Submit your book idea

Academic Publishing

Canadian Scholars Book Proposal Guidelines: Our titles are used primarily as texts in post-secondary courses, and are published under both our Canadian Scholars and Women’s Press imprint. We publish an extensive range of academic books, with specialization in quality undergraduate and graduate level textbooks in the social sciences and humanities.

If you teach at the post-secondary level, we invite your proposal for a text or reader. Book proposals should include the following:

• your name, institutional affiliation, and complete contact information
• brief personal biography
• brief outline of the project, including working title, approach, and reasons why the work is important
• information about whether a subvention or grant in aid of publication is available
• please indicate if the book is a reader, contributed volume, or original text
• projected length of book in printed pages and manuscript pages
• plans for the art program (e.g., number of photographs, line drawings, maps) and whether you have had any experience securing permissions in the past
• detailed table of contents
• draft introduction and one or two sample chapters
• information about what potential supplementary materials, if any, should be planned for the book (instructor’s manual, test bank, web site)
• information about any special features or pedagogical elements, if any, you might incorporate into the text (glossaries, key terms, questions for critical thought)
• the size and characteristics of the target audience for the book, specifically:
  • if your project is a viable candidate for the US or world market and why
  • appropriate level of audience (1st, 2nd, 3rd, or 4th year)
  • if proposed text is intended to be the primary or supplemental course text
  • the course number, length, and enrollment that your project would fit at your institution
  • the names of other courses in which your project might be adopted (please be as specific as possible when listing courses and include typical enrollments if known)
  • whether you or any of the contributors (if an edited collection) would be adopting the proposed book (please list course names and typical enrollments)
• please list the major competing texts and outline how your project differs from the major competitors
• names, addresses, and email addresses of three to five scholars who could assess the work objectively
• timetable for your completion of the work

Important:

Please email proposals or queries to editorial@canadianscholars.ca

We do not accept manuscripts that are in the process of multiple submissions.

While Canadian Scholars receives large numbers of proposals, we aim to exceed industry standards for prompt feedback to prospective authors.

Please do not submit original artwork or full manuscripts.

To mail submissions, please send them to:

Canadian Scholars/Women’s Press
425 Adelaide Street West, Suite 200
Toronto, ON M5V 3C1

Note: If you wish your work to be returned, a self-addressed, stamped envelope (SASE) with sufficient Canadian postage must be included. Submissions sent from outside of Canada that use non-Canadian stamps on the SASE will not be returned.

Praise for Publishing with Canadian Scholars/Women’s Press

“I have worked in conjunction with the staff at Canadian Scholars for nearly two decades. They have been of invaluable assistance through every step of the process from refining my ideas and the peer review process through design to actively marketing my work. Their input is has enhanced both the content and the presentation that has allowed my writing to find a broad audience of both students and professionals in the field.”
—Rick Csiernik, Professor, School of Social Work, King's University College at Western University

“Canadian Scholars has been extremely supportive of the publishing careers of young Canadian scholars, particularly racialized, minority and Indigenous backgrounds working on decolonial and anti-colonial ruptures in education broadly defined. Personally, Canadian Scholars has offered guidance and advice in the works I have done with them, assisting me and my colleagues to produce publications in timely fashion and ensuring that our scholarship reaches a wide audience as much as possible. Two words characterize my dealings with Canadian Scholars - ‘professional’ and ‘supportive’.”
—George Dei, Professor, Social Justice Education, Fellow, Royal Society of Canada, OISE University of Toronto

“Working with the dedicated professionals at Canadian Scholars has been a very positive experience. Throughout my exchanges with the members of the editorial team, I have found them to be clear, precise, friendly, and responsive.”
—Édouard Ousselin, Professor, The Department of Modern and Classical Languages, Editor in Chief, The French Review, Western Washington University

“I have found Canadian Scholars to be an excellent publisher to work with. It is not always easy to negotiate the nuances of my field, child and youth care practice, with publishers. The editors in all departments were patient, flexible, and always willing to listen to my suggestions and requests. They handled the material with integrity and clarity. The allowed me considerable oversight with respect to editorial decisions, while also providing valuable feedback and excellent suggestions for improvements. They worked with me professionally, respectfully and also with good humour. I look forward to continue working with Canadian Scholars and their excellent team of editors.”
—Kiaras Gharabaghi, PhD, School of Child & Youth Care, Toronto Metropolitan University

“I wrote my first book for Canadian Scholars in 1994. Since then I have had nothing but positive experiences working with the expert editorial staff there. They are creative as well as thorough and have always allowed me to improve my manuscripts—indeed, in some cases, they were instrumental in making my books as good as they turned out to be. They are also friendly and sensitive to author needs. I have published with a number of publisher, but Canadian Scholars is certainly at the very top of my list for professionalism.”
—Marcel Danesi, Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto