To have a successful career, faculty members must publish books or articles in keeping with their institution’s expectations. Unfortunately, many have received little training on navigating the publishing process. In a TAA webinar entitled “Ask the Editors: What Publishers Want and Why”, Dr. Julia Kostova, Senior Acquisitions Editor at Oxford University Press, and Patrick H. Alexander, Director of The Pennsylvania State University Press, provide strategies to help academic writers get published. The pair focused on the following four topics: identifying and approaching a publisher, writing a successful book proposal, turning a dissertation into a book, and publicizing your own work.
6 Key takeaways from the TAA webinar, ‘Go on the (Virtual) Road to Promote Your Book’
Whether you are self-publishing or working with a major publisher, you will need to actively promote your textbooks and encourage faculty to adopt them, says Janet Salmons, an independent researcher, writer and consultant with Vision2Lead, Inc. In the April 13 TAA Webinar, “Go on the (Virtual) Road to Promote Your Book”, Salmons shared steps authors can take to launch their own virtual tour as a way to interact with present and future readers. Here are 6 key takeaways from the presentation:
The most useful textbook & academic writing posts of the week: March 27, 2015
“You can’t think yourself out of a writing block; you have to write yourself out of a thinking block.” ~John…
Schulman receives TAA Publication Grant
Vanessa Schulman, an Assistant Professor in the School of Art at Illinois State University, received a TAA Publication Grant to support the…
Salus receives TAA Publication Grant
Carol Salus, an Associate Professor at Kent State University, received a TAA Publication Grant to cover a portion of the…
Forming a publisher relationship: The acquisitions editor
For aspiring higher education authors and content writers, one of the first goals is to connect with a publisher. The next step is to leverage that connection into an immediate contract offer or build a working relationship that will one day result in a contract.
In this first installment of a three-part series, I’ll provide some insights about acquisitions editors. The acquisitions editor is the gatekeeper to forming a productive publisher relationship, so it’s particularly useful for authors to understand who acquisitions editors are and what typically motivates them.
Let’s start with a brief overview of the acquisitions editor’s role, key responsibilities, and performance metrics. Then I’ll cover how authors can leverage this knowledge in building a relationship with a publisher.