Academic Book Publishing

The View from Political Science

Jeffrey A. Segal, SUNY Distinguished Professor

Chair, Department of Political Science

QUESTIONS

•Book or article discipline?

QUESTIONS

•Book or article discipline?•If book, which publishers are best?

QUESTIONS

SURVEY OF TOP PUBLISHERS IN POLITICAL SCIENCE

RANKINGS

•Book or article discipline?•If book, which publishers are best?•How to get a contract?o Write publishers in advance of national meetings to

gauge their potential interest.o If interested, make appointments to meet at the

meeting.o Prepare prospectus

QUESTIONS

•Prospectuso 10-15 page summary and chapter by chapter outlineo Discuss potential market, including types of courses

that could use the book, and why your book does things the competition does not.

o Include a timetable for completion.o A brief biography of the author(s).o Avoid noting relationship to dissertation.

ESPTEIN AND SEGAL, ADVICE AND CONSENT PROSPECTUS

PROSPECTUS CHAPTER 3 (EDITED)

TARGET AUDIENCE

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

•If you have multiple offers from fairly equal publishers, you can negotiate.

CONTRACT NEGOTIATIONS

•If you have multiple offers from fairly equal publishers, you can negotiate.o $$$

CONTRACT NEGOTIATIONS

•If you have multiple offers from fairly equal publishers, you can negotiate.o $$$

CONTRACT NEGOTIATIONS

•If you have multiple offers from fairly equal publishers, you can negotiate.o $$$ (indexing)o Time to publication (seek right to withdraw if way past

deadline)o Time to paperbacko Marketing

CONTRACT NEGOTIATIONS

•Marketingo # of free copieso Which conferences they attendo Journal ads

MARKETING

Questions?