The Guidebook for Publishing Philosophy originated in a symposium entitled "Alternatives to Perishing" at a 1973 conference of the Society for Women in Philosophy. Janice Moulton developed the project to collect and distribute information about philosophy journals with, later, the help of an APA grant. After its birth, journal editors and many other philosophers were enthusiastic about the Guidebook. A second edition appeared with information about additional journals. Then the APA agreed to publish the next edition. After adoption by the APA the Guidebook continued to grow. The first APA edition contained information on 35 journals and the policies and practices of APA program committees, as well as general information on book publishing and advice to the joblorn. The second APA edition, nourished by success, doubled in size again, including over 60 journals and 19 book publishers, with all previous information brought up to date.

This third APA edition of the Guidebook appeared 10 years after the second. Marcia Yudkin collected the new information and added the resource list and more information on book publishing and writing for the general public.

The purpose of this Guidebook is to provide, in a single source, helpful information for those who want to make public their work in philosophy. We have no magic or secret formula for publishing. Most of the information that follows came from questionnaires and interviews with editors and authors, as well as from books and articles on publishing. Much of this information is publicly available in bits and pieces. The Guidebook merely collects and organizes it. In addition to information, this book contains advice. You should use this advice like any other advice: tempered with your own judgment about its applicability to your own situation. The information for this edition of the Guidebook includes: (1) responses to questionnaires and informal interviews with journal editors; (2) reviews of the contents of recent issues of journals by members of the editorial board; (3) responses to questionnaires sent to book publishers who advertise at APA meetings; and (4) reviews of the offerings of book publishers by members of the editorial board. We would have liked to include even more journals and book publishers, but our tight deadline narrowed our pool of volunteers for the editorial board and limited our ability to chase down editors and publishers. In most cases, omissions mean that respondents did not return questionnaires, even after a reminder or two or three. On the other hand, there is nothing esoteric about the way we and our reviewers gathered information; we include advice on how to research other journals and publishers so that you can continue the process we started here.

There are a number of different ways to make your work in philosophy public. Invited, rather than unsolicited, submissions constitute a significant portion of published and publicized philosophy. For example, journals nearly always invite book reviews and very rarely reject the reviews. Some journals print issues on special topics in which many or all the papers are invited. Some journals request manuscripts from noted philosophers. Many anthologies reprint articles that have appeared in journals or papers given at symposia. Philosophy series editors are likely to invite philosophers whose work they know to author a book in their series. Opportunities to present papers at symposia and department colloquia, which provide the informal contacts that lead to other invitations, usually result from invitations. One good way to increase the opportunities for invitations to make your work public is to make your unsolicited work public.

The Guidebook provides information about publishing, presenting and circulating unsolicited work. The old adage "publish or perish" presents frighteningly stark alternatives; we hope this Guidebook helps you feel less alone and anxious as you try to get your work into print.