Trade vs Academic Publishing: What Type Do You Need for Your Book?

What type of book are you considering? Who is your target audience or niche market? College faculty in your discipline or research specialty? All college faculty? College students? K-12 teachers? Parents? Assorted livestock and small farm animals? Your answers to these 47 questions will determine whether you need an academic or trade publisher or one that distributes to both markets.

TRADE vs. ACADEMIC PUBLISHING


What’s the difference between trade and academic publishing? (Note: I know I’ve bombarded you with loads of questions, but you’ll notice that this one’s rhetorical. Just relax and listen up!) Think of the trade market as traditional “bookstoreland.” If your book would appeal to golfers, Oprah watchers, or other groups of seemingly “normal” people, then you need to think Trade-World.

Academic-World is the alternative. Academic publishers are appropriate if your audience is college faculty, K-12 teachers (most education titles are produced by academic publishers), or students. Books for students can also cross the line into Trade-World if they are self-help books related to S.A.T. and other test preparation, study skills, college survival, or even time management.

Trade-World and Academic-World publishers are very different in terms of manuscript submission procedures, author earnings, book distribution and promotion, and other aspects of publishing. These differences will be examined in the next few blogs.


COPYRIGHT © 2009 Ronald A. Berk, LLC