BOOK REVIEW OF ‘WRITING FOR PUBLICATION’

INTRODUCTION

Writing and publication are fundamental to the process of being a prominent academic and this
book ‘Writing for Publication’ written by eminent professors and authors Debbie Epstein, Jane
Kenway and Rebecca Boden, provides an easy-to-follow introduction to the publishing process.
This book immensely guides with tools and techniques for well structured academic writing and
editing, strategies for publishing books or academic journals, potential pitfalls to avoid, with certain
highlights on non academic writing and is filled with many short illustrative real life stories that
provide evidence based guidance.
Publishing journals or books for any academic is usually considered an immensely personally
rewarding activity apart from the professional recognition it brings. This comprehensive book
consisting of six chapters is a remarkable resource meant for all the academic writers, especially
aspiring academic writers and anyone who is interested in the art of articulate writing, who are
venturing out to successfully publish their books.

SUMMARY

To begin with, the authors in the book duly stress on the fact that it’s important to be a good reader
in order to be a good writer. One can develop sound reading skills by reading wide ranging topics
related to their domain and reading actively to learn about the style, language and formats in their
field and to think about how one can develop their own distinctive version.
The next step involves overcoming all the psychological barriers that novice writers face in the
initial stages of writing their book, by putting sincere and consistent efforts everyday, they can
gradually overcome all such barriers. Even the most experienced of writers have bad days in which
they find it hard to write even a single paragraph. As a novice writer one might naturally feel
confused whether to write in a conventional mode or adopt own style of writing, the authors here
provide brief value points regarding the same dilemma whereby they mention it is crucial to being
aware that your research story has a personal or political dimension and presenting your research
story from more than one perspective boosts the authenticity of your research.

Efficient planning ensures purpose, structure and clarity about the questions/issues to be addressed
in the book. A plan needs to be constantly revisited and updated. It should be a coherent expression
of your publishing strategy, aiming to help you achieve the desired impact. A publishing plan is
output-oriented, concerned with the tangible products of your work. By setting realistic deadlines,
you can be more committed and faster towards your goals. The most important thing to note is to
consider the target audience you are writing for, use concise, engaging and lucid language, which
would bolster your reach. Make effective use of other textual materials beyond the written word
such as figures, tables, pictures, photos, diagrams and so on. Writing a creative and interesting title
for your book will entice the target reader. These can encapsulate and strengthen the argument
being presented.

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Collaborative writing is often an integral and natural part of collaborative research & can be
immensely rewarding, creative and generative. It’s a good idea to choose someone with whom you
share a theoretical & political standpoint, but don’t necessarily choose people who are identical to
you – different types of knowledge can be complementary and enriching. As with any other piece of
academic work, collaborative writing needs to be planned and agreed on in advance. Thus the
detailed aspects of effective writing are laid down by the authors in the first two chapters.

Chapter three mainly deals with some common questions such as how, when and where to start
publishing in detail. According to the authors, one can publish their research papers when they are
exploring theories and ideas and are seeking to identify some gaps and silences in relevant areas of
study and to contribute to the redefinition of their field. One of the most enduring problems in
publishing is the issue of authorship, who gets named as an author in the published output and the
order of the names on the published piece when several academics are involved in the research.
There are no hard-and-fast rules on who should and shouldn’t be named as an author. However,
anyone involved in the conception and design of the project, the collection and/or analysis of data,
drafting the writing or some critical and substantial revision of it should be seriously considered as
an author. There are a number of conventions suggested in the book to choose among for
addressing the pertinent issue.
‘Intellectual Property Rights’ (IPR) is an important aspect discussed in the chapter which is the
term used to refer to the system of law designed to facilitate the protection and exploitation of IP by
its owners. Academic writing mainly deals with copyright issue. This is the legal protection against
plagiarists or those who seek to remove one of the author’s name from a co-authored work.

In the fourth chapter, the authors elucidate the concept of Academic journal and the process of
publishing it. Academic journals are publications, on paper or electronic media, which contain
scholarly articles that present research findings, new knowledge, new theorisations or interesting
syntheses or re-presentations of existing knowledge. Professional journal articles on the other hand
are based on academic research translations of academic writing for lay readerships i.e. they
represent an attempt to render academic work more accessible to a wider audience.
There are seven stages in the process of publishing an academic journal:
1. Getting ideas, doing research and writing.
2. Giving conference and seminar papers.
3. Targeting a journal.
4. Preparing papers for submission.
5. Review process.
6. Feedback collection.
7. Technicalities of proofs and copyright.

Chapter five forms the crux of this book and the author delves into explaining the detailed process
of publishing books. Research monographs and Edited collections are the types of books discussed
in this chapter. Research monograph is a book that is concerned with one principal theme, i.e. a
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book with one consistent argument or set of arguments that runs through from the introduction to
the conclusion and on the other side Edited collections are books put together by an editor on a
particular topic or theme and will include several chapters by different authors. Once the research
work is ready, the next step is to publish the book with the help of a publisher. Publishers generally
have a commissioning editor for each specialist area they deal with, one must contact the
commissioning editor before contacting the publisher. Two key documents, a proposal and a
contract should be handed over to the publisher as a part of the partnership or rather a collaborate
venture to publish your book.
The proposal is the document that you send to the publisher following their respective company
guidelines which describes your proposed book and in which you set out the case for why they
should publish it. You must be able to seamlessly explain and convince that your book addresses
the pertinent issue in a rigorous way, highlighting the unique selling points of your book, and
assuring its appeal in the concerned market segment, as academic books seldom achieve mass
popular readership.
The contract is the legally binding agreement between you and the publisher concerning important
matters related to your book, such as copyright agreement and financial transactions. Finding an apt
publisher for your book might get little tricky, but as the authors suggest the best way to find a
publisher is to start looking at and asking about the firms that have published books in your area.
Make sure of finding a publisher with fine business acumen and good reputation.

Several key skills such as networking, negotiation, proof reading and persuasion are consequential
for getting the publishing work done. The authors primarily attach significant value to the process
of generating pertinent feedback from the publishing houses and close fellow academics for
reviewing and editing purpose so as to enhance the quality of the research work.

The final chapter of the book throws some light on a whole range of alternatives to journals and
research books which include textbooks, Dictionaries, encyclopedias, reference books and
annotated bibliographies. While many of these other sorts of publishing do not ‘count’ in research
audits, they may be worth doing for other reasons, such as disseminating your work to wider
audiences.

On the whole, this book delivers an insightful account on the process of publishing books and
academic journals, helping the readers navigate the world of publishing with ease and sheer
confidence. The authors provide in-depth levels of details in a succinct manner making the book
immensely engrossing.

- A. Madhusmita
IITTM, Nellore.