Publish with us

5m operates a broad-ranging publishing programme encompassing books on animal and human health and agriculture. We select and commission titles with the aim of increasing knowledge and understanding of issues concerning the health of people, animals and the planet on academic, practical and popular levels, for practice, study and research.

Please browse our website to get a feel for the books we publish before you submit a proposal and ensure you carefully review the following submission guidelines.

5m focuses on:

• agriculture (conventional, organic and regenerative), agroecology and permaculture
• animal breeding, genetics and rare breed conservation
• animal husbandry
• animal psychology and training
• animal welfare and ethics
• careers within and entry to the fields in this list
• Ecohealth, One Health and zoonotics
• ecology, the environment and nature
• farm and land use economics and management
• pet, companion animal and equine topics
• smallholding and market gardening
• veterinary medicine

We look favourably on books based on:

• long standing professional experience
• rigorous scientific methodology and application
• the presentation of new data and novel solutions

We also welcome:

• collections of academic papers from conferences and symposia
• first time authors with a great book idea

We do not publish novels or poetry, and no longer publish children’s books.

Initial enquiry

Send by email to hello@5mbooks.com an overview of your book’s topic (c 500 words), along with information about you as an author (who you are, why you are the right person to write this book, evidence that you will be able to complete a high-quality manuscript in a timely fashion). If you have already written your book, or a portion of it you may include a sample chapter.

If we like what we see, we will request a full proposal. Alternatively, we may recommend that you consider our Partnership Publishing Programme (see below). If you have already self-published a book and are looking for professional distribution, then please see Let’s collaborate.

Full proposal

If invited to submit a proposal, we will send you a template to complete. It will ask you to provide the following.

• A summary of your book that explains the major ideas it includes, why it is important, and why you want to write it at this time.
• Key features: identify at least three and try to express them in terms of their benefits to the intended readers. What will your book enable them to do/do better?
• A table of contents for your book: provisional list of chapter titles followed by brief descriptions of the content.
• Structure: an explanation of the logic behind the structure of your table of contents
• A projected word count range, number of illustrations, photographs and the like and indication of when you could complete your manuscript.
• Peer evaluation: details of 2-4 suitably qualified subject experts we may approach to comment on your proposal.
• The market, including assessments of:
  • your intended readership: please try to identify main and subsidiary readerships, specifically who they are and why you think they will be interested in your book.
  • books on the same or a similar topic that you feel are aimed at a similar readership to your book, including your thoughts on why the book is appealing and worthwhile, or otherwise and how your book differs.
  • international relevance and opportunities
• Biographical details about you, your academic background and experience relevant to the proposed book, details of any previously published writing, public speaking experience, your online presence, etc.
• Your thoughts on publicity and marketing, including:
  • your vision for promoting and selling your book
  • details that help us understand your online platforms and following across social media
  • details about other resources you can use (e.g. your own mailing list or newsletter following and/or other contact lists that you could utilize for promotion (for example affiliated organizations and associations)
  • your networks and how you will utilise them
  • media outlets and publications that will cover your book
  • events and venues where you have been or will be invited to speak or teach
  • bulk and special sales opportunities, including businesses, non-profits, or groups that may want to buy larger quantities of your book.
• A sample chapter.

We receive a large number of submissions and so it may be several weeks before we can respond.

Email hello@5mbooks.com to start a conversation about your book.

Partnership Publishing Programme

Not all books will be suitable for a traditional commissioned journey. Your book may be very specialised or have limited commercial potential, but nonetheless is worthy of publication. We have therefore developed our hybrid Partnership Publishing Programme.

A hybrid model is one that falls somewhere between a traditional contract (with the publisher bearing all the costs and taking a substantial portion of the (hopefully) sufficient royalties to see a profit) and self-publishing (where the author does and pays for everything themselves). For an agreed upfront fee and a much smaller royalty percentage we would provide an agreed range of editorial and production services, and publish your book, distributing both books and ebooks through our established arrangements.

If you wish to explore this option, please email hello@5mbooks.com with an overview of your book’s topic (c 500 words), along with information about you as an author and, if you have already written your book, a portion of it as a sample.

Open Access

We offer the option to publish open access books and chapters allowing unrestricted online access with no reading or subscription fees. You retain copyright and are able to comply with funders’ open access mandates. Each open access book or chapter receives the same editorial and publishing expertise, rigorous review and high-quality production process applied to all our traditional access books. Please email hello@5mbooks.com to discuss your needs.

Additional Support files for authors