Allison Symes’ sound advice on publishing and its perils, The Frustrations of Publishing, set me to thinking about my life as a writer and in some respects as a publisher, or rather editor of journals and series of books. I was fortunate in having a few bright ideas at the right time such that small publishers who were seeking to expand their business took me on as a series editor for books in philosophy, ethics, and science related topics.
Academic publictions
Apart from a journal, Explorations in Knowledge, which I self-published, all of my books have gone through publishers acceptable to the academic community. There is much snobbishness about publishing in academia which probably connects with the requirement for refereed works. As publications for university staff are the key to job security and promotion as well as funding for your department through the Research Assessment Exercise, freedom to self-publish is not encouraged. So only after many publications and freedom from university requirements can one’s self-published work be accepted.
Academic writers can help each other by writing spontaneous reviews of self-published books thus party meeting the requirement for refereed publications.
However, it is with pride that I report on giving a start to many new authors by mixing their first book in a series, Avebury Philosophy, I edited along with well-established authors.
Censorship
Censorship is always around. Orwell’s Animal Farm was held back during WW2 because the UK Government did not want to upset Stalin who was an ally against Hitler. During the Cold War it was promoted as a critique of Soviet Russia. His novel 1984, was banned and burned in communist Russia under Stalin and ownership meant possible arrest for its anti-communist views.
Having signed the Official Secrets Act I am prohibited from writing about my experiences in HM Prisons. There are grey areas in censorship; my wife’s book on prisoner’s rights was published in Iran, in Persian, which was a surprise.
Many publishers avoid controversial topics, such that when Professor Peter Singer’s book – Should the Baby Live? – advocating what is now described as post birth abortion, went out of print, no one would re-publish it.
My research area – philosophy and ethics – is notorious for acrimonious disputes and hostile reviews. Hence writing is no pleasure, and I was taught to treat the subject like boxing; defend your arguments and respond to critics with heavier blows. I published authors who have criticised me, which in turn gave me a chance to hit back.
Advice to the aspiring academic philosopher – treat every sentence you write as if your worst enemy will respond.
Self-Publishing
This year I intend to venture into self-publishing with a large book on animal welfare and bioethics which I would rather not be altered by a publishing house. Having spent two years being rejected by publishers and agents my good friend, Professor Gonzalo Munevar from Washington University, has published with Amazon his politically incorrect novel, Alex in Femiland, which has a swipe at the US campus culture. This book was written over a long period of time and whilst it is fiction there are concealed sections involving the author’s visit to Europe and to Chandler’s Ford where part of his book was written.
Gonzalo has published several fiction books in both English and Spanish as well as non-fiction books among which is a collection we put together on the controversial 20th century philosopher, PK Feyerabend, about which I hope to write on another occasion.
Thanks again Allison, with you I believe that there is a great future for self-publishing, whether fiction or academic texts. As the universities decline in the expression of knowledge and free inquiry, we are at a point where – thanks to technology – individual authors can maintain the great writing traditions.
Many thanks, David. So much has changed in publishing in the last 10 years in particular that so many more options are open for peope now. The advent of the Kindle, print on demand, reputable self-publishing service companies (so you don’t have to do it all yourself), now all make genuine self-publishing within reach for most.
Standards are improving too. The two things not to skimp on, for anyone, are editing and a decent cover design. You’d be amazed at how often I’ve gone through a piece of work and sworn it was good to go, only for an editor to point out typos missed or they query something I thought was obvious. A good editor will help you bring out the very best in your work.
As for cover design, it is your first advert so it has to be good. You want to draw people in to reading your book after all. The other great thing, though, is there is so much advice out there now through organisations like the Society of Authors and Alliance of Independent Authors. So never be afraid to research your options and ask questions!
It is not too cynical to say that academic publication is an oxymoron. I tried to download a scientific paper I wrote over 25 years ago and was asked to pay £25 for the 3 or 4 pages of text. Why? Because I had signed away publishing rites to the publisher of the Journal. Why did I do that? Because they would not have published it unless I did.
You might think publishing means ‘to make public’ but in academia each published paper is just a bargaining counter for promotion or another grant. This is being too cynical but it is a point of view for discussion.
The big change for the better is ‘Open Access’ publication where anyone can read your work free of charge at any time. I have recently concluded discussions with my co-authors and we have agreed that our latest publication will be in Open Access format. The subject is organophosphorus poisoning (nerve gases are organophosphorus compounds) so it might link Mr Putin with the doctors in Salisbury.