PROFESSION approaching academic publishers tony mason Manchester University Press, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9NR, UK E-mail: [email protected] doi:10.1057/eps.2009.17

Abstract This article provides advice on how young scholars should approach academic publishers, and outlines how publishers go about evaluating, contracting and producing books. It gives important information about changing a thesis into a publishable book, and points out many of the common mistakes made when approaching publishers for the first time, and how to avoid these.

Keywords

publishing; thesis; monograph; book proposals

THE BOOKS THAT PUBLISHERS PUBLISH

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he purpose of this article is to describe how to approach academic publishers and how a potential author can give themselves the best chance of getting work published in book format with an academic press. Much of what follows is common sense, but I have long been surprised at how many basic errors are made by young academics when approaching publishers for the first time. Most academic presses publish three types of book – textbooks, academic monographs and multi-contributed collections, although multi-contributed collections have been looked on a lot less favourably in recent years due to shrinking sales, among other things. In my

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opinion there is no longer a market for secondary reading in paperback as students simply do not buy the range of books that they did ten years ago and instead look for one all-embracing textbook, such as Politics UK (Pearson), backed up by creative use of the library and the internet. A textbook will be published in simultaneous hardback/paperback format, and publishers would hope to sell at least 1,000 paperbacks over two to three years, plus 150 hardbacks to libraries. This will only happen if the book is adopted widely as essential reading on courses: it will have to be a genuine textbook, a re-statement of existing knowledge in a user-friendly format. Most academics approaching publishers with their original research have an idea that there is a baying market out there

european political science: 8 2009 (356 – 363) & 2009 European Consortium for Political Research. 1680-4333/09 www.palgrave-journals.com/eps/

desperate to get their hands on the book if only it could be released in paperback at a reasonable price, but it is our bitter experience that this is not the case and the only books that work in paperback are books that are clearly textbooks. What most young scholars will be interested in is how to get their work published as a research monograph. Publishers are interested in publishing highlevel academic research that may or may not be based on a thesis but will almost certainly not publish theses in their entirety, as they stand. There would be only a tiny market interested in the content of a thesis and therefore publishing one would not be cost-effective. A Ph.D., to a commercial organisation, conjures up images of a narrow, specialised, dry, dense, heavily referenced work with very little appeal, which in essence is what, in its original form, it is. At Manchester University Press we publish between 120 and 140 new books per year, but we reject 85 per cent of the unsolicited material we receive. In 2008 120,947 new books were published in the UK and Ireland, of which around half were academic or scientific, technical or medical, so there is a lot of academic material already out there. For an academic to join this esteemed collection, it is essential to effectively turn the research carried out for a Ph.D. into a convincing proposal for an academic book. A thesis has been written for a particular purpose – to gain a qualification and to impress the examiners with the candidate’s mastery of a particular subject. It is an original piece of work in the field. It will in all likelihood only be read by a supervisor and an external examiner, and possibly the mother of the candidate might flick through it. Two or three people of course do not make an ideal market for a book. The publisher will be asking a number of specific questions about the proposed work. Why should we publish it? Does it

‘the only books that work in paperback are books that are clearly textbooks’ ‘Two or three people of course do not make an ideal market for a book.’ fit with our list? Does it fill a genuine gap in the currently available literature? Is it an interesting topic based on primary research? Above all, who will buy it and in what numbers? It is first of all worth thinking about whether or not the subject matter is suitable for a book length study. Maybe it would work better as a series of journal articles. Some research is arcane and will not find a wider audience however much it is re-written. It may take a year or so to make the necessary changes to the Ph.D. that would turn it into a saleable commodity as a book. The research may need bringing up to date, the focus will need widening and structural changes will need to be made. Academics need to ask themselves whether or not they really want to put the time in. They will have spent maybe five years reading, writing and organising a major piece of work, and need to be sure that they really want to go through all that again. If they do decide that they want to go on and adapt the work for an academic press, the first thing to note is that there will be far too many footnotes in the thesis as it stands, which are unnecessary for a book. There is a requirement to have the confidence to make assertions without having to back everything up with a note. It is important to think of ways in which the appeal of the work can be broadened tony mason

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by opening up the study. Can changes be made to the structure of the work now that it is no longer required as a thesis – can chapters be swapped around, or arranged differently, chronologically or thematically? The work needs to be made as accessible as possible. This does not mean that it needs to be over-simplified, just that it needs to be written in a way that will appeal to a market of people who will not necessarily know as much about the topic as the author does. Re-reading the thesis after putting it aside for a few weeks is an extremely good idea. Getting peers in the same field to look over it and comment on it is equally valuable. Most important is to think about how the work can be adapted to increase its marketability and accessibility. It is important to put this effort in before approaching a publisher. Many rejections occur because a proposal is not suitable for the list of the publisher to which it was sent, so it is important to target relevant publishers with the work. The goods news is there are hundreds of publishers with a great many catering for the academic market. An academic should check the publisher’s website or catalogues to see which subject areas they focus on, and more specifically, to see if there are any recent examples of them publishing work similar to the proposed book. They will find some good clues by browsing their own bookshelves or by looking around the relevant section of the nearest academic bookshop. Publishers do not usually publish books in isolation and if they publish some books in a particular area they are likely to be on the lookout for more. Of course, if they have recently published a book exactly like the proposed one they may not want to take on a similar volume as it would have too much overlap, but this is unlikely to be the case if the work is based on primary research. Having researched and decided on a publisher, it is vitally important that

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‘The work needs to be made as accessible as possible.’

the covering letter and proposal are specifically targeted to a publisher’s list. It is necessary to tell them why the book would complement their existing list. Publishers like to publish books in series or clusters, which will give them more impact and identity than a stand-alone book and also makes it easier to market them together. Therefore an academic should try to suggest an existing series that the book would be suitable for, and, if possible, should try to contact the academic series editor directly with the proposal. If a series editor gets behind a proposal at this early stage, then it is almost guaranteed that a publisher will at least get the material peer-reviewed. If the book is not relevant to a series, it would be helpful to at least try to suggest the area of the list that it is relevant for. It is common courtesy, and probably quicker in the long run, to find out the name of the relevant commissioning editor and address the proposal to them directly. This information is usually available on a company’s website, if not just ring up and ask who the relevant editor is. This is worth doing – it gives the impression that you have done your homework. If one is uncertain that the book would be right for the publisher, it is always possible to give the editor a call and talk it through. If a commissioning editor is sorting through 60–100 unsolicited proposals per month, those addressed to Dear Sir/ Madam give the impression that the writer has not really bothered to research where to send the material and that it is probably being sent to ten different places. That is not to say that it is a bad idea to send the proposal to multiple

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publishers, just that with a little effort the proposal can be tailored to an individual publisher and this will give a much better impression.

WRITING A PROPOSAL The next stage is to write a suitable proposal. It is usually possible to find proposal guidelines on most publishers’ websites, so it is always worth checking these and presenting the proposal in their preferred format. Most guidelines are largely the same, asking very similar questions, but it is important not to use the Routledge form for sending a proposal to Oxford University Press for example. Similarly if the proposal is being sent to four different publishers, it is worth looking over the covering letter and ensuring that the correct publisher’s name is used in each case. I have read many letters addressed to me at Manchester saying that a book ‘suits Palgrave’s politics list perfectly.’ The main point to stress is that an academic should never ever just send a copy of their thesis in and say ‘do you want to publish this?’ or ‘how can I adapt this to make it into a book?’. A commissioning editor will not have the time, inclination or expertise to plough through the thesis, and doing this sends out all the wrong messages about the changes the academic is willing to make to the Ph.D. in order to turn it into a publishable book. A thought worth bearing in mind at all times is that, while the academic credentials of the work are of undoubted importance, the proposal is being submitted to a commercial organisation rather than an academic institution and this is what most drives them and this is the aspect of the proposal they will be most interested in – its sales potential. The best thesis in the world will not be of any interest at all to a publisher if they cannot see a market for it that equates to 350–500 hardback sales for a monograph. Information about

‘The best thesis in the world will not be of any interest at all to a publisher if they cannot see a market for it’ the proposal should be provided in light of this fact. The temptation to think up a clever or witty title for the work as a way of trying to grab an editor’s attention is one that should be resisted. These are likely to put publishers off before they have even started to read the outline of the book. The title needs to give a clear indication of what the book is actually about, to ensure that it is picked up in the internet and library searches and will not be misclassified in libraries and bookshops. While if absolutely necessary sub-titles can be snappy and clever, the title of an academic work has to be descriptive and indicate what the book is about. Whatever form the proposal takes, the publisher will usually ask for the following information in some form or another:

SYNOPSIS OF THE BOOK This includes a brief outline of what the book is about, highlighting its particular strengths and how it is different from the competition. Unless it is genuinely the case, which is very unlikely, it is not wise to pretend that the book has no competition. Even if this is the case, it may indicate a complete lack of interest in and market for the subject. This is really an opportunity to explain how the proposed book is different to and better than the other books available. A publisher will look upon a proposal more seriously if the competitive titles are acknowledged. It is a good idea to provide a summary detailing the content of each chapter. The tony mason

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proposal is the main thing the reviewer has to go on, and so simply listing chapter titles is not enough. Explanations of how each chapter develops the argument and an explanation of what the conclusion is likely to be saying will be extremely useful.

If the book is highly specialised, it would be helpful for the writer to provide lists of relevant courses for which it might be useful reading so that the editor can have more idea of what the likely market might be.

OTHER VITAL INFORMATION REALISTIC ASSESSMENT OF THE TARGET MARKET It may be tempting to imagine the proposed book as a key text on all undergraduate politics courses, but it is not realistic and would not be a good idea. Being realistic about the sales potential will stand you in good stead. The book will almost certainly be a high priced hardback. Unless it is a textbook, it will not be cost-effective to publish it in paperback from the outset. Students no longer buy a range of secondary reading so it is hardback or nothing with the vast majority of these books at this point in time, although with continuing electronic advances that may change. Print on Demand technology means that it is now far cheaper to produce a paperback version of the book twelve to eighteen months down the line, after some money has been made from the initial hardback release, than it used to be, so publishers are quite likely to look favourably on the idea of a paperback release at this stage. It is worth making a realistic assessment of how many people over the world can really be expected to be willing to pay d55 – d60 for the book. The market for hardback-only monographs is libraries in the main, and the publisher will look to sell 350–500 copies to them worldwide. This is a recognised market and publishers can make a decent profit margin with this level of sales, so there is no need for anyone to feel that they have to suggest a wider appeal for the book. There will not be a market of general readers for such a book. The general reader for academic monographs simply does not exist.

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There are some important points that publishers like to know about any proposed book: word length, number of illustrations and envisaged submission date being the main ones. In each of these cases be realistic. A publisher would far prefer for you to take two years to write the book than promise to get it to them in nine months and then start to miss delivery dates. And do try to stick to the word length agreed as all the preliminary costings, including an assessment of the profitability of the project, are based on these initial figures.

CURRICULUM VITAE It is not helpful to provide a sixteen-page listing of all your educational achievements and every book you have ever reviewed, but a list of any previous publications will serve to reassure a publisher that you can write in an accessible style, and that you have had previous experience of the publishing process. If you have not written any other books at this stage of your career, comment on the research you have carried out to date, mentioning any chapters in books or journal articles that have been published or are being considered. You can submit to more than one publisher at the same time but be upfront about this and if you accept an offer from one, tell the others so that they can bring an end to the review process that they are undertaking for the proposal. Do not send it to every academic publisher though – select two or three very relevant publishers at the most.

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THE PUBLISHER’S DECISION If the steps outlined above are followed, the resulting proposal should have a good chance of being accepted for the peer review process. An acknowledgement should be received within a couple of weeks. If the publisher is interested in the book, they will send it out for peer review. The review process – usually involving two external peer reviews and maybe one review from a series editor – can be quite lengthy, depending on the reviewers selected and how busy they might be. The process can take anything from two weeks to three months. The reviewers are asked to comment on the scholarship, structure, market, competition, suitability for the publisher’s list and writing style of the proposal along with an overall assessment of the publishability of the book. As soon as the editor hears from the reviewers the author will be the first to know. However, if there is no contact after

seven or eight weeks it is more than acceptable to send a polite e-mail asking the editor for an update. Once the reviews are in, they will be sent out to the author and the editor will ask for a response. It is best at this stage, even if it looks like the reviewer has completely misunderstood the proposal, to critically engage with the comments and recommendations rather than attacking the reviewer. If the comments are wholly positive, there is not much to say, but usually there will be one or two suggestions or comments that you can deal with in your response. If they are wholly negative it will be a difficult task persuading the editor to take things further, but the author can always ask for further reviews if you really believe that the reviewers have misunderstood it. Once the editor is happy with the project, they will then seek internal approval for it. The editor’s decision to seek this approval will be based on the proposal, the reviews and your response to the reviews. They may at this stage tony mason

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offer you contract terms subject to internal approval, ask for further revision before a contract is offered or even before further reviews are commissioned, or reject the proposal. This approval is usually obtained via a commissioning meeting, although the exact way in which projects are approved and signed off will of course vary from company to company. At Manchester University Press a commissioning meeting takes place once a fortnight. The editor will try to persuade senior staff from across the company and members of the Editorial Committee that this is a book that should be signed up. A final decision on whether or not to offer a contract will be made at this meeting.

CONTRACT STAGE Once a publisher has decided that they would like to publish a book, the next stage is to agree to contract terms. On the whole, contracts are fairly standard with only four areas which tend to vary.

WORD LENGTH Most academic books are between 60,000 and 100,000 words in length. When you think about word length do not forget that Ph.D.’s need to be substantially re-written in order to become publishable, saleable books, so do not assume that the book will be the same length as the Ph.D.

DELIVERY DATE Authors should be realistic in setting and agreeing to this deadline. They will only be wasting the time and money of the publisher if they fail to meet an overly optimistic delivery date. Books are advertised in catalogues and on the internet well in advance of the publication date so an author should ensure that they stick to the agreed delivery date and keep

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the publisher informed from as early on as possible if there are going to be any delays.

NUMBER OF ILLUSTRATIONS Publishers like to keep these to a minimum as they tend to be costly and complicate the production process, so they will only be included if they genuinely add something to the book. The author will usually be expected to clear and pay for all permissions.

ROYALTIES It is unlikely that an academic will be able to retire on the money made from writing an academic monograph and having it published. Average royalties tend to be between 5 and 8 per cent of net receipts, which means that if the book is published as a d55.00 hardback and manages to sell 400 copies over the lifetime of the book (usually assumed to be about three years for a hardback monograph), then across those three years you could expect to receive a total of around d800. This takes account of the discounts that are offered to bookshops and libraries and the discounts that are offered on such books at academic conferences. Fortunately an academic does not usually write books to make money out of them, there are more important rewards at stake, such as ‘research assessment’ points and career development, but this does give a rough guide as to the financial realities of the situation. Advances are not usually paid for these books.

THE WRITING PROCESS The editor will be on-hand throughout the writing process and should be consulted and kept informed of developments on a fairly regular basis, for example every three to four months, especially if you

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think you will not be able to make your agreed delivery date. Once the first draft of the manuscript is submitted, this will be sent out for peer review, the review when it arrives will be sent to the author and any final revisions required will be sensitively discussed by the editor and the author. When the final manuscript arrives it is passed into production where it goes through the various phases of copy-editing, page design, typesetting, proofing and indexing. The author will need to deal with the copyeditor and check over the final proofs. The cover will be designed, the blurb written and the book will finally be sent to print. Then the job of getting people to read the published book can begin.







SUMMARY   It is important to think seriously about turning a thesis into a publishable book before approaching an academic publisher.  It is vital to thoroughly research potential publishers before approaching them to ensure that the proposal is

suitable for their list and to make sure that it is sent to the right person. Academic publishers are commercial organisations, driven in the main by the desire to make a decent profit margin. This should be borne in mind at all times. An academic should be realistic when setting proposed manuscript delivery dates and word lengths for the proposed book. It may take considerably longer than first anticipated to do the work and there is no guarantee that the number of words will reflect the number of words in the original thesis. Publishers are there to help – they need academic proposals and books as much as the academic needs to get them published. So feel free to call them up and discuss your ideas with them. Above all do not lose your passion for your subject and for the proposed book. There is a lot to think about when seeking an academic publisher for your material but if the work is good enough, and original enough you will find a publisher and the book will see the light of day in due course.

About the Author Tony Mason is Commissioning Editor at Manchester University Press with responsibility for the Politics, International Law, Sociology and Economics lists.

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