Publishing books

Whether you are writing, or thinking of writing, a book (monograph), a textbook or turning your thesis into a book, there are some important considerations to think about before you start.

Confirm you own the rights to publish your research or textbook

If you:

  • wrote the material with co-authors, you will need to seek their permission, as all co-authors will share copyright
  • have included third-party copyright material, you will need to seek permission from the copyright owner.

Check if there are any restrictions or conditions on publishing your work

Check:

  • if any of the material is commercial-in-confidence
  • your funding or research agreement for conditions on publishing the results of your research via an open access repository, such as UQ eSpace or restrictions or requirements on how and when you publish your research.

Choosing and assessing a publisher

Choose a publisher that is well regarded in your discipline, aligns with the topic of your book and will enhance your academic career. To find relevant publishers in your discipline, check the Books section of Subject guides and search for course reading lists.

Make sure you investigate and assess potential publishers before making any commitment, using the Think, Check, Submit checklist for Books and Chapters - especially if you have received unsolicited emails from publishers inviting you to publish your thesis or research as a book.

Commercial publishing

Commercial publishers have a publishing process that is selective and provides copy-editing, proofreading, editorial support and marketing. Here are two examples:

Create open textbooks

Open Textbooks @ UQ is an open book design, editing and publishing platform. Find, create, adopt and adapt open books for your courses.

Self-publishing

Self-publishing enables authors to have control over the publishing process without the involvement of a publisher.

Vanity publishing

Vanity publishers charge a fee for publishing (and possibly distributing) an author’s work and are popular with authors of novels, fan fiction, poetry or short stories, or those writing memoirs or family histories. There is nothing inherently wrong with paying someone to publish your book, but there are some vanity publishing considerations.

Ask other UQ researchers about their experience with a particular publisher

Locate UQ researchers who have published with a particular publisher by doing an Advanced search in UQ eSpace:

  1. Select the Publisher field, enter the potential publisher
  2. Select Book for the Work type
  3. Sort by Date created
  4. Optionally, select a relevant subject from the subject filter (to the right of the screen)
  5. Click through to a record, and the UQ authors or editors will be in green text.