LSU Press was founded in 1953 by Louisiana State University to help support the work of the university. They publish scholarly and general interest books, mostly about Louisiana and the south.
According to their site, their current areas of interest include:
- African American studies
- American history
- Atlantic World history
- Caribbean history
- Civil War studies
- Environmental studies
- Fan studies
- Foodways
- Landscape Architecture
- Literary studies
- Louisiana archaeology
- Louisiana history and culture
- Media studies
- Poetry
- Roots Music
- Southern environmental history
- Southern history
- Southern social justice issues
- World War II
You can visit their active series page here, to see what their current focus looks like. A lot of the these imprints focus on the south but many also go beyond that scope. They also publish poetry.
If you are serious about submitting I’d really focus on spending time browsing the catalogue of the series your work would belong in. Each series page shares information to the series editor, although all submissions are redirected to the relevant acquisitions editors who you can learn more about here.
You can not submit an un-revised thesis dissertation and they have specific advice in terms of revising thesis dissertations.
They ask that poetry proposals include a cover letter, a one-page summary, as well as a few sample poems that are part of the manuscript, and a current resume or CV.
All proposals that are not for poetry manuscripts should include a cover letter, title, table of contents. information about competitive titles, and a resume or curriculum vitae. They also want to know a rough total word count, and information about proposed art. They do not want to see your whole manuscript at this time, but you must include sample chapters also.
They will only reply if they are interested in seeing more.
To learn more about submitting to them, please visit their website here.
Emily Harstone is the author of many popular books, including The Authors Publish Guide to Manuscript Submissions, Submit, Publish, Repeat, and The 2023 Guide to Manuscript Publishers. She regularly teaches three acclaimed courses on writing and publishing at The Writer’s Workshop at Authors Publish. You can follow her on Facebook here.
