Writing or editing a book is a major commitment of your time and resources. If you decide to take on this activity, you need to make sure that it will count towards your academic performance or another goal, and build your reputation within your discipline and at JCU.
Choosing a quality publisher is an essential component of good publishing practice.
There is no definitive list of quality publishers. Rather than relying on a single list of publishers, it is essential that you use multiple sources to comprehensively investigate any publishers that you are considering submitting your manuscript to. Information on this page will assist with this process.
If you are not able to get a contract with a quality publisher, it might be necessary to re-consider your intended topic. Use the feedback from publishers to help you identify publishable topics in your area of expertise.
Publisher profile:
Publishing process:
What else has the publisher published:
Experience of others:
Discipline matters:
Research students may receive unsolicited emails from vanity presses to publish their thesis. Some of these ‘publishers’ or ‘vanity presses’, do not provide peer-review, or editorial or proof-reading support, marketing or distribution of the book. They generate income by either charging up-front publishing fees, or by the sale of copies to the author.
Publishing your thesis with a ‘vanity press’ such as Lambert Academic Publishing (LAP - an imprint of VDM Publishing) may result in:
It is always recommended that you carefully research and evaluate the credibility of a publisher before accepting an offer to publish your thesis.
Publishing your thesis as a book will result in two substantially different documents. A focus of your thesis is to demonstrate your academic ability. In contrast, the purpose of publishing a book that is based on the knowledge generated from your thesis research would be to create an interesting read which appeals to academic and other readers.
If the publisher understands this, there should be no problem with making your thesis publicly available in ResearchOnline@JCU. Your thesis could also be a 'taster' to help promote your book.
Suggested further reading:
Checking whether a book publisher is part of an Open Access initiative gives you another option for checking the validity of a publisher as well as seeing whether it would be possible for an open access version of your book to be made available.
The Australasian Open Access Support Group (AOASG) maintains a page which records open access ePresses in Australia and internationally as well as other developments in open access monograph publishing.
Open Access initiatives in book publishing include:
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