Following on from my appearence on the panel at RGS Postgraduate Forum – Annual Conference Training Symposium (PGF-ACTS) last week I present the first of three posts from the speakers on publishing. Todays post looks at writing and academic book and is brought to you by Professor Kevin Ward. Kevin is Professor of Human Geography at Manchester University and has been the Editor of Area a journal published on behalf of the Royal Geographical Society (with The Institute of British Geographers) since 2010.
So, you’ve decided that you are going to write an academic book. Well, here are five tips:
1. It is worth considering the sort of book you want to write. Look at publishers’ websites and consider the following:
– Does the publisher produce the type of book that you want to write in your field?
– Are hardback and paperback versions of the book published simultaneously? If not, how many hardbacks does your book have to sell before the publisher will commission a paperback run?
– What marketing and distribution system does the publisher have?
– Does the publisher send out copies to academic journals for review?
– Does the publisher attend large academic conferences and participate in book exhibitions? Read more
