Since 2017 I have been working with Pat Thomson on the Insider Guides to Success in Academia. We now have 15 published titles and more in the pipeline. Then a couple of years ago I started to work with Policy Press on the Creative Research Methods in Practice series; the first book, Photovoice Reimagined by Nicole Brown, was published in April, there are three more scheduled for this year, and – again – more in the pipeline. 

A book series needs a clear purpose and a significant investment of time from its editor(s). That said, I have heard about series editors who do very little beyond adding their name to a series. I am not that kind of editor – I don’t want to micromanage authors, but I do offer help and advice. Some authors don’t need any assistance, particularly if they are experienced, while others need quite a bit of input, particularly if they are inexperienced. People helped me when I was a novice writer so I’m glad to be able to pay that forward. 

Rather than simply acting as a conduit between authors and publisher, I read and comment on every proposal and every manuscript. I consider reviewers’ comments carefully and discuss them with Pat for the Insider series, and with our publishers for both series, before passing them on to authors. And I am always available for any queries or concerns that series authors may have.  

Another part of the work is commissioning books, which lies somewhere between offering people a publishing opportunity and persuading people to write for your series. I try to stay closer to the ‘offering’ than the ‘persuading’ end of that spectrum, though sometimes it’s hard. Pat and I wanted to commission a book on project management for researchers from a very early stage in our series, and we tried one pair of authors who agreed but then were unable to follow through, and another single author who also agreed but was unable to follow through, all for perfectly understandable and very good reasons. So now we’re writing it ourselves with two colleagues. I co-authored the first book in the series on Publishing For Your Doctoral Research with Janet Salmons, and more recently Pat has written one on Refining Your Academic Writing. 

Since the launch of the creative methods series, I have had several enquiries from would-be authors. Together with the books I had already begun commissioning, I have been promised around a dozen books. Apparently a 50% conversion rate, from promised to proposal, is good going. So, I need to keep on promoting the series, and talking to people about the series, to try to secure more promises – and then ideally proposals. 

I get some royalties as series editor. Not a lot, but then, although it’s a job for sure, it’s much less work than writing the books. However, it does take time for them to come through. The first book in the Insider series was published in December 2019, so my first royalties were in March 2021, and my editor royalties for that series over the last four years have been just over £1,000 in total. On the plus side, most of that was this year, so it’s ramping up now – but series editing is definitely a long game, not a quick win. 

There are two parts of series editing I like best of all. One is when an unsolicited submission arrives which really fits the series, and the other is when a box of published books arrives in my office. As series editor, I get a few free paperback copies which I use for promotion, and it’s always a joy to see the finished product. Seeing the sales figures is nice too! 

The worst part is when we have to say ‘no’ to an author. This doesn’t happen often, and I think I have got better at managing it, but I haven’t always dealt with it well. It is hard to tell someone that their cherished vision doesn’t match yours.  

Most of the time, though, I really enjoy editing book series. I love seeing the series grow, watching authors flourish, and hearing readers’ comments. However, I don’t enjoy it enough to take on any more series – two is plenty! 

Photo by Suzy Hazelwood