PhD2Published offers a wealth of hints and tips for early-career academics on how to get published as well providing discussion on the future of academic publishing in the e-age.
Charlotte Frost set up PhD2Published in early 2010 out of necessity. She explains:I didn’t know how to get my first academic book published, but I did know that it was something I needed to do. I began the site in a bid to find out about academic publishing. In line with many of the projects I’ve written about in the Digital and New Media arts arena, it came from an ‘open source’ ethos. That is, I felt that academic publishing was still very ‘closed source’, in the sense that methodologies were not being freely shared. I wanted to use myself as a ‘guinea pig’, and create some easy methods that others could use and pass on.
More than that, I wanted to make a site that wasn’t just for reading, but could be actively used as a way of developing your career path. For example, post-docs can write for the site and get in touch with precisely the publishing entities relevant to their career path. They can get answers to questions important to them, all while introducing themselves to those entities well before they actually pitch their book. It’s a route to getting yourself on their radar.
On top of this, I had planned that if the site worked and I landed my own book deal, I would let someone else lead it’s editorial direction and use it to repeat my results – and so on. So it’s a resource that’s built around peer-to-peer sharing, but it’s also an umbrella organization early-career academics can strategically work under, and a peer-mentoring scheme.
Current Focus:
From January 2011 the site moved into this exciting new phase with its first Managing Editor! Although Charlotte continues to support Managing Editors in running the site and publishing their work – offering advice and ideas when and where needed – the editorial direction the site takes is their own. So if their field places more emphasis on journal articles than books, that’s where the majority of content will place its emphasis. To get an idea of how the site is currently being run, head over to the Managing Editor’s page and find out.
We offer guidance, advice and discussion on:
- Pitching to publishers
- Designing a publishing strategy
- Presenting at conferences
- Writing articles and books
- Writing grant proposals
- Using social media for research and self-promotion
- Understanding the publishing business
- Current and possible future states of publishing
- Academic life
How Can We Help?
This site is all about sharing and getting questions answered. We’re always happy to talk to you and find things out on your behalf, so do contact us with anything you’d like to know. However, it’s also a great idea to write for the site yourself. This means you can do your own investigations, in a way that’s most valuable to you, all the while introducing yourself to the publishing entities most relevant to your career.
Don’t underestimate how much of getting published comes down to knowing:
A) How publishing works and what’s expected of you as a writer.
B) Being professional, adaptable and easy to work with.
And we can really help you with that. Of course you’ll also need to have a good idea for a book/article, but that bit is up to you.
We have guides prepared on how to write for the site and we’re happy to help you with ideas if you’re stuck for where to start so email or tweet us now and let’s get you published.
