West Virginia University Press publishes literary short fiction, fiction, and creative nonfiction by both new and established writers. Historically, WVU Press has published literary fiction with a focus on Appalachian culture, and although this continues to be an important part of its mission, its scope now expands beyond this region as it seeks to publish original voices from across the globe. With this in mind, WVU Press is dedicated to publishing literature that deals with diverse aspects of all cultures and bears a strong sense of place.

We accept unsolicited proposals from authors of all backgrounds (previously published or not) via email only. In return, we ask that you familiarize yourself with our publishing list in order to determine if your manuscript is a good fit for WVU Press. You may email queries and submissions to submissions@wvupress.com.

West Virginia University Press no longer publishes creative work under the Vandalia Press imprint. All creative work will be published under West Virginia University Press.

At this time we are not accepting proposals for historical fiction, novellas, unsolicited poetry, young adult fiction, or children's books. We do accept proposals for other genres, especially short story collections and novels. Creative nonfiction may be considered.

To submit:
Please provide, at minimum, a synopsis of the project, a short personal bio, and two chapters for a novel or creative nonfiction, or two stories for a story collection. You may also provide more information through a proposal.

We do our best to respond to submissions in a timely manner, but due to our staff size and the steady flow of proposal submissions, our review of your proposal may take several weeks or months. Email inquiries to submissions@wvupress.com only. We cannot respond to phone calls or to mailed proposals or manuscripts. If the editorial director would like to read your full manuscript, you will be contacted. 

Tips for Using Track Changes

The Track Changes tool can be found in the Reviewing toolbar (View → Toolbars → Reviewing).  Once the toolbar is visible, click on the Track Changes button to turn it on or off or press Command+Shift+E.

To customize Track Changes, click on “Show" (near the left side of the toolbar) and choose “Preferences.” A few tips:

• If more than one person will be editing the text (i.e., in-house editor and a freelancer, editor and an author), it’s best to leave the marks in the default “By author” setting, which means each person’s marks will be in different colors.
• Unless there are extremely few incidences of markup, it’s a good idea to turn the mark for changed lines off.  By default, changed lines have a black vertical line in the margin beside them. However, with a heavily marked text, this can end up as a continuous line in the margins and is more annoying than helpful.
• Turning off the balloons is another good idea. If they are left on, every little change will have its own balloon in the margin detailing the change. They crowd the page and can be confusing instead of helpful. 
• If you want to comment on something (i.e., point out text related to a query or suggest a rewording), highlight the relevant text and click “New Comment.” The reviewing pane will pop up so you can type your comment. 
• The reviewing pane can be turned on or off by going to Show → Reviewing Pane. 
• If multiple people have marked the text and you want to see only certain individuals’ marks, go to Show → Reviewers and click on the names of the reviewers you don’t want to see to turn them off. You can do the same thing to turn them back on later.
• To view the text with the marks implemented without accepting them, choose “Final” from the dropdown box nest to the “Show” button. 
• Use Track Changes with care—don’t just turn it on and markup the text indiscriminately.  Sometimes, a change is easier to understand if you turn the Track Changes off at certain moments.
  • (Ex: If you are changing an en dash to an em dash, it ends up looking like a long line or two em dashes. You can turn Track Changes off to delete the en dash and on to insert the em dash, which increases the clarity of the markup.)

Preparing a Book Proposal

Proposals should include, at a minimum, the following information:

1. An overview of the book including:
   
   • A summary of the book’s main argument, themes, and goals
   • A comparison of your book to others
   • A description of the target audience for your book
2. An annotated table of contents
3. Sample chapters, preferably including the introduction and at least one substantive chapter
4. Current curriculum vitae or biographical information
5. Manuscript specifics, including estimated length, delivery date, and any special requirements (e.g., artwork, tables, photographs, film stills)
6. Contact information for you, including mailing address, phone, and e-mail address

We make every effort to respond to inquiries promptly, but please expect an average response time of four weeks. Email inquiries only. Please do not phone the office to discuss proposals or submissions, and please do not mail hard copies of your proposal or manuscript.

Resources for Authors and Writers:

Alfred Fortunato and Susan Rabiner, Thinking Like Your Editor: How to Write Great Serious Nonfiction and Get It Published (WW Norton, 2003)

William Germano, From Dissertation to Book (University of Chicago Press, 2005)

William Germano, Getting It Published, 2nd Edition: A Guide for Scholars and Anyone Else Serious about Serious Books (University of Chicago Press, 2008)

Beth Luey, Handbook for Academic Authors (Cambridge University Press, 2002)
 
Beth Luey, Revising Your Dissertation: Advice from Leading Editors (University of California Press, 2007)

Publishing/Editorial Glossary

Abbreviations:

AP
Associated Press, which has its own style guidelines

CDC
Chicago Distribution Center, who distributes the WVU Press’s books.

CIP
Cataloguing-in-Publication data supplied by the Library of Congress for each book.  Typically, it is the responsibility of the press GTA to apply for CIP data.

MS
manuscript

TOC
table of contents

Terms:

Back Matter
everything that follows the last page of the main text (i.e., afterword, bibliography, author bio, etc.)

Callout
reference in text to indicate placement of image

Cross-References
reference by an author to another point in the text or to another author’s work in the same book

Edition
“version” of a text. For a new printing to be considered a new edition, there have to be significant changes made or new material added

Extract
block quote set out in text, usually indented, although we are placing them flush left more and more often

Front Matter
everything that precedes the first page of the main text (i.e., title page, copyright, table of contents, preface, etc.)

Global
applicable to the whole work (e.g., global changes)

Half Title
main title of the book; does not include subtitle

House Style
editorial style rules that are particular to a certain publishing house/press

Launch
the start point of the publication process of a book, where the basic information of the book is confirmed and the team discusses what needs done to get the process moving forward

Leading
vertical space betweens lines of text

Orphan
a word or part of a word that appears by itself on the last line of the paragraph, or the first line of a paragraph at the bottom of a page when the rest of the paragraph is on the following page

Reprint
new printing of book with no significant changes (errors may be corrected)

Running Heads
the chapter name/author name that runs across the top of each page

Style Sheet
a document created by an editor or copyeditor that details any terms that the editor was unsure about and any editorial decisions about spelling, hyphenation, capitalization, etc.  Its purpose is to maintain consistency & accuracy in the text.
 
Subheads
section headings in a text, not including chapter titles. They are often referred to by their level; a level 1 subhead would be a typical heading, while a level 2 subhead would fall within/below another heading.

Subsidy
money provided by a grant or foundation to help with or cover publication costs

Tracking
horizontal space between characters

Transmittal Sheet
a document that contains details about each book. Staff members will usually receive a draft of this before a launch meeting and a final copy will be put on the server. This is the go-to source for ISBNs, final title/subtitle, subsidy statements, format, etc.

Query
a question concerning the text, usually for the author/volume editor. Author queries usually concern questionable facts, confusion/clarification, and rewording to rectify awkwardness or lack of clarity.

Widow
a word (or few words) of a paragraph alone at the top of the new page

Author’s Checklist

Please go through this list carefully to ensure that your manuscript is ready for submission. To download a PDF version of this checklist, click here.

Manuscript Final Editing

Have you:

• Made sure that the manuscript conforms to the style outlined in Chicago and in the manuscript guidelines?
• Prepared a style list and anomalies sheet and checked the manuscript against them?
• Included all the parts listed in the guidelines?
• Confirmed the spellings of names and terms, the accuracy of dates and quotations, etc., mentioned in the text?
• Confirmed that the chapter titles (and subheadings) match the table of contents and all related cross-references?
• Checked that each footnote/endnote has a corresponding reference number in the text, and vice versa?
• Checked that the source citations in all footnotes/endnotes match the information in the bibliography?
• Edited all charts, lists, and tables thoroughly?
• Confirmed that all captions correspond to the proper images?

Manuscript Preparation

Have you:

• Followed the electronic file preparation guidelines provided?
• Double-spaced the text?
• Used one-inch margins?
• Numbered the pages?
• Used Times New Roman font?
• Avoided complicated formatting (e.g., drop caps, small caps, bold text)?
• Inserted callouts in the manuscript to designate where images should be placed?
• Obtained permissions for all images and text under copyright?
• Prepared the permissions log for all copyrighted material?

Manuscript Submission

Have you:

• Sent the correct version of the manuscript?
• Included the style list and anomalies sheet with the manuscript?
• Supplied all images, tables, and captions (as separate files) in addition to the manuscript?
• Provided permissions letters and the permissions log with the manuscript?

Contact the Press as soon as possible with any questions or issues.