Ooligan Press - Submissions

Submitting to Ooligan Press

As a general trade press, Ooligan is open to publishing books from a wide variety of genres, both fiction and nonfiction. We gladly accept submissions from authors both inside and outside the PSU community. As a press, our editorial interests include, but are not limited to:

Publications with social, literary, or educational value
New or rediscovered works with a Pacific Northwest connection
Works that give voice to the region’s underrepresented
Previously unpublished English translations of foreign titles
Works on the craft and teaching of writing, editing, publishing, and book arts

Ooligan Press is also committed to publishing one collection of poetry and one children’s or young adult book each year.

Our Acquisitions Process

All manuscripts and proposals are read and reviewed by a committee of students enrolled in the Publishing Program at PSU. Each manuscript is read by multiple readers to ensure a strong, informed decision regarding acquisition of a work. On rare occasions, a manuscript will be read and reviewed by students in the Book Editing, Advanced Book Editing, or Children’s Book Publishing classes. This will be done only when the acquisitions committee requires further response to a work in order to reach a decision. A manuscript or proposal will never be read outside the acquisitions committee without author permission for any purpose other than review.

Submission of a proposal or manuscript implies consent to the above practices. Once a decision by the committee has been reached, the author will be informed of the decision in a timely manner. At this point, Ooligan cannot offer critiques of queries or manuscripts. Rejected manuscripts that did not include sufficient postage for return will be held in the Ooligan Press office for 30 days.

Our Submissions Guidelines

Queries Through Mail or Email
When submitting a query letter, for consideration, please follow these guidelines:

Include a brief summary of your manuscript, a description of the intended audience and potential market, and a short paragraph about yourself and your publishing history.
Include your contact information, but only include your email address if this is an acceptable way to contact you.
Electronic Queries only can be emailed to: ooliganacquisitions@pdx.edu

Proposals or Manuscripts Through Mail Only
When submitting a proposal or manuscript for consideration, please follow these guidelines:

Include a cover letter with a summary of your work, projected page count, your intended audience, marketing ideas for your work, and a list of published works that compare to your writing.
Include a table of contents, if appropriate.
Include at least four of your best consecutive chapters if your work is a full-length fiction text. (If interested, we will request the full manuscript for consideration.)
Include a self-addressed envelope with sufficient postage for the return of your manuscript.
Mail all of the above to:

Acquistions Committee

c/o Ooligan Press

Portland State University

P.O. Box 751

Portland, Oregon

97207-0751

While we prefer mailed queries, we will look at electronic query letters, if they appear as the text of the email message. In the interest of saving everyone time and effort, please do not send any materials to the press as an email attachment, as we will not open any unsolicited attachments. This rule is in place for security reasons, but also due to the fact that we cannot devote the time or resources to printing out works for consideration. do not send proposals or manuscripts by email, as they will not be reviewed.

We respond to query letters and proposals within 4 weeks and to complete manuscript submissions within 2-3 months. As we are a teaching press, we have an extended review process, so please be patient.

Prospective authors are invited to look at examples of previously published Ooligan books at:

ooliganpress.pdx.edu/books.

When preparing a query letter or book proposal for Ooligan Press, we encourage prospective authors to review the following reference materials:

The Sell Your Novel Tool Kit
by Elizabeth Lyon, 2002.

Nonfiction Book Proposals Anybody Can Write
by Elizabeth Lyon, 2002.

Thinking Like Your Editor: How to Write Great Serious Nonfiction—and Get it Published
by Susan Rabiner & Alfred Fortunato, 2003.