Publish Your Book With the American Correctional Association 

For more than 149 years, the American Correctional Association has been serving the needs of corrections professionals by providing them with the resources, support, and services they need to excel in the fields of corrections and criminal justice. 

Whether you come from a prison, jail, probation, parole, juvenile or counseling background, our members need your expertise. We are seeking submissions on topics to enhance and contribute to the field of corrections. 

What better way to contribute your knowledge, research and insight to this dynamic field than by authoring a publication that can be used by your colleagues? Many of our authors are first-time book authors, though many publish many times with ACA.
 

Where Do I Start? 

If you are interested in publishing a book with the American Correctional Association, please contact

Publications Department
American Correctional Association
206 N. Washington St., Suite 200 
Alexandria, VA 22314
Phone 1-703-224-0194

Fax 1-703-224-0054
Email publications@aca.org 

We are seeking practical, how-to books based on professional experience. Our audience includes correctional practitioners. We also publish texts suitable for college students taking courses in corrections, criminal justice and social work. If your idea appears to have potential for inclusion in our publishing program, we invite you to submit a full proposal, including an outline and summary, as well as two sample chapters.

* We do not publish fiction, poetry or material from offenders. 


The Review Process 

Your proposal will be reviewed by the core management team of ACA. It also will be sent out for a blind review to your peers for their opinion. If the submission is deemed to have merit and market potential, we will invite you to submit your entire manuscript for review (one paper copy and a Word file). The review process usually takes four months. 

ACA may suggest modifications of the original manuscript, or we may accept it as is. If you agree to make the revisions or changes, we will review your changes to see if they meet the recommendations of the reviewers. We may need to resend to additional reviewers. If the manuscript meets the needs of the field and ACA, we will extend a contract. Once we have your signed contract and your manuscript, we can begin the processes of editing and formatting your manuscript into a book. This stage generally takes between four and seven months. 


The ACA Publishing Team

Our editorial department will review your manuscript to ensure that it meets our standards for clarity, punctuation, grammar and style. We work closely with our authors to ensure our books are readable and look inviting. During this time, we select a title and — in conjunction with our graphics team — design the cover and interior pages. 

Throughout this process, staff will discuss the format, price and marketing strategies for your book. We will ask you to complete an author questionnaire to develop a strategic marketing plan for your book. Marketing includes announcements to the criminal justice media, direct mailings, exposure at annual and regional ACA conferences, and at other criminal justice conferences and meetings. The author’s participation in marketing greatly impacts the sales of your book.

Additionally, we will look for partnerships outside the organization to promote your book. These may include bulk sales to bookstores or other organizations that wish to distribute your title. We look forward to your active participation in the promotion of your book.