Camden House Prospective Authors

Why Publish with Camden House?

Since its founding in 1979, Camden House has become known as a world leader in publishing on German literary criticism and cultural studies. Scholars in German Studies throughout the world know that there are multiple reasons to publish with us; for the rest, including those in English/American literary and cultural studies who may not yet be as familiar with us, we provide the following:

Origins and Independence

As an imprint of the independent publishing company Boydell & Brewer, we are generally able to respond to proposals and reach decisions quickly. We are also dedicated to being highly responsive to our authors when questions or difficulties come up during the writing or revision processes. Camden House’s origin as a publisher founded by academics who saw a need for increased publishing opportunities in their field (German Studies) gives us considerable insight into the concerns of academic authors, and our experience in academic publishing (since 1979) gives us in-depth knowledge of the potential difficulties in the process of readying a manuscript for publication and how to avoid or overcome them to reach timely publication.

Peer Review

Camden House books are subject to a rigorous peer-review process comparable to that provided by university presses. Two anonymous outside readers are employed for each manuscript, with the author or editor required to carry out reasonable revisions in response to the reports before final acceptance of the manuscript for publication.

Attention to Accuracy and Clarity

At Camden House we devote an uncommon level of attention to the accuracy of our books and to the clarity of the writing in them; this is seen to both by the editorial staff and by the excellent freelance copyeditors we employ. Our books are intended to explicate difficult texts and cultural phenomena in a direct and lucid manner, and thus to be not only a contribution to scholarship, but also a pleasure to read.

Production Values

Production support for Camden House books is provided by Boydell & Brewer, Inc., in Rochester, NY. The books are thoughtfully designed and carefully produced, with attention given to paper quality, binding, and the reproduction quality of interior photographs, musical examples, and other artwork. The Boydell & Brewer production staff work with professional designers to create attractive and marketable book covers, and with printers to ensure the books will be durable and long-lasting.

Marketing

Our books are actively marketed throughout the world through our sales and marketing departments in the US and UK. We place advertisements in the leading journals in our subject areas and, on a limited basis, in more popular publications such as Times Literary Supplement and the New York Review of Books. We send out a generous number of review copies of each book, asking for the author’s guidance on which review journals should receive them. We also attend and display books at a number of scholarly conferences each year.

Our Related Imprints

Several other imprints under the Boydell & Brewer umbrella provide considerable synergies with Camden House’s publishing efforts: for instance the University of Rochester Press’s Eastman Studies in Music and Changing Perspectives on Early Modern Europe series overlap with Camden House titles on German music and early modern culture and history, while Boydell Press’s publications in medieval history and D.S. Brewer’s on medieval and early modern English literature are a fitting counterpart to Camden House’s offerings in German medieval and early modern studies. The Hispanic studies imprint, Tamesis, and the French medieval studies imprint, Gallica, are also fitting counterparts to Camden House in the Boydell & Brewer family of imprints.

German Studies Series

Culture and Power in German-Speaking Europe, 1918-1989
Dialogue and Disjunction: Studies in Jewish German Writing and Thought
German History in Context
Literary Criticism in Perspective (German)
Screen Cultures: German Film and the Visual
Studies in German Literature, Linguistics, and Culture
Women and Gender in German Studies

English & American Literature Series

European Studies in North American Literature and Culture
Literary Criticism in Perspective (English & American)
Mind and American Literature
Studies in American Literature and Culture

Additional Publications

We have an extensive range of Companion volumes, primarily but not only in German literature, and our ten-volume Camden House History of German Literature is the most extensive history of German literature ever published in English. Our flagship series in American Literature is Literary Criticism in Perspective: American Literature.

We are also proud to be home to several recurring publications: the Goethe Yearbook (since its founding in 1982), the Edinburgh German YearbookNexus: Essays in German-Jewish StudiesRenaissance Papers and most recently the Brecht Yearbook.

Book Proposal Guidelines

A significant number of our books are commissioned works, but Camden House welcomes manuscripts and project descriptions for the consideration of the editorial board.

Our proposal form provides us with the information necessary to make an initial appraisal of your publication project. If we decide that it is a possibility for the list, we will contact you to request further material for peer review. If the complete manuscript is not available, at least two sample chapters and a detailed breakdown of the rest of the book will be required.

Proposals may be sent by email directly to Camden House Editorial Director Jim Walker at [email protected] (this is preferred), or to the respective series editors listed on the series webpages listed above.

Or mail to:

Jim Walker
Camden House
134 Deerwood Trail
Lake Placid, NY 12946

(please include email address for response)

t + 1 518 837 5232 (M-F 9-5)
f + 1 518 837 5232