NUP — 🪓

Hi, writers.

The submission process can be intimidating, I know, and I’ve been grateful to editors who are clear about what they’re looking for and how to connect, like a hand reaching out from the clouds.

Here I am, reaching out.

I joined Northwestern University Press as an acquisitions editor in January 2023. I’ll update this doc periodically with what I’m looking for and will also talk about it occasionally on Twitter until that site goes up in flames and I head somewhere else Bluesky.

NUP.

A lifetime ago, a friend handed me Viola Spolin's Improvisation for the Theatre. My love for that book put a spotlight on Northwestern University Press—and university presses as a whole—in lifting the local voices that shape our communities and the international voices that drive our cultural and political conversations. I read Angela Jackson because of NUP. I read Dostoyevski’s diaries because of NUP. I read Nikki Finney and Patricia Smith and Meena Alexander. Martin Espada. Herta Müller. Mary Zimmerman. Bluebirds Croon in the Choir, my favorite Joe Meno collection. neckbone: visual verses by avery r. young, whose live performances take my breath away. In 2021 I joined NUP as an author, and the care given to my books (mid-pandemic! world on fire! etc.!) made me want to be a part of this team.

I am so proud to be a part of this team.

I’m telling you why I came here in the hope that you consider why you want to come here. Give a look to our recent publications. I cannot emphasize that enough—a solid half of the submissions in my inbox are not a fit for our lists (here’s the wonderful Rebecca Colesworthy on how acquisitions editors assess this).

What should I submit to you?

Great books.

That said: I’m the senior editor for regional titles. I’m looking for trade books that center the Midwest in all its complexities and am especially interested in voice-driven storytelling that taps into the heartbeat of Chicago.

Specifically: fiction, nonfiction, plays, and genre-bending narrative work. I want the weird and wonderful. I want to hold my breath ‘til the end. I want work that wrestles with big questions, explores what’s missing from our current cultural and political dialogue, and shows us how deeply not alone we are in this beautiful mess of a world.

At this stage in my game, I’m interested in manuscripts that are complete.

If your work doesn’t live in those spaces, you can still submit to us! My colleagues are brilliant and we talk together about the books we acquire, so I’ll still be a part of the process even if you’re not working with me directly.

How should I submit to you?

There is a lot going on in my inbox so keeping things brief is the way to go. I can’t emphasize this enough. Our full guidelines are here, but in a nutshell, here’s what I need:

Email me at megan.stielstra@northwestern.edu with “Submission:” in the subject line, followed by the title of your book.

The email should include the following:

A cover letter that provides a paragraph-long description of the work, a total word count, a short list of comparable books in print, whether you are agented, a summary of any previously published material included in the manuscript (if applicable), and a paragraph-long biography of who you are as a writer. Have you published elsewhere? If not, that’s okay! Debut authors are welcome here, as well as those who’ve danced this dance for decades.
Attach a single Word doc with an excerpt of at least 10 and no more than 30 double-spaced pages. Please do not send the full manuscript unless I request it.

The end. :)

If it’s useful, here is Jane Friedman’s guide to writing query letters, and Eric Smith has a great resource section on his website with examples of letters that worked. I also learned a great deal from the Successful Queries series at Writers Digest.

Follow-up

If you haven’t heard from me within one month, feel free to follow-up on your original submission. I do my best to respond to all queries, but *gestures wildly at the world*

Questions?

Email me at megan.stielstra@northwestern.edu.

I’m trying this wild thing where I keep my personal and work lives separate, so please send publishing-related questions here as opposed to the place where I talk with my son’s orthodontist.