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FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions

What is The Edwin Mellen Press?

The Edwin Mellen Press is a publisher of scholarly books acquired by research libraries throughout the world.

What does the Press publish?

Specialized research scholarship:

The Press also publishes one hundred continuing series, academic journals, and the research generated by several scholarly institutes.

The Press publishes original poetry through the Mellen Poetry Press.

How many titles does the Press publish?

Approximately 400 new titles yearly including works in German, French, Spanish, Russian and other languages.

Is the Edwin Mellen Press an international publisher?

Yes. The Press was established in Canada in 1974, the United States in 1978, Great Britain in 1987, and Austria in 1993.

Does this mean you will sell my book internationally?

Yes. Our books are purchased by research libraries in over 60 countries.

In addition to North America and the United Kingdom, continental Europe, Australia, Japan, and Africa are among our larger customers.

Who are the Editors of the Edwin Mellen Press?

The Principal editors are Professor Herbert Richardson (formerly of the University of Toronto), Professor Watson Mills, Founding Director (retired) of Mercer University Press; and Dr. John Rupnow, Director of The Edwin Mellen Press.

How is the Edwin Mellen Press different from other university presses?

The Press exclusively publishes very specialized monograph and reference books which are targeted primarily at research libraries. It does not try to bridge into the textbook or general readership market.

What does it mean to target books to research libraries?

It means that all Mellen books must make a specific contribution to scholarship which advances research in its field.

All books must have:

Mellen books are printed on acid-free paper (with a 100-year shelf life) and have full-cloth library bindings.

How do I submit a book proposal or a manuscript?

That's easy. Please complete our online proposal form for fastest response or contact us.

What do you need to know?

You need to be clear about the following items;

What is the topic of your book?

What is its specific contribution to scholarship?

What is the proposed content?

What is your scholarly training? (Send C.V. if possible).

What is your address and phone number (day/ evening)?

Do I have to complete my manuscript before contacting you?

No. We will review either your proposal or a complete manuscript.

Does this mean that you will contract to publish a book before the author has completed it?

Yes. If your proposal is acceptable, we may issue a contract committing ourselves to your project pending a reading of the final manuscript.

Who evaluates the manuscripts?

The evaluation of manuscript proposals is the responsibility of the editorial board, Mellen staff editors or scholars appointed by Mellen to perform this function.

How long does it take for your editorial board to evaluate my manuscript or my proposal?

Our policy is to decide on all proposals and manuscripts within 60 days.

Does the Press pay royalties?

Yes.

Does the Press do the typesetting?

Today, most authors write on computers and have access to laser printers. Therefore, we require the submission of laser-printed camera-ready copy. We print from this text.

May I include photographs, line drawings, or statistical tables in my book?

Yes. But you must provide us with clean, clear black-and-white or color glossy prints.

Mellen will require a color or black and white illustration, photo, or graphic for the cover of the book, and a color photo of the author or editor for the back cover to be printed with 40 - 75 words of information.

Mellen will also print a color or black and white frontispiece, and will include a color or black and white section of illustrations in the center.

How long will it take for my book to be printed?

It will take 3 - 12 months after your final camera-ready copy has been submitted and approved.

Will my book be softcover or hardcover?

Because we publish primarily for libraries, our books are printed on acid-free paper and bound hardcover according to library specifications.

How will you promote sales of my book before publication?

We will prepare descriptive flyers for promoting your book directly to scholars, and it will be included in a New Titles catalog mailed to over 1400 research libraries and booksellers in North America and Europe.

From these, we receive many pre-publication orders from Blackwell and Baker & Taylor, who are major suppliers of books to research libraries.

How do you market my book after publication?

After publication, we continuously promote your book through direct-mail flyers, specialty subject catalogs, and conferences.

Because we are a large publishing program we have the opportunity to piggyback information about your book every time we market a new book in the same field.

Will you sell my book over the internet?

Yes. As you can see from this web site for both direct consumer as well as institutional orders.

Do you have a comprehensive catalog of all the books you have published?

Mellen publishes a comprehensive catalog of all the titles it has published, including selections from reviews, and lists all of its titles through Book Data, a CD-ROM library information search service. Our full catalog may also be downloaded and our backlist searched from this web site.

Do you place advertisements in journals?

Yes. We advertise in scholarly journals, conference programs, and professional reviews.

Will you send my book to review journals?

The Press sends copies of all its books to CHOICE. It also provides authors with book announcements which they can send to journals to request free review copies.

Does this method work?

Yes, because journals are more likely to review books they request than books which are unsolicited.

How many free author copies do I get?

Five free copies. Authors also receive a 30% discount on their book.

What will be the list price of my book?

Mellen sells its books primarily to research libraries at prices determined by page count.

For 2002, our prices begin at $99.95/ £ 64.95 for 200 pages and increase by $10/ £ 5 for every additional hundred pages (e.g. 300 pages = $109.95/ £ 69.95). Mellen book prices are subject to change.

Mellen prices seem very high.

Considering that we sell most of our books to research libraries, where each copy is used many times, we calculate that they cost about $1.50/ £ 1 per reader.

How many readers will my book have?

About 6000-12000 scholar/readers.

Mellen anticipates that the 200-300 copies it sells to research libraries will be consulted each year by 2-3 readers over 28 years.

Does this mean that my book will not be available through bookstores?

Your book can be ordered through bookstores everywhere, because it will have an ISBN and be listed in Books in Print.

Can you also have a text edition of my book for students?

Our scholarly books are usually not suitable for text use, but we are willing to set a low price for use as a textbook if there is a prepaid quantity order on a non-returnable basis. We will print a softcover edition if we have an order for over 100 copies.

How many copies of my book will you print?

Mellen anticipates that it will sell 300-500 copies of your book, with 2/3 of these sales during the first five years and a few copies each year over the next two decades.

Since your book will be purchased primarily by research libraries, each copy sold will have many readers. For example, if a single library copy is used by 2 students or scholars each year for 20 years, then that single copy will reach 40 readers.

If 300 copies of your book are sold to research libraries, then it will reach 12,000 readers. This is a larger number than the sales of many non-fiction hardcover books.

But how can you manage to stay in business when other publishers say they lose money on scholarly books?

There are five reasons:

  1. We are clear about our market niche and stay within it where we have little competition.
  2. We approach the scholarly market on an international basis.
  3. We have our own printing equipment which is specialized for short runs.
  4. Therefore, we gain scheduling flexibility and save costs in our production process.
  5. We publish more titles than most publishers and so compensate for fewer sales of each title by having more individual titles to sell.

Because of our single-minded dedication to the values of scholarship, we attract unusually high-quality manuscripts.

This is what makes a publishing program successful: good authors and high-quality books.

Your publishing program is different from the usual approaches?

Every publisher has a different goal and therefore, approaches things differently. We don't want to publish books for the general reader, only for the scholar/reader.

We believe that research scholarship is the foundation not only of the University, but of human culture itself.

We want to help scholars communicate their research to the world. If you leaf through our catalog of publications for the past two decades, you will see what this clearly means.

Thank you for coming to our website at MellenPress.com.