Why Did I Edit Such an Expensive Book?

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The Bloomsbury Handbook of Creative Research Methods, published last month, is at present only available in hardback at a recommended retail price of £140, or as an ebook at £126. Regular readers will know that I have ranted on this blog before about the iniquitous prices charged by some academic publishers, and advocated working with not-for-profit university presses. So, it is reasonable to ask me, as some people have: why did I agree to edit this expensive book for Bloomsbury?

The backstory is this: Maria Brauzzi, an editor at Bloomsbury who I did not know, emailed me in late 2021 to invite me to edit a Handbook of Creative Research Methods for them. At the time I had started work on editing a creative data analysis book for Policy Press with Dawn Mannay and Ali Roy, and chapter proposals were landing in my inbox. We received over 60 proposals, most of which were good. We had originally intended to produce a normal-sized book with around 12 chapters, but with so many good proposals to choose from, Policy Press agreed to produce a Handbook of Creative Data Analysis with around 30 chapters. (I’m delighted to say that is now in production and will be published in early September.)

Even so, selecting the chapters to include in the Policy Press Handbook was tough. Then I had a brainwave! I hadn’t replied to Maria at Bloomsbury because I couldn’t decide whether to accept her invitation. So, I emailed back and told her I had too many good proposals to fit into the Handbook I was doing with Policy Press, and asked whether I could pivot some of them into the Handbook she wanted to commission for Bloomsbury. She said ‘yes!’ so I ended up being sole editor of one Handbook and lead editor of another at the same time. 

I do not recommend this course of action unless you have, as I had then (and I’m glad to say, have again now), a solid, competent, and reliable support worker or other assistant. I could not have edited this Handbook without my support worker’s help. But editing it meant I was able to offer publishing opportunities to people who deserved them, including some people from marginalised groups. I’m glad I could do that, even though it meant working for a publisher who screws royalties down to the bone, lower than any of my other publishers, while earning a massive profit by selling books at prices that most people can’t afford.

So, to redress the balance a tiny little bit, I am offering a free copy of the Handbook to one of my blog followers. If you’re not a follower yet, you should be able to see a ‘Follow Blog Via Email’ notice with space to enter your email address. Any blog follower who wants a chance of a free copy needs to comment below and check back here a week after this blog has been posted to see who has won. My support worker will put all the names in a hat and pick one at random, then add a comment stating who will receive the free copy. I will post a book to that person, wherever they are in the world. 

Congratulations to Lucia 🎉 our winner of the prize draw for a free copy of The Bloomsbury Handbook of Creative Research Methods!

39 thoughts on “Why Did I Edit Such an Expensive Book?”

  12. Dear Helen, Thanks for your explanation about the latest two books you’ve been working on – all is forgiven. What you have ti gi through to bring great content and to support the writers – is no doubt a huge and edifying task. Well done you and your support worker. Really apreciate that you say out loud your gratitude.

    I just love your work all the way from Australia. I would love the chance to get a free copy. That would be a huge gift.

    Looking forward to future correspondence.

    Liked by 1 person

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  14. Hi Helen. Thank you for extending this kind of offer of a free copy of your book. I’d be so pleased to win a copy and will look forward to reading. Best wishes. Mhairi

    Liked by 1 person

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  22. Fascinating to get a glimpse behind the scenes of the process. To be able to read the book itself – especially as an independent researcher with limited library access – would be the cherry on the cake!

    Liked by 1 person

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  30. An insightful read, thank you for sharing Helen. I’d love a copy of this book! I’m in full throw exploring creative methods in my PhD, so this would be a DELIGHT.

    Best of luck with the publications, Elizabeth Ascroft

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  36. Thank you to all those that enterered the competition for a free copy of The Bloomsbury Handbook of Creative Research Methods and met the stipulated terms of being: a follower of (subscriber to) the Helen Kara blog; and leaving a comment on this blog post above.

    Congratulations once again to Lucia! A copy of The Bloomsbury Handbook of Creative Research Method will be on it’s way to you 🎉

    Liked by 1 person

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