Encouraging, no-nonsense advice for academic authors who want their research to reach the widest possible audience.

Whether you are a graduate student seeking to publish your first article, a new Ph.D. revising your dissertation for publication, or an experienced author working on a new monograph, textbook, or digital publication, Handbook for Academic Authors provides reliable, concise advice about selecting the best publisher for your work, maintaining an optimal relationship with your publisher, submitting manuscripts to book and journal publishers, working with editors, navigating the production process, and helping to market your book. It also offers information about illustrations, indexes, permissions, and contracts and includes a chapter on revising dissertations and one on the financial aspects of publishing. The book covers not only scholarly monographs but also textbooks, anthologies, multiauthor books, and trade books. The fifth edition has been revised and updated to align with new technological and financial realities, taking into account the impact of digital technology and the changes it has made in authorship and publishing.

This fifth edition has been revised to reflect the impact of digital technology on authorship and publishing.

This book offers an inside look at how to publish scholarly articles, book reviews, grants, magazine articles, and commercial and scholarly books.

A step-by-step guide to crafting a compelling scholarly book proposal—and seeing your book through to successful publication The scholarly book proposal may be academia’s most mysterious genre. You have to write one to get published, but most scholars receive no training on how to do so—and you may have never even seen a proposal before you’re expected to produce your own. The Book Proposal Book cuts through the mystery and guides prospective authors step by step through the process of crafting a compelling proposal and pitching it to university presses and other academic publishers. Laura Portwood-Stacer, an experienced developmental editor and publishing consultant for academic authors, shows how to select the right presses to target, identify audiences and competing titles, and write a project description that will grab the attention of editors—breaking the entire process into discrete, manageable tasks. The book features over fifty time-tested tips to make your proposal stand out; sample prospectuses, a letter of inquiry, and a response to reader reports from real authors; optional worksheets and checklists; answers to dozens of the most common questions about the scholarly publishing process; and much, much more. Whether you’re hoping to publish your first book or you’re a seasoned author with an unfinished proposal languishing on your hard drive, The Book Proposal Book provides honest, empathetic, and invaluable advice on how to overcome common sticking points and get your book published. It also shows why, far from being merely a hurdle to clear, a well-conceived proposal can help lead to an outstanding book.

This is the eBook of the printed book and may not include any media, website access codes, or print supplements that may come packaged with the bound book. With its unique focus on source-based writing and writing across the curriculum, the third edition of The Academic Writer’s Handbook contains all the features of a traditional handbook combined with the tools students need in order to read, write, and conduct research in the disciplines.