What Competencies Do Today's Academic Authors Need?

Abstract

The traditional model of academic author–publisher relations was one-way and service led, publisher to author. Today the possibilities for content development are vastly greater, underpinned by the two main drivers of change: new technologies and globalization. But within this new order the author, as creator of content, assumes a greater significance, and disintermediation raises the possibility of managing without a publisher altogether. The author of this essay, a former academic/educational publisher now running an MA in Publishing program at Kingston University London, assesses the new competencies that academic authors need and the marketing opportunities and relationships they can harness to promote their work, and encourages them to both be proactive and make the most of the connections with their publisher and their university—to the benefit of all involved.