following link:

  Turning your thesis into a book

We do not accept hard copy submissions. Please make your submission by email, including documents as attachments, to: editorial@otago.ac.nz

If you have any queries that are not answered above, please email editorial@otago.ac.nz

Click to download our House Style Guide (PDF) or Manuscript Preparation Guide (PDF)