Publish With Us

The focus of Healing Mountain Publishing, Inc. is to provide high-quality, clinically-relevant materials to medical professionals and medical students at a reasonable cost. We publish a variable number of books per year and specialize in natural medicine textbooks and study materials. Healing Mountain Publishing is currently one of the few publishing houses that provide natural medicine textbooks and the only publisher we are aware of that provides annually-upgraded study materials specifically for naturopathic clinicians-in-training.

WHY WE PUBLISH

As a textbook publisher, Healing Mountain Publishing aims to provide high-quality clinical information to health care professionals, students, and educators in the field of natural medicine. It is our belief that a medical textbook can both preserve the traditional knowledge of medicine and integrate new perspectives from scientific research.

In addition, we are also an excellent resource for qualified authors looking to publish medical textbooks related to the field of natural healthcare and offer unique, custom-tailored publishing services.

BENEFITS OF PUBLISHING WITH US

Personal Attention

Either Dr. Yarnell or Dr. Piscopo will personally supervise the editorial process of transforming your manuscript into a published book. This allows for an ongoing dialogue of peers that will assist us in producing the highest quality book possible. Throughout the development of the manuscript, your input is welcomed and respected.

Cover Design

Cover design is handled by a professional artist who will create a color cover that uniquely augments the content of your book.

Proofreading

A professional copyeditor will examine your manuscript and correct punctuation, spelling errors, grammar and any other obvious systemic problems with the text. If your manuscript needs extensive editing, we can discuss additional contract options.

Book Layout

The design and unique layout of your manuscript, including format, header styles, appropriate fonts, and graphic will be handled by a professional typesetter.

ISBN Registration

Your book will be assigned its own International Standard Book Number (ISBN) and will be listed in R. R. Bowker's Books in Print.

Marketing

Your finished book will be marketed both on our website and through our extensive network of contacts. If your book is a textbook, this will include providing examination copies to qualified instructors who can decide to utilize your textbook in their class. We are always open to marketing ideas from any of our authors and seek to tailor our marketing approach to each individual author's needs.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

Synopsis of the Healing Mountain Publishing Parameters

Format of books generally published: Paperback
Types of books published: Medical, nonfiction, reference
Language published: English
Do we accept unsolicited manuscripts? Yes
Do we return unsolicited manuscripts? Only if SASE is provided
Do we accept manuscripts that are not completed? Yes
Do we accept manuscripts by writers without representation? Yes
Do we accept manuscript submission electronically? No

What We Are Looking For

Textbooks written for professionals by natural health care practitioners in most clinical subject areas including but not limited to:

Textbooks written for students of natural medicine in most basic science areas including but not limited to:

Any texts written by and for natural health care professionals of potential interest, such as discussions of specific diseases or specific treatment modalities.

Proposal Contents

If you have a book—either completed or in progress—that you would like for Healing Mountain to publish, your first step should be to submit a proposal. Your proposal should include the following elements:

1. A cover letter. Introduce yourself, list your credentials, and briefly explain your project. Indicate whether the book is already completed, and if not, about how much of it has been completed.
2. A brief summary of the manuscript that describes the major theme of the book, provides a brief analysis of the potential readership for the book, and addresses why this book is unique from others already available in the marketplace.
3. An outline. Lay out the contents of the book and how they will be organized. Make the outline as complete as possible.
4. A sample of the writing in the book. Send a chapter, or about 4,000 words. Please do not send the entire manuscript, even if it is finished. It is more material than our evaluators need (or have time to look at), and it's expensive to ship.

Formatting Standards

Please format your writing sample and your completed manuscript to the following standards:

1. Use black type on white paper.
2. In the upper left corner of the first page, put your name, address, telephone number, fax number (if applicable), and e-mail address (if applicable).
3. About halfway down the first page, place the title (centered) on a line by itself (two lines if it's a long title).
4. Immediately below the title, center the name(s) of the author(s) on a single line. Each name should appear as the author wishes it to appear on the cover of the finished book.
5. Double-space the body of the text. Do not print or type on the backs of the pages; keep the text on one side only.
6. Use a single font throughout. Alternatively, you may use one font for titles/headers and another font for the text body. Keep your fonts easy to read.
7. Number each page in the upper right corner.
8. Use the absolute minimum of special formatting, such as bold, underline, italics, styles, etc. Much of this work will ultimately be lost if your manuscript is accepted, and could potentially add extra work for the typesetter.

In general, a successful manuscript will have the following features:

• A professional-looking proposal. A neatly and clearly organized presentation does have a significantly positive impact, suggesting a professional, intelligent manuscript.
• A writing style that is succinct and logically organized, providing relevant examples to the topic at hand where necessary.
• References research and authoritative sources, especially when discussing controversial topics.
• Provides structural features that allows the reader to rapidly access or review the material, such as a table of contents, an index, or various tables relevant to the material under discussion.

If you would like your manuscript returned, in the event that this occurs, please read the following carefully. You must include an envelope large enough to hold your document with sufficient postage affixed to it in order for us to return your document to you. Do not send us cash, checks, or money orders to cover the cost of the postage. Please use Priority or First Class mail only. Please be aware that we cannot return documents to an address outside the US. Do not submit original materials and please make a copy of your submission for your records. Please note that although we will do our best to ensure that your proposal is handled with care, we do not accept responsibility for any unsolicited material. We will not return any unsolicited manuscripts without a SASE.

Please direct your proposal to our editorial department at the address below:

HMP Editorial Department
430 Elva Way
East Wenatchee, WA, 98802

If you have any questions about submitting a proposal, or any part of the publishing process, please Contact Us.

The Publishing Process—What to Expect Next

Contracting

If your project is accepted, the first step will be to formalize the arrangement with a contract. Healing Mountain Publishing will prepare two originals of a contract and send them out to you. When you receive them, you will need to sign both originals, send one back to the company, and keep one for your own records.

Because Healing Mountain is still a small concern, we have a policy in place that we will not begin work on a title until we have a contract with the author on file. If we were to begin working on a title, and then the author had a change of heart and didn't sign the contract, then we would lose any expenses we had already incurred. It is therefore very important that you return your contract in a timely manner so that we can begin lining up a content editor, copyeditor, and typesetter for you.

Manuscript Delivery

If your project is accepted, Healing Mountain will work with you to set a deadline for the completed manuscript. Your project will also be assigned to one of our content editors, who will review it for accuracy. You will be given the name of your content editor, and an address to send your completed manuscript when your deadline has been set.

Editing

There are actually two phases to the editing process, content editing and copyediting. First will come the content edit, in which your book will be reviewed by Dr. Yarnell, Dr. Piscopo, or a similarly qualified professional, to ensure its accuracy. Because Healing Mountain's content editors are also practicing naturopathic physicians, this process takes a little longer than it would if your book were reviewed by a full-time editor. On the other hand, our process ensures that your content editor will bring current, practical knowledge to the evaluation of your book.

The content edit will take 12-15 weeks, after which your content editor may send you a letter requesting changes to the manuscript. If you have any questions or concerns about these changes, we encourage you to discuss them with your editor.

Once the content has been finalized, the manuscript undergoes a copyedit. In this phase, a professional copyeditor reviews the manuscript for errors in spelling, usage, grammar, punctuation, etc. The copyedit will take 8-10 weeks, after which you will receive a copy of the copyedited manuscript for your review. During your review, you may flag any changes you have concerns about and discuss them with your editor. However, you will have a deadline for this review; after the deadline has passed we will accept all of the copyeditor's changes.

Typesetting

The copyedited manuscript will then be typeset so that it is laid out the way it will appear in the completed book. This process takes about two weeks. At the end of that time, we will send you the page proofs, which is a printout of the typeset book. You may review the proofs for typographical errors and similar minor mistakes. At this stage, major changes are very expensive. We will do them if necessary, but would vastly prefer that major problems get caught earlier in the process.

As with the copyedited manuscript, you will have a deadline for changes to the page proofs, after which we will proceed with the printing process.

Printing and Shipping

After the final typeset, the book goes to the printer. When the print run is complete, the printer will ship the book according to whatever arrangements we have made. Your book should ship 3-6 weeks after the page proofs have been approved.