A common motivation for authors choosing to publish open access is a desire to reach a larger, broader audience (Pyne et al. 2019). And although usage statistics can be complex and many publishers are secretive about their print runs, research…

We’ve all done it. You know, you’re working on a writing project and you have every intention of staying organized. But then, all of a sudden, you have a folder with 43 documents in it—all named “helpful” things like draft2.docx,…

Our blog series on academic book publishing is chronicling each stage in the book production process. In this post, I discuss a process that happens near the end of production: reviewing page proofs. After a manuscript has been copyedited and…

Everyone loves a good graphic, even (especially?) in academic writing. I’ve already written blog posts about creating effective data visualizations and tables, and in this post I’ll focus on other types of graphics that you might include in your publications on engaged learning. …

Book websites are a great way to share information about your book and help readers decide whether they want to purchase or download it. Having a stable URL to share with potential readers can be helpful as you market your…

In today’s world, when we read so much content on-screen and can so easily use the “find” command, you might question whether an index is still necessary. The answer is yes (read on for why), and that means that once…

Once the publication date for your book is nearing, it’s time to think carefully about how you can help with promotion. Academic publishers do all they can to make sure your work will reach its intended readers, but they have…

I have a love/hate relationship with tables. I love when we can incorporate any type of visual into CEL publications, but I hate to see poorly designed or unnecessary tables in academic writing. When creating a table, you have to…

In our recent blog post on understanding copyright and permissions, we outlined when you do and do not need to secure permission to reproduce someone else’s writing or artwork in your book. This blog post will take you through the…

All academic writing builds on previous research. As Healey, Matthews, and Cook-Sather state in Writing about Learning and Teaching in Higher Education, we are “creating and contributing to scholarly conversations—an ongoing dialogue … that involves people and our construction of…