Writing an Academic Book: From pitch to final manuscript (ANLTC Seminar 2011)

Claire McGuinnessFebruary 24th 2011

www.ucd.ie/sils

Mix of professional practice and academic/research/teaching

Library work 1993-94,1996-99 MLIS 1995, PhD 1999-2005, Post-Doc

2006-2007 Lecturer in SILS: 2008-present Teaching in SILS: 1999-present

Information Literacy - concepts, instructional strategies, assessment, impact

Professional Identity and the "Teaching Librarian" Reflective Practice in the Library profession Academic-Librarian Collaboration Theories of Learning (behaviourist, constructivist,

social learning), student-centred learning, enquiry-based & problem-based learning

Use of social networking applications (Web 2.0) for teaching and learning

Information behaviour in educational contexts Qualitative Research Methods, especially

Phenomenography

3 book chapters 6 peer-reviewed journal articles 1 conference proceedings And book in progress......

Different routes to getting published....

Conference presentation: Book chapter in 2003 based on paper given at ILIT conference in 2003 (Information Literacy & Information Technology, precursor to LILAC).

Martin, A. & Rader, H. Information & IT Literacy: Enabling learning in the 21st Century. Facet, 2003.

Committee Membership: Chapter in 2003 book “Information Literacy in Europe” arose from being representative for Ireland on European Network on Information Literacy (ENIL).

Invited chapter – based on “profile” as Irish information literacy researcher

Journal Articles: Normal process of submitting articles “on spec” to selected academic journals, and undergoing peer-review process.

Used knowledge of field, and ISI Web of Knowledge Journal Citation Reports (Social Sciences edition) to select journal

4 research papers, 1 discursive/theoretical, 1 practice-based

Based on:

PhD Research Irish Information Skills Survey 2006-7 “Real-life” experience of teaching

Stage One information skills module

Focus in higher education is on peer-reviewed publications & research funding

Book – long-term project with lower “rate of return” in terms of tenure, promotion, etc.

So, why write one?

Incentives for writing a book:

Experience: Awareness of gaps in market – imagined the kind of book I would like to use if I was an LIS student or information practitioner. Also kind of book I would find useful as an LIS instructor

Building idea over time of what a book could look like, visualising chapters, content

Too much material for journal article – lots to say! Not really based on research, more about practice than theory

Desire to connect with the professional community, not just the LIS research community

Development of a personal reputation in the field

Personal satisfaction

Original research you have done Recognising gap in the market – cannot find

what you are looking for, so write it yourself!

Experience of teaching or training – material suitable for textbook

Feel that you could improve upon existing books

“Call for Authors” from publisher/direct approach

(Patrick Brindle, Sage Publications)

Received personal email in November 2009 from Jonathan Davis, editorial assistant at Chandos Publishing. Subject line was “Call for Authors”

First reaction – checked to see if it was genuine! Google search.....

“As part of an on-going publishing effort, Chandos Publishing is commissioning a series of short books relating to librarianship, publishing, information management and information science, written from a management, legal or technical perspective.

My purpose in writing to you is to enquire whether you would be interested in writing such a book, based on your experience.”

Replied, with brief expression of interest, but not committing fully at that point

Received an Author Proposal Form to complete, along with Chandos catalogue

Invited to submit my own ideas, rather than the publisher’s brief

AUTHOR AND TITLE INFORMATION  1. Book title and subtitle (if any)2. Author's/editor's full name 3. Please provide some biographical

information about yourself, including current position and affiliation

4. Full mailing address (work)5. Full mailing address (home)6. Telephone Fax Email

SUBJECT MATTER

8. Please write a short description of your book

9. Please list up to five features of your book which make it unique  

10. Please list the proposed contents, including chapter, section and sub-section headings (use the additional page(s) if necessary

MANUSCRIPT INFORMATION

11. Approximately how many words would you expect your book to contain?

12. How long do you estimate it will take for delivery of the completed manuscript (most authors take, on average, six months)?

13. Will you be able to prepare your manuscript on a word- processor? If so, what software will you be using?

15. Please tick the following for any special physical features you would expect to include in the book:

tablesillustrationsproblems/solutionsphotographs

THE MARKET

16. Please identify the readership for your bookPRIMARY MARKETSECONDARY MARKET

17. Is the book mainly aimed at practitioners or students?18. If the book has a student market, which courses are

likely to be interested in the book?

Level Typical student numbers

Length of course Is the course optional or compulsory?

Would your book be for main adoption, supplementary reading orrecommended reading?

COMPETITION 19. Please list, in order of importance, any

books which compete directly with or are similar to your book. Please supply (if possible)

author/editor, publisher, publication date, price and any further information you feel relevant (please use a separate sheet if necessary).

20. Please outline in what ways your book is better than and differs from the competitors mentioned in section 19.

Proposal reviewed by editor at Chandos, Glyn Jones

Accepted – “subject to contract”

Publisher then carries out a “Project Investment Appraisal” exercise (PIA)

Involves analysing competing titles, readership, break-even point (how many copies need to be sold)

January 2010 – proposal accepted fully

Contract sent out – Chandos’ Standard Publishing Agreement

Manuscript submission deadline – January 1st 2011, minimum of 40k words, max. 75k

Rough division of workload

Six chapters; 40000 words minimum, 75000 max.

Approx. 8000 words per chapter,12500 max.

Remember also that references eat up a lot of the word count. Also, end of chapter exercises.

Approx 2 months per chapter max.

Aimed for faster completion time

Target: ca. 2000-3000 words per week

Started with Chap 1, wrote in sequence

Sub-headings already set out in proposal

Wrote steadily – eventually too extra day solely dedicated to book project

Did not stick rigidly to word lengths per chapter. Some chapters longer than others depending on content

Kept a rough tally of word length as I went along

Sent 2 completed chapters to publishers in June for approval

Tip – create bibliography as you go.

Submitted final manuscript in mid-December, after removing two sections to cut down the word count.

In early January, received email that manuscript was good to go, and was being sent to “RefineCatch”, a company which manages books through all stages of production

Manuscript sent to copy-editor, who looks for errors such as missing references, etc

Proofs being prepared

Proof-reading in March, plus compilation of index

Typesetting to be completed early May

Publication scheduled June 30th 2011

Thank you!

[email protected]