Getting it Published: A Guide for Scholars and Anyone Else Serious About Serious Books, Third Edition

For more than a decade, writers have turned to William Germano for his insider's take on navigating the world of scholarly publishing. A professor, author, and thirty-year veteran of the book industry, Germano knows what editors want and what writers need to know to get their work published.

Today there are more ways to publish than ever, and more challenges to traditional publishing. This ever-evolving landscape brings more confusion for authors trying to understand their options. The third edition of Getting It Published offers the clear, practicable guidance on choosing the best path to publication that has made it a trusted resource, now updated to include discussions of current best practices for submitting a proposal, of the advantages and drawbacks of digital publishing, and tips for authors publishing textbooks and in open-access environments.

Germano argues that it's not enough for authors to write well – they also need to write with an audience in mind. He provides valuable guidance on developing a compelling book proposal, finding the right publisher, evaluating a contract, negotiating the production process, and, finally, emerging as a published author.

Reviews of previous editions:

"There is, I assume, only one William Germano. A shame, because any aspiring author who reads this book will probably want him as their editor. However, illicit cloning aside, they will have to settle for his considered advice on the page, rather than in person [...] Germano is committed to ideas but clear-headed about business, inspiring but not unrealistic, wise in the ways of publishing and witty about writers' foibles. And – a good sign in an editor – he writes well himself."
– Times Higher Education

"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

"This witty and indispensable book provides advice everyone will remember – 'a scholarly book for anybody is a scholarly book for nobody; if it doesn't work in the first fifty pages, it's out' – and a huge fund of information every would-be author will need. The chapters on 'What a Contract Means' and 'How to Deliver a Manuscript' will take you by the hand and lead you where you want to go, but the book never loses sight of why you might want to go there and is itself a celebration of academic publishing even as it equips you to negotiate its minefields."
– Stanley Fish

Preface to the Third Edition
Acknowledgments

1 Introduction
2 What Do Publishers Do?
3 Writing the Manuscript
4 Selecting a Publisher
5 Your Proposal
6 What Editors Look For
7 Surviving the Review Process
8 What a Contract Means
9 Collections and Anthologies
10 Quotations, Pictures, and Other Headaches
11 How to Deliver a Manuscript
12 And Then What Happens to It
13 The Via Electronica
14 This Book – And the Next

Afterword: Promoting Your Work
For Further Reading
Index