Nine Ten publishes non-fiction books by residents of Canada on topics related to art, craft and creativity. We are interested, especially, in books that are decidedly not "mainstream"—books that explore a topic or topics deeply, written by authors who know a whole lot about something most folks know very little about. Our goal is not to shine light on the obscure, but rather to serve readers who hunger for books that scratch beneath the surface of the niche topics they’re passionate, nerdy, geeky or obsessive about. We are driven by our values to seek and work toward equity, diversity, justice, and environmental and economic sustainability.

We are a very small, independent publisher, and we release two to three books each year. Because publishing, and Canadian publishing in particular, is a risk-averse industry that does not support startups, we rely on crowdfunding to finance the production of our books. As such, we rely on forming close, collaborative relationships with our authors as we work together to create crowdfunding campaigns that not only ensure we all get paid, but that also enable us to connect meaningfully with the future readers of our books. (We do the bulk of the crowdfunding work, but we do rely on our authors for reward ideas, promotion of the campaign, and eventually fulfillment of signed books and any other author-generated rewards.)

We have limited capacity to review unsolicited book proposals, but we are open to receiving them when presented according to the following guidelines:

Submission Guidelines

1. The author of the book must be a legal resident of Canada.
2. The topic of the book must fall within the broader realm of art, craft and/or creativity. We love intersections; we do not love lazy interpretations.
   1. We are interested in books that explore the people, ideas, techniques, knowledge, explorations, traditions and applications of art, craft and/or creativity. This could involve deep explorations of a particular medium, artist/crafter/maker, or tradition; it could involve memoir, biography, or profiles; it could involve essays, tutorials, photographic explorations.
      
      1. We are not interested in, and will not consider, books on the topics of wellness, nutrition, cooking, or spirituality.
      2. We are not interested in books consisting mostly of craft patterns.
   2. We have no requirements on length (short or long), and we are particularly keen to consider books that might be deemed commercially non-viable by larger publishers—if you convince us there is a small but significant audience out there.
3. You do not need to be an experienced author, but you do need to be able to commit to a major, long-term project that may feel intensely personal at times, and that will involve constructive, respectful editorial feedback and collaboration.
4. Please keep in mind that publishing is a business, and the decision we make about your proposal may be informed by any number of considerations beyond the merit of your idea, including but not limited to our capacity to take on the project, our judgment of the commercial potential of the book, and whether we think the book would complement the broader list of titles on our roster.

Submission Procedure

1. Please email publisher Kim Werker the following, at kim@ninetenpublications.ca:
   1. A brief introduction to you, your work, and your book idea—in the body of the email. This doesn’t need to be long, and you do not need to be formal in your salutation or with the general language you use.
   2. A non-fiction book proposal in PDF form. We will not consider a submission without a full book proposal. (We recommend Jane Friedman’s guide to preparing these—https://www.janefriedman.com/start-here-how-to-write-a-book-proposal/. Yes, a full proposal should come in at around 20–25 typed pages.)
      1. We will not consider fully written books. Please do not send a completed manuscript.