16/03/2016 “Writing for Survival: Publishing & Precarity in the Lives of Early-Career Researchers” (Liverpool)

I’ve been invited to deliver this paper at the The University Press Redux Conference in Liverpool. You can find the full programme here, and the abstract for my paper below. 

The processes, practices, and politics of publishing have a substantial influence on the careers and the lives of early-career researchers. A book – be it under contract or in print – can make the difference between an existence defined by material and psychological precarity or the financial and emotional security that a permanent academic post promises. Based on real early-career academics’ experiences with university presses and other publishers, this talk offers an honest insight into the extent to which publishers’ practices can have direct and indirect, short-term and long-term effects on the lives and careers of researchers at the beginning of their careers. In doing so, I hope to be able to suggest what early-career academics expect from presses, and why a respectful, effective, and enthusiastic relationship between them is key not only to ensure the success of authors and publishers but also to the development and maintenance of rigorous, original scholarship.