But what about “crossover” presses?

It’s one of the most common questions I get.

Literally every time I give a workshop to faculty, every time I go through my whole presentation on how to make the transition to writing for a “big trade publisher”, how to get an agent, etc, etc — the very first hand that goes up in the air, it’s always the same question….

“But John — what about ‘crossover’ academic presses?

“What about publishers like Chicago, Princeton, Harvard/Belknap, Oxford, etc? Don’t they also do ‘trade’ books? What if I’m happy being published by one of them? Honestly, I don’t think I need to get some big, fancy book deal with HarperCollins and go on Oprah. I would be just delighted with a ‘crossover’ publisher. So what do you recommend? Do I still need an agent for this? Is the process different?”

These are all great questions. And honestly, it would take a long time to fully answer all of them. But here are some general words of advice about “crossover” academic publishing:

First, crossover academic publishers are fantastic. For a lot of you, the experience of working with one of these presses will be a wonderful, uplifting experience — and a real breath of fresh air if you’re used to dealing with more scholarly monograph publishers, who (let’s be honest) typically barely even look at your work before slapping a cover on it and selling it for $128 to… absolutely nobody.

For starters, at a crossover academic publisher, you will benefit from a wonderful editor, who will really push you to think about the narrative arc and structure of your argument, a great designer who will do a cool cover… and so much more.

And then, of course, there’s the money.

Publishers like Yale and California, for example, regularly pay significant advances for their “front list” titles — occasionally even approaching six figures. (This doesn’t happen every day, so don’t get over-excited).

More importantly, when they do, you can be absolutely sure that this is an indication of their seriousness. If an academic publisher is throwing a mid-five-figure advance in your direction, you can be sure that you will NOT be forgotten about when it comes time for the publicity and marketing cycle. For a press like that, this is a HUGE investment, and they are going to do everything in their power to recoup that investment.

Will they be able to use the FULL range of publicity, marketing and distribution resources that a major New York trade publisher, like Simon & Schuster can? No. Of course not. But you can still do pretty damn well.

The other nice thing about this kind of publisher is that they won’t forget about you as soon as the publicity cycle is over.

When you’re published by HarperCollins or Norton, you get to experience (maybe) six months of publicity hype, during which you will constantly be getting calls and emails from the publisher, trying to book you on this radio show or that podcast, thrilling you with news about the big review that’s about to come in the Washington Post or whatever — and then….

Crickets.

About a year after your book is out, you might get another little bite of the apple with your paperback. But then that’s it. For the rest of your life, they will largely ignore you.

Yes, even if there’s some massive news cycle that you think is going to blast your book onto the bestseller lists. It doesn’t matter. They’ve moved on. They have a whole bunch of new books they’re pushing, and you are yesterday’s news.

This is very different at academic presses. You can be sure that if your book is published by Stanford or UNC Press, they will continue to care about it years after publication, and continue to be open to opportunities to promote it when it makes sense.

Will Stanford or UNC Press ever be able to compete with Penguin RandomHouse when it comes to publicity and distribution networks? Absolutely not. Not even close. And that’s something for you to think long and hard about before you close the door on the big trade publishers. They will get attention for your book on a whole other scale.

So this raises the obvious question. If you decide you don’t care about the fame and glory, and you’re happy with a more limited experience with a crossover academic press…. Do you still need an agent?

This is one of the knottiest and most complicated questions I ever have to address. The simple answer is… yes and no.

No, you don’t absolutely “need” to have an agent to get the attention of one of these presses. Their editors will happily talk to you, and respond to your email (usually). And in fact, in almost every case, if they like your idea and want to work with you, they strongly PREFER that you don’t have an agent.

(The truth is that editors at crossover academic presses kind of hate agents, and for pretty obvious reasons).

BUT…. Does that mean you shouldn’t get one? No! Not at all.

There are some very strong advantages to getting an agent, even if you want to work with an academic publisher.

For starters, the agent will get you a MUCH better deal. They will negotiate on your behalf, in a way that you never would.

And if you can hear yourself saying, “Well, I don’t really care about the money”…. Wait. Try to remember what the money represents. It is a reflection of how much potential they see in your work, and how vigorously they will promote it when the time comes. THAT, I know, is something you care about.

There are also a thousand other advantages to having an agent that go far beyond just selling your book idea to University of Chicago Press. This is a subject for another day, but remember than agents can be your best advocates, on a whole range of issues — from translation rights to foreign rights, to speaking engagements, to future book deals, to providing a sounding board and advice on navigating the publishing world, to helping you place Op-Eds and magazine pieces, and so on and so on.

So if you’re serious about reaching a wider audience — either by publishing with a major trade press or by choosing the more familiar experience of a “crossover” academic press, you simply cannot afford to charge ahead without doing your homework first. There is a lot to think about here.

And as always, we here at Scholars to Storytellers are here to help.