Getting It Published, 2nd Edition
A Guide for Scholars and Anyone Else Serious about Serious Books
232 pages
|
6 x 9
|
© 2001, 2008
Since 2001 William Germano’s Getting It Published has helped thousands of scholars develop a compelling book proposal, find the right academic publisher, evaluate a contract, handle the review process, and, finally, emerge as published authors.
But a lot has changed in the past seven years. With the publishing world both more competitive and more confusing—especially given the increased availability of electronic resources—this second edition of Germano’s best-selling guide has arrived at just the right moment. As he writes in a new chapter, the “via electronica” now touches every aspect of writing and publishing. And although scholars now research, write, and gain tenure in a digital world, they must continue to ensure that their work meets the requirements of their institutions and the needs of their readers.
Germano, a veteran editor with experience in both the university press and commercial worlds, knows this audience. This second edition will teach readers how to think about, describe, and pitch their manuscripts before they submit them. They’ll discover the finer points of publishing etiquette, including how to approach a busy editor and how to work with other publishing professionals on matters of design, marketing, and publicity. In a new afterword, they’ll also find helpful advice on what they can—and must—do to promote their work.
A true insider’s guide to academic publishing, the second edition of Getting It Published will help authors understand what to expect from the publishing process, from manuscript to finished book and beyond.
“Wise counsel from a battle-tested strategist to the innocent.”—Jim Higgins, Writer
“A short, sharp, and probably indispensable book for anyone who is hoping to publish a serious nonfiction work. Germano deconstructs and demystifies what publishers and editors actually do and what authors should look for in finding the right house for their subject and in putting the right words in their contract.”—GraceAnne DeCandido, Booklist
“Germano includes tips on editing, getting permissions for anthologies, and delivering the manuscript. . . . Concise and readable.”—Robert Moore, Library Journal
“Getting It Published offers targeted advice to both would-be academic authors and those who’ve been through the mill and want to make it easier for themselves the next time around.”—Publishers Weekly
“An insider’s view of the tasks and decisions involved in getting a serious, nonfiction book published. . . . loaded with tips, guidelines, and examples.”—Marilyn Domas White, Library & Information Science Research
“There hasn’t been a book quite like William Germano’s, which succeeds in being informative and witty while also following its own advice (it’s short).—Niko Pfund, Journal of Scholarly Publishing
“Suitable for any writer wishing to select and woo a publisher, to present your manuscript in the best possible light, to negotiate your contract and rights and to drive your book through the publishing process, across the finishing line. It is a friendly step-by-step guide on how to achieve this, while maintaining a positive, constructive relationship with your publisher. No mean feat.”—Estelle Jobson, Publishing Research Quarterly
“Though it’s the most urgent problem any academic faces, we don’t hold any faculty meetings to discuss the question of ‘How DO you write a book and get it published, anyway?’ We academics like to pretend instead that we know how do this stuff—how did we get to be academics if we don’t? But William Germano is privy to the dark secret that many graduate students, junior faculty members, and even. . . uh, full professors think they know how to do this stuff but actually don’t. In a terrific book that’s a joy to read, Germano provides direct and savvy advice that will help all of us not just to get it published but to make it as good as we can.”—Gerald Graff, professor of English, University of Illinois at Chicago, 2008 president of MLA
“This endlessly useful and expansive guide is every academic’s pocket Wikipedia: a timely, relevant, and ready resource on scholarly publishing, from the traditional monograph to the digital e-book. I regularly share it, teach it, and consult it myself, whenever I have a question on titling a chapter, securing a permission, or negotiating a contract. Professional advice simply does not get any savvier than this pitch-perfect manual on how to think like a publisher.”—Diana Fuss, Princeton University
“Bill Germano has done it again—a masterful guide to the perils and possibilities of academic publishing, written with wit and understanding. The author has twice visited our campus to lead a workshop for junior faculty on the book publication process, and his seminars are always a great success. Like his book, Bill Germano is meticulous, fearless, funny, and directly to the point. I recommend Getting It Published as a cost-effective alternative to flying him out to see you and speaking with him for eight hours about your manuscript: the result, a sober and informed perspective on the ins-and-outs of getting your tenure book in the hands of a publisher, will be essentially the same. Editors of book series will also value this book: it’s as much a manual on what good editors should be looking for in the manuscripts that they receive as it is a guide for prospective authors. High marks on all counts!”—Sebastian D.G. Knowles, Associate Dean for Faculty and Research in the College of Humanities, The Ohio State University
“Bill Germano has done it again—a masterful guide to the perils and possibilities of academic publishing, written with wit and understanding. . . . Meticulous, fearless, funny, and directly to the point.”—Sebastian D.G. Knowles, associate dean, The Ohio State University
“For all of us who suffer the dark night of the publishing soul, Getting It Published comes as a most welcome beacon of light. Germano is the guide Virgil for the not-always-divine comedy of academic publishing. He coaxes us as authors and writers to ask ‘the right questions’ of ourselves, of our publishers, and of our audiences. In this wonderful and insightful book Germano provides—with wisdom, whimsy, and wit—hard-nosed advice and good humored encouragement. From basic ‘how to’ and ‘must I really?’ questions to invaluable counsel about negotiating the uncharted territory of electronic publishing, this is THE field guide for anyone making their way from the purgatorio of the manuscript on the desk to the paradiso of a book well-published.”—David Kyuman Kim, director of the Center for the Comparative Study of Race and Ethnicity and associate professor at Connecticut College
“If books are the slow food of our increasingly frenetic scholarly communications culture, in Bill Germano we have their Escoffier. Whether delineating the features of an effective book proposal, explaining the mysteries of the editorial selection process, or extolling the virtues of the book as a defining mode of academic discourse, Germano succeeds at joining practical advice with intellectual insight throughout. Budding and seasoned scholars alike, as well as their administrators, will find more than a writer’s reference in Getting it Published. They will find a guide to the academic life. Bon apetit!”—Peter J. Dougherty, Director, Princeton University Press
Contents
Preface to the Second Edition
Acknowledgments
Introduction
What Do Publishers Do?
Writing the Manuscript
Selecting a Publisher
Your Proposal
What Editors Look For
Surviving the Review Process
What a Contract Means
Collections and Anthologies
Quotations, Pictures, and Other Headaches
How to Deliver a Manuscript
And Then What Happens to It
The Via Electronica
This Book—And the Next
Afterword: Promoting Your Work
For Further Reading
Index
Acknowledgments
Introduction
What Do Publishers Do?
Writing the Manuscript
Selecting a Publisher
Your Proposal
What Editors Look For
Surviving the Review Process
What a Contract Means
Collections and Anthologies
Quotations, Pictures, and Other Headaches
How to Deliver a Manuscript
And Then What Happens to It
The Via Electronica
This Book—And the Next
Afterword: Promoting Your Work
For Further Reading
Index
For more information, or to order this book, please visit http://www.press.uchicago.edu
Google preview here
Library Science and Publishing: Publishing
You may purchase this title at these fine bookstores. Outside the USA, see our international sales information.
