The Twenty-First Century Scholar's Guide to Self-Publishing: A Brief for Busy Academics

The concept of scholar's self-publishing their work seems radical revolutionary even. But academic author Patricia Parsons argues that electronic publishing opportunities, predatory open-access journals, increasing unhappiness about the seeming arbitrariness of traditional peer review and the sheer numbers of PhD's desperately seeking publishing opportunities, perhaps it's time to take a serious look at how self-publishing books, articles, monographs and white papers might be added to the mix.

There is little doubt that twenty-first century scholars must find ways to disseminate their research, a requirement that is increasingly included in the fine print of research grants. The fact is that even peer review can be a part of the self-publication process if you know ow to do it right.

The 21st Century Scholar's Guide to Self-Publishing is a brief guide whose purpose it is to introduce scholars to the concept of self-publishing so that they might consider if and how it has a place in their own academic careers.

This guide covers the following topics:

• Why publishing in its various forms is so important in academia.
• Why dissemination to a wider audience is important in the 21st century.
• The history of self-publishing: what authors self-publish and why they choose this route.
• How self-publishing works including a glossary of relevant terms.
• The relationship between self-publishing and peer review, and how to have your self-published work peer-reviewed.
• How to choose a platform for your own self-publishing ventures.
• How to safeguard the quality of self-published works.
• How to disseminate your work to your target readership.
• How to explain your choice of self-publication to your peers.

The guide also contains a rich selection of online resources for scholarly self-publishers.

About the Author

Patricia Parsons spent 26 years of her career in academia rising from part-time instructor through the ranks to full Professor in Communication Studies. Along the way she garnered wide experience in the traditional submission-revision-submission process successfully placing her book-length manuscripts with academic publishers, textbook publishers, professional book publishers and trade publishers in Canada, the US and the UK. (These include the University of Toronto Press, Health Administration Press, Kogan Page, Doubleday Canada, and Erlbaum, among others.) She has also ventured into the dark side and self-published several books including a textbook that was eventually picked up be a traditional publishing house.

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