Please read the brief notes below if you’re interested in submitting a project proposal to iam.
Given our other, respective life and work commitments we have a limited capacity for managing productions. Unfortunately we don’t have the time or money to accept many of the invitations or requests made so please don’t be offended if we have to say ‘no’, and please bear in mind the following points before deciding whether or not to submit. Equally, we focus on a quite specific type of work, the tone and mode of which can be gleened from the listings on this website: independent publishing is a broad field and if we reply saying that ‘we’re not the right publisher for that project’ then we mean it, but there are countless others that might be.
All of the matters below can be discussed in more detail as and when they become appropriate.
1. We are, by choice, an independent imprint run on the good will of the editing team and the commitment of each author. As such, funding needs to be raised on a project-by-project basis, and this process needs to be driven the person(s) directing / coordinating the project. This also means that the funding party (i.e. the person(s) directing / coordinating the project) owns the produced work / edition and has full entitlement to the net profits from any and all sales. We do not take or make any profit from the work of other authors.
2. We only curate / edit / publish works not artists. Please only submit proposals in which the trajectory of the work (concept, method, means of production etc.) toward its outcome has been carefully thought through and experimented with. We do not demand any particular format or forms for submissions but we do highly value concision and precision coupled with clear explanation and illustrations from ‘test runs’, maquettes or draft manuscripts. Please make first submissions or proposals electronically to simon [at] informationasmaterial [dot] org, and should other means of contact be necessary Simon can give you delivery instructions.
3. We believe that it is in both the spirit and interest of the type of work we make and support to keep up and extend relations between our authors (and the imprint via them) and the literary communities, art communities, other relevant communities, and the critical press. Therefore we do our best to represent the imprint at leading international fairs and events, and to give copies of any publication to seemingly interested readers who might work to support its further circulation. These practices rely on our authors sharing our belief and bearing a proportional share of the cost. Participating in these practices is of course the choice of each party. However, we do have a base requirement of stock that needs to sent to our principle distributors, the sending of and storage costs for which are the responsibility of the person(s) directing / coordinating the project. We also require a small number of copies from each edition to be given the editors and the imprint’s archive. Please factor these points into your budget plans.
4. Although we appreciate all shows of interest in working with iam and wish anyone making interesting work the best of luck we cannot necessarily enter into extended discussions about our decisions regarding submissions. Therefore, please don’t expect us to. We will offer as full and honest a first judgment as possible in the hope that either way it helps.
