A testament to the ingenuity of scholarly presses, One Book/Five Ways is a fascinating experiment in comparative publishing. This book records the history of a single manuscript, entitled No Time for Houseplants, submitted to five different university presses—Chicago, MIT, North Carolina, Texas, and Toronto—and then actually published by the University of Oklahoma Press. Each of the five model publishers agreed to treat the book as a real project accepted for publication and to compile a log of procedures they followed. These logs include correspondence, budgets, forms, layouts, and specifications, providing an insider's look at the path a manuscript takes through the various departments of each press, from editorial to marketing.

With a new Foreword discussing changes in publishing since 1978 and an Afterword commenting on the actual publication of No Time for Houseplants, One Book/Five Ways is a unique educational tool for anyone interested in the publishing process.