Category: Open Call

This was an extremely competitive round with unprecedented submission numbers. So first of all, thank you to everyone who submitted and to everyone who keeps us going. From 605 proposal we have selected 16 to become books in the series. I’ll introduce each author and approach to you over the next three weeks but first I’d like to present the complete list of books. You’re bound to disagree with some of my selections but I truly feel that these 16 proposals were outstanding original pieces of thought that will make…

Hi! We are at the final stage of selecting proposals from the 2015 open call. Thank you for your patience! With 605 proposals, this round was extremely competitive. Have you seen Miracle? Yeah, it was like that. From the shortlist of 83 proposals it’s likely 16 will become books. You may have noticed that we’ve moved to a seasonal publishing schedule which means that we release 4 33 1/3rds in the spring and 4 in the fall. These next 16 books will take the series through Fall 2018 and volume #134.…

It has been a busy 8 weeks here at 33 1/3. We have now read all of the proposals submitted to our 2015 Open Call. My eyes are bloodshot and I think I’ve gone down -.75 in my contact lens prescription but it was worth it. There are some astounding pieces of music criticism in this list. So first of all, a huge round of applause for every single one of you who submitted. This was an EXTREMELY competitive round with so many submissions but these 83 proposals stood out. We were just blown…

What is this list? This is a list of all of the albums proposed in the open call for new 33 1/3 volumes during June and July 2015. This is not a reflection of books to be published or my opinions as to which books should be published; it’s just data. It was compiled with the help of our brilliant editorial assistant Michelle Chen and our intern Katherine DeChant. Thank you all so much for your hard work, I cannot WAIT to read em. When will you make a decision? With the unprecedented number of…

Hi! I’ll keep this brief because I know so many of you are plugging away at proposals. And for that I am so grateful. I’ve read some killer proposals so far and I’m sure there are more to come. Your hard work work is not lost on me, so thank you. It’s a joy to read each and every one of these proposals. I will certainly be in touch if I have any questions about your proposal. I’m sorry that I can’t respond to every email especially in these last frantic days leading…

We’re kicking it old school. And we clearly didn’t go to B-school.This useful/useless excel spreadsheet lists the results from a reader poll we conducted through this blog, the series twitter and facebook. The question was simply: What albums are missing from the 33 1/3 series? We received hundreds of replies. These are all of the albums that were suggested more than once. What can we learn from this? That someone should submit a proposal on Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. It was suggested 6 times. Also: The Cure, Sparks, Lauren Hill.  Also…the…

I am happy to announce the next open call for proposals for the 33 1/3 series. Proposals are due by Monday, July 27th (7.27.15) at 12:00am EST (that’s midnight). As of today, June 1st, the submission period is open. Please read the submission guidelines carefully to ensure that your proposal will be considered. This open call is ONLY for those who are 100% positive that if their proposals are selected, they will be able to turn in FINAL manuscripts within 6-12 months of contract. That means the whole book (all 30,000…

We’ve spent the last year putting together a textbook for writing about music called simply, How To Write About Music. In the book you’ll find examples of music writing, writing prompts and, perhaps most uniquely and practically important, real life advice from working music journalists and editors. Now that the book is out, my co-editor Marc Woodworth and I sometimes worry that we’ve launched our guide into the world with only an extremely positive message and perhaps too few caveats about how hard it is to become a successful music…

Dear Readers, For the past 11 years we’ve been publishing these tiny little books on the best-loved (sometimes hated), most popular and often most misunderstood albums in pop, rock, soul, hip-hop and electronic music. And we’re still going VERY strong. Thanks to an amazing crop of books over the past two years, the 33 1/3 series re-launch under Bloomsbury Academic  has been a huge success. Special congratulations are due to Jordan Ferguson for his book on J. Dilla, which was our bestselling title in 2014. And of course to Carl…

LIVE FROM TIMES SQUARE… Bloomsbury is extremely proud to announce fourteen new 33 1/3 volumes…coming to a bookstore (and kindle/iPad) near you in: Spring 2015, Fall 2015, Spring 2016 and Fall 2016. It was extremely difficult to select these titles from a pool of over 400 brilliant proposals so we hope you enjoy! Coming Spring 2015 Koji Kondo’s Super Mario Bros by Andrew Shartmann Coming Fall 2015 Grateful Dead’s Workingman’s Dead by Buzz Poole Beat Happening’s Beat Happening by Bryan C. Parker Metallica’s Metallica (The Black Album) by David Masciotra Phish’s A Live One by…