Academic writing for a wider audience: Publishing your first trade book
On 29 April, the Margaret Anstee Centre for Global Studies hosted a session on how to approach publishing your first trade book (a book for a general readership).
There is a strong and proud writing tradition at Newnham, in fiction, non-fiction and across academic writing. Two members of our community who have been very successful in taking their work to a wider audience, Dr Carol Cooper and Prof Pragya Agarwal, joined literary agent Caroline Hardman and editor Dr George Owers to present some fantastic advice and guidance to other researchers who are also hoping to make this step.
The session was designed to demystify the publishing process and present some practical advice to researchers.
Dr George Owers, Author and Senior Editor, Polity Press
Polity Press began as a purely academic publisher, but has broadened and now also publishes trade books. They see two main types of these books, i.e. books purely aimed at the general reader such as polemical books, and secondly, crossover books that are more academic-focused but broad enough to attract a wider readership. Polity's work is very editorially driven and they take on books from three main sources: i.e. they go out and find authors working on interesting areas, they work with agents and finally through cold approaches by authors.
As a publisher a company will be looking at the project as a whole - you need a good idea and writing credentials, but it is also very helpful if you have some level of public profile already. This might be a social media platform, interviews with magazines or podcasts - some sort of following loyal to you who will be likely to buy your book and fulfil the minimum sales that will be required in order for the book to be picked up. Thinking about a book based on research from the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, there are three main approaches to consider:
- a narrow theme but telling a story with engaging characters,
- a broad theme such as the history of a particular period or regime,
- a polemic - something capturing the zeitgeist, something your followers will agree with, maybe something counter-intuitive.
Consider what else is on the market in this area, is this an established niche and which shelf in the bookshop would house your work. What is the purpose of your book and why would people want to read it - consider the hook or argument as well as how will you frame and title your book.
Professor Pragya Agarwal, Author and Royal Literary Fund Writing Fellow at Newnham College
Pragya encouraged the audience to really think about why they wanted to write a book, what will it achieve, who will read it and what will it be like. She spoke about her own experiences, as an academic writer and how she started to write for wider audiences in magazines and other publications before being commissioned to write her first trade book, something she approached without an agent to support her.
Pragya encouraged prospective trade writers to think about what was most important to them and to respect their own boundaries about how they wanted their work to be portrayed. She wanted to keep her academic rigour, but also learned to temper the language and nature of her writing (whilst maintaining her own professional standards) to meet the needs of a general readership. Her first book, Sway, coincided with lockdown and Black Lives Matter, and though she didn't have a particularly high profile at the time, the nature of her book and the wider context of the period meant the book was well received and publication in the US was also successful. Pragya took on an agent - carefully selecting one who aligned with her values. She recommends looking through an agent's client list and thinking about whether you want to work with a big or a small company, and how hands-on you want them to be, for example how much support you might need to write a proposal. Pragya went on to secure a two-book deal which led to the publication of Hysterical and (M)otherhood.
Caroline Hardman, Literary Agent, Hardman & Swainson LLP
Caroline represents a range of writers of both fiction and non-fiction, and enjoys working with academics, recent examples include, Self Defence, by Daniel M. Davis (Head of Life Sciences and Professor of Immunology at Imperial College London) and Exposed by Clare McGlynn (Professor of Law at Durham University). She explained the role of an agent, as being a business manager, editorial guide and advisor - managing the relationship with the publisher and keeping communication and negotiations professional. Caroline will work with authors on their book proposal, read their manuscript and offer comments, support and advice. She will find the most suitable editor to send the proposal to and will manage the pitch and process of securing a deal, which may also include TV and film rights. She will also manage the advance and royalties. Agents will generally take 15% in the UK and 20% internationally and on TV and film.
To find an agent Caroline would recommend checking out their websites, using your contacts and word of mouth, as well as meeting agents at networking and book events. She will meet authors in a variety of ways - for example she recently met an author through a mutual friend and has also recently directly approached a writer she was interested in hearing more from. She will also receive at least ten submissions from authors a day, which she will review.
The book proposal is extremely important and there are templates available to follow - this will provide an overview of the project, the length, the timeframe and a pithy, saleable synopsis. Caroline echoed the importance of having some existing public profile which will aid with your marketing - using your contacts to set up promotional interviews and events to sell the book. Don't be modest when approaching an agent. Make the most of your contacts and previous experience, and do some market research to show that there is a demand for your book. Find out more on the Hardman & Swainson website.
Dr Carol Cooper, Author and Newnham Associate
Carol is a medical doctor and has written textbooks for medical students, parenting and child health books as well as medical journalism - writing for publications as diverse as the Sun newspaper and the Lancet journal. She had a dream of being a novelist living in Hampstead, something which she achieved. Despite her love of fiction, Carol has also continued with her medical-themed writing, including The History of Medicine in Twelve Objects (2024), and has just finished writing the follow-up, The History of the World in Twelve Diseases.
Carol highlighted that writers need to consider why people might want to read their book. A trade book is read for pleasure, unlike an academic text which will be read for work or study. Consider how to make the book enjoyable and accessible to the general reader (using writing tools such as the Gunning fog index to improve readability). Avoid academic jargon, vary both your sentence length and your sentence construction and also consider what the book would be like as an audio book.
Biographies:
- Caroline Hardman is a Literary Agent at Hardman and Swainson Literary Agency, which she co-founded in 2012. Hardman and Swainson is a London-based agency, supporting a diverse range of authors throughout all stages of their careers.
- Dr George Owers is Senior Editor at Polity, which is a leading international publisher in the social sciences and humanities. Polity has UK offices in Cambridge and Oxford, as well as in Boston and New York in the US. George is also the author of The Rage of Party, a book about the development of party politics in the 17th Century, which was published last year.
- Professor Pragya Agarwal is a behavioural and data scientist, and has held senior academic roles at leading academic institutions around the globe. She is Royal Literary Fund Writing Fellow at Newnham College. Alongside her academic writing, Pragya has published several trade books including Sway, Hysterical and (M)otherhood, and has written articles for many other news publications.
- Dr Carol Cooper developed her media work alongside medical practice, writing for titles as different as The Sun and The Lancet. Most of her non-fiction books are for the general reader. She also has three novels to her name. Carol is an Associate of Newnham College, a former Fellow of the college, and a past president of the Guild of Health Writers.
This session followed on from a previous event, Publishing your first academic book.
Pictured: Dr Mezna Qato, Prof Pragya Agarwal, Dr Carol Cooper, Dr George Owers and Caroline Hardman.