Getting Published

Preface What this book will do for you * What's in a name? * A clear focus means clear advice * Have you got what it takes? * About the authors * Beyond the book * Acknowledgements 1. Behind the scenes The people inside the publishing house * The people outside the publishing house * Producing the physical books * Bringing the books to customers * The state of the book industry * The book industry and you, the author 2. Planning your book Understanding needs and desires * Success is not one thing * Questions to ask yourself * Which market? * Clarifying your focus * Mapping the book * Choosing a great title * In celebration of odd titles * Annotating and evaluating the table of contents 3. From thesis to book The pressures of junior scholarship * Why is a thesis not a book? * What to do with your thesis * Assessing your material * Getting started * Things you will need to cut * Things you will need to add 4. Producing a shorter (or collected) work Why write articles? * Reworking (or recycling) material * But is this what you really want? * Planning and writing your article * Finding the right journal * Getting your article published * Contributing a chapter to an edited volume * Editing a multi-author volume 5. Writing your book Language * Which language? * Style * Cutting the fog * Presentation * Permissions and the use of copyright material * The writing experience * Survival tips for blocked writers 6. Finding the right publisher Identifying the candidates * Connections, connections * Approaching the publisher * What if a publisher contacts you? * How to be concise * Proposal etiquette * The importance of the pitch * Waiting on tenterhooks * Where now? 7. Getting accepted Preparing and sending the text * External assessment * Typical peer review questions * New forms of peer review * Internal assessments and recommendations * Financial projections * Sources of income * Price and profitability * Decision time 8. Negotiating a contract Kinds of rights * Open Access and Creative Commons * Set in stone or open to negotiation? * Before you sign 9. Working towards publication Enter the production manager * Finalizing your manuscript * From disk to bookshelf * The editing process * Designing and typesetting your book * Backroom or Bangalore? * Producing camera-ready copy * Proofing * Indexing * Printing, binding and delivery 10. Promoting your book What is academic book marketing? * Everyday life in the marketing department * The importance of the author in promoting books * What you can do before publication * What you can do after publication * Promotional DOs and DON'Ts 11. Going it alone Making the decision * Deciding on format * Doing the work * Finding a partner * Promoting and distributing your book * Measures of success Epilogue 185 Publishing revolutions * Electronic formats * E-book readers * POD and the bookshop as content kiosk * Free Internet repositories * The content revolution * Bite-sized scholarship * Creative marketing * The book is dead, long live the book Top tips Appendix 1: Practical style and presentation issues Spelling and grammar * Document formatting * Font matters * Layout and punctuation * Quotations, notes, citations, etc. * Nontext elements * Graphic images and their formats * Other technical issues Appendix 2: Common editing and proof-reading marks Appendix 3: Compendium of publishing terms Further reading Index