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Publishing a first monograph: from proposal to print

Image: bradleypjohnson [CC BY 2.0], via Flickr

The final instalment of a two-part primer for early career academics

In part one of this primer, I focused on reimagining your thesis material as a book project by writing a proposal for an academic press. Today, I’ll talk about what happens between sending off the proposal and the book’s publication. For those of you in the earlier stages of the thesis-to-book conversion, I’d say that knowing what the overall publishing process looks like can pay dividends. In fact, understanding that there are several stages of revision and negotiation after you might consider your manuscript ‘done’ can help combat the perfectionism that impedes writing and publishing.

While an author and a manuscript are obviously the main ingredients in producing a book, there are many other people and processes involved in publishing it. As an author, you need to understand your relationship to them in order to work with them effectively. They will help you optimise everything about your book, from its argument to its sales.

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