For Authors

The ETC Press is an open access, digital-first publishing press housed at Carnegie Mellon University Entertainment Technology Center.

We publish academic and nonfiction trade books, singles, textbooks, academic journals, and conference proceedings that focus on issues revolving around entertainment technologies as they are applied across a variety of fields.

Our authors come from a range of fields. Some are traditional academics. Some are practitioners. And some work somewhere in between. What ties them all together is their ability to write about the impact of emerging technologies and its impact on society.

We publish both e-books and paperback versions of each of projects, and we since we’re an open access publishing house we also make a free PDF version available through CMU’s digital repository.

The ETC Press has five imprints, each of which has a specific focus.

    • ETC Press: This imprint houses our traditional academic publications. We publish peer-reviewed journals, conference proceedings, and a variety of textbooks and other academic books.
      • Peer-reviewed + research-based books: Well Played 1.0, Meet Me at the FairA Reader in Themed and Immersive Spaces
      • Textbooks: Preparing Teachers to Teach Writing Using TechnologyHandbook of Research on K-12 Online and Blended Learning
      • Academic journals: ToDiGRA, Well Played
      • Conference proceedings: Games+Learning+Society
      • Games: The Greatest Gift
    • ETC Press: Single: This imprint houses our short “why it matters” books that give authors a chance to take academic research, practical case studies, or conference talks and bring them to a wider audience. The ideal single is written by an expert who has an idea they want to explain but who isn’t interested in a book-length project. These are roughly 8,000-25,000 words.
      • Singles: Society, Technology, & CultureWikipedia Knows Nothing
    • ETC Press: Signature: This imprint is home to our special projects, trade books, and other curated works that best exemplify the Entertainment Technology Center and Carnegie Mellon University.
      • Trade nonfiction: Dungeons & DreamersThe Transformational Framework
    • ETC Press: Report: This imprint is home to our white papers and reports. These are oftentimes produced by practitioners or academic researchers working in conjunction with partners. These include case studies and market research conducted in order to understand the impact in a particular field.
      • Research and white papers: Game Impact Project, The Augmented Museum
    • ETC Press: Student: This imprint is home to the work the ETC Press does with undergraduate and graduate students. The Carnegie Mellon University mission is built around applied knowledge, and the ETC Press works with students to teach them how to produce high-quality work.
      • Student work: Stories Past

Interested in working with the ETC Press

Before you decide if you want to publish with the ETC Press, you should read the Frequently Asked Questions, which outline how we operate and how we are different than a traditional press.

If you have a book project, you should read the proposal guidelines, which outline what we need to determine whether we’re a good match. Since we’re a small operation, we typically respond within 2-4 weeks. We are 100% un-agented, which means we work directly with authors.

You can also email ETC Press editor and director Brad King if you’d like to talk about your project before you get too far down the road. We want to make sure that we are the right fit for your project.