Submissions
We are hugely interested in seeing your work; it’s our lifeblood. BUT... we only publish certain types of books so, if you are interested in submitting to us, please read the following carefully.
We started out making photography books just about east London, but we now publish much more broadly and are interested in books about:
- The city in general (i.e. urban stories from London and around the world)
- Nature. (Particularly where nature meets the city)
- Architecture. (Particularly urban architecture)
- Social history (and stories of community)
- Books about people. (We love books with stories and personality)
- Humour in general (but not too crass – quirky but thoughtful)
- Food (it must be unusual) with (the potential for) great photography
- Art and design in general
- Anything that is totally mind-blowing that we haven't thought of and has really nice pictures with it.
We are obsessed by high quality imagery. If your pitch doesn’t already include brilliant photography, you should have a strong idea of what images will bring it to life.
Remember, we have to be able to sell the book, so unless the project has some appeal to a wider audience (through subject matter, quirk or pure emotional force), it won't work for us.
2) For photography proposals, attach a PDF of 10-20 images (compressed under 8MB) or send us a link to a website (only if you are happy it represents a clear edit of your work). In your email, tell us what about your project in less than 30 words. We’re not dumbing down; we are in the business of making art photography accessible to a wider audience. If you can’t explain your work succinctly (however niche it is) then we probably can’t convey it persuasively to a group of non-photography specialists browsing in a shop.
3) For other proposals, please send us a paragraph describing the concept (with a brief suggested contents and sample chapter if you like) and images to go with it (or an idea of images).
4) DO NOT SUBMIT A WETRANSFER LINK (they die after a while)
How long will it take to hear back?
We get a lot of emails and are a small team. We used to promise a reply to every submission, but then we failed to honour it because we could not keep up, so now we have to be honest and say if you don't hear back, I'm afraid the submission is not right for us. Sorry... but thank you anyway.
A note on finances.
Having worked ourselves as photographers and in the art world, we try to pay as fairly as possible for creative work. Each book is financed differently. Very occasionally, we will not be able to publish a photography book (or other book) without asking for some financial support – it may be because the project is wonderful but doesn’t have commercial appeal. If so, we try to keep the support as low as possible (and certainly lower than many other photography publishers).
On being or not being accepted
If we like your work, we’ll be in touch! But remember, if we don’t accept your work, it’s not because it’s bad; it’s because it doesn’t fit with our brand and tone. Being an artist or writer requires a soft heart and thick skin, a rare combination, so we are very sorry if we do not accept your submission. We ourselves have had our own work repeatedly rejected by other publishers so we understand this can be disheartening. But keep going!