Getting Published

We welcome new authors and book proposals.

Please spend some time at bookshop.gbgerakbudaya.com looking at the kinds of books we have published recently as well as the books we distribute.

What To Send Us

  • A 1-page summary of the work. Be sure to tell us how long—pages or words—the full book will be.
  • Contents pages
  • Estimated length of manuscript (current). (Estimate based on MS Word, 12 point font, Times New Roman or similiar, 1 1/2 space, include notes and appendices in Word count please.)
  • A sample of 20 to 30 pages. Or the Introduction and 1 Chapter.
  • Your bio.
  • A brief description of how you think the book (and you, the author) could be marketed. E.g., what audience will your book appeal to? How is your book similar to, and different from, other titles on the market? What qualities, experiences, etc., do you have that will attract readers to your book? What qualities, experiences, contacts, etc., do you have that will attract book reviewers and other media attention?

We look forward to reading your submission and we will reply to your email or to your mailed submission within 2–6 weeks (for a proposal only, not for a full MS).

We will then contact you directly to let you know if we would like to see the entire manuscript, with instructions on how it should be delivered.

Important: Please DO NOT typeset, design or format your chapters or files to ‘look like a book’. Use minimal formatting (headings and paragraphs). DO NOT add running heads, drop caps or anything fancy to your pages. Number your pages but do not bind them. Pages should be printed only one one side and one and half or double spaced.

Academic Authors

SIRD prefers to publish original monographs and not edited volumes but we will definitely consider edited volumes on topics which are under-represented. We will also consider dissertations on Malaysia or Southeast Asia although they have to be of exceptional appeal to a wider audience. (You will also have to be prepared to work hard and long on revising your dissertation and turn it into a book, even before the normal extensive editorial process.)

SIRD keeps working to build links both within Malaysia, Southeast Asia and beyond to improve the marketing of local academic books as well as bring in some of the most provocative and/alternative new research and make them accessible—affordable—for local readers. The worldwide market (that is, the number of copies of any particular title which is likely to be sold) for academic books on Southeast Asia is tiny, while the number of titles produced in English from university, NGO and independent presses such as ourselves keeps growing. It is important for prospective academic authors to understand how to work with us to make the best of their work.

Academic manuscripts will be subject to more external reviewing and rigorous editing for an international audience. If there are possibilities for co-publishing, the other party (press) will normally expect lengthy and rigorous peer reviewing. This is for your own good—or rather for the good of the book—but we will not be creating any mystique around it and will be keeping you informed. Please submit the names of two or three possible reviewers, and any other information which may help us to gain an audience for your book, draw attention to it in the right circles, and so on.

On any aspect of academic publishing and writing, whether monographs or edited volumes, we invite you contact SIRD’s experienced consultant academic editor to discuss your proposal, and have some advice on how to retain your sanity while you prepare the MS, smoothen the editorial and production process, and improve the chances of getting published as well as getting the book that you want out in a professional, reasonably timely and transparent manner