Update July 27th 2022: You must now pitch to them through the main BenBella site.
SmartPop Books is an imprint of BenBella Books, an established and respected non-fiction publisher.
According to their website, SmartPop is “actively looking for smart, quirky, engaging non-fiction titles on television, books, and film.” They are open to anthologies, as well as single author titles. The work could be an official, authorized guide, or an unofficial one.
One of the great things about publishing with SmartPop is that they have a focused audience already and they truly understand marketing within the niche they have found. They have an excellent distributor, Perseus Distribution.
They have worked with well known and established authors including Cory Doctorow, Lawrence Block, Dennis Lehane, and Jane Espenson.
You can get a good feel for what they have previously published by visiting their catalog here.
They are looking for work that contains an intriguing idea, with a targeted subject that already has fans (such as board game, a TV show, a band). They also want the author to bring special knowledge, training, experience and or a relationship (in terms of the subject or other members of the fan-base).
The work must also be written in accessible way. They are not seeking work that’s unapproachable or academic.
Emily Harstone is the author of many popular books, including The Authors Publish Guide to Manuscript Submissions, The 2019 Guide to Manuscript Publishers, Submit, Publish, Repeat, and The Authors Publish Guide to Children’s and Young Adult Publishing.
She occasionally teaches a course on manuscript publishing, as well as a course on publishing in literary journals.
