RSC Books Blog

This is part of a series of blogs explaining more about book publishing at the Royal Society of Chemistry.

It’s printed and ready to go, but how do people find out about it?

The Books team at The Royal Society of Chemistry will do as much as we can to raise the awareness of your new book. However, the most successful books are those whose Editors and Authors also actively promote their own work. Here are a few ideas on things you can do to help promote your title.

1. Wikipedia

It’s commonly the go-to resource during initial research. Finding a relevant article and editing it to include some of your content, adding your book title as a reference, will help create exposure. You can log in or register here. As a publisher, we are not allowed to post to Wikipedia.

2. Social Media

Promotion through social media platforms will help spread the word. These can include:

• Twitter
• Facebook
• LinkedIn
• Blogs
• Your website (eg Recently Published Works)
• YouTube interviews
• Amazon Author Central.

Add a link to the RSC Online Bookshop in your post and let us know if you would like a copy of the books’ cover image to use.

3. Tell your Librarian

Our experience tells us that institutions are keen to acquire copies of work done by their faculty and students.

Librarians will also publicise the work through their own networks and social media channels.

4. Inform your Communications Office

Send a short description, including a link to your title on the RSC Online Bookshop, to your Communications or Media Relations Office so they can increase awareness.

5. Use your Contacts

Tell your colleagues about the book or provide us with a list so we can contact them on your behalf. Let all contributors know the book is published so they can also publicise it.

6. Book Reviews

Ask colleagues to review your book on websites such as Amazon, or recommend reviewers for us to contact.

7. Conferences and Symposiums

If you plan to attend a conference, if you’re speaking, or if you can obtain the list of delegates, please advise us. Perhaps you could include a picture of your book cover in your talk or display fliers?

This is part of a series of blogs explaining more about book publishing at the Royal Society of Chemistry.

A final checklist

When submitting your typescript to the Editor (for Edited books), or the Royal Society of Chemistry (for Authored books), it needs to be in a form ready for publication in terms of content and wording.

There are several criteria we check upon receipt of the compiled manuscript, and meeting these at the time of submission helps to speed up the production process. We also provide a chapter submission checklist to help ensure everything is delivered in the correct format.

Criteria

1. Chapter text is double-spaced and supplied in Microsoft Word.

2. All chapter documentation is supplied electronically.

3. 50 – 200 word abstract for each chapter in a separate Microsoft Word document.

4. Title page (chapter title, author list, address and email address for the corresponding author).

• Contact details not to be printed (eg private addresses) must be clearly indicated.

5. Table of contents.

6. The level of each heading (eg main headings, sub-heading etc.) is indicated in the text using Arabic numerals. 

7. References are listed in the required format.

• Download the Endnote style file to help format references.

8. All figures, tables and captions are supplied as separate files and referenced in the text.

9. All equations are supplied as Mathtype files.

10. All equations, figures, tables etc. are numbered consecutively in Arabic numerals.

11. Completed Copyright Permission Forms for photographs, figures and other artwork, as well as textual material that requires permission.

For further information regarding house style, please refer to our Chapter Instructions.

More detailed guidelines for Edited and Authored books can also be downloaded from our website.

This is part of a series of blogs explaining more about book publishing at the Royal Society of Chemistry.

From conception to print

We are all familiar with the sight of a book on the shelf, but how does it get there?

Submission of a Book Proposal Form is the initial part of the editorial development process. To ensure the Royal Society of Chemistry continues to publish high-quality content, the proposal is peer reviewed by other experts in the field and the reviewers’ comments discussed with the Editor.

Following acceptance of the proposal there is a period of around 12 months in which to contact potential authors, write the chapters and ensure their smooth delivery, finalise a cover image, and review and edit the content before handing the manuscript over to the production team.

Once the book is in-house we take care of the copyediting, typesetting and indexing, sending proofs through for your approval. After five months of work in production the book is ready to head to the printers, making its way onto a bookshelf near you shortly afterwards.

This is the first in a series of blogs explaining more about book publishing at the Royal Society of Chemistry.

1. What books do we publish?

The Royal Society of Chemistry publishes a range of book formats that can be pitched to the appropriate target audience, including:

• academic level books;
• Specialist Periodical Reports;
• textbooks;
• conference proceedings (camera-ready proceedings); and
• popular science books.

Academic level books provide an in-depth treatment of a very specific subject and serve as a thorough, informative and accessible reference for postgraduates, academics and industrialists. Our academic books can be published as part of a Series or as a standalone title.

Specialist Periodical Reports, published annually or biennially, provide systematic and detailed review coverage of recent developments in major areas of chemical research.

Undergraduate and Postgraduate textbooks are designed to meet the needs of a course at the appropriate level, and include case studies and Q&A sections.

If you are organising a Conference or Symposium, the proceedings can be published as an accompanying volume.

Popular science books appeal to a wide audience and can cover a range of topics. Previous titles include Molecules of Murder and Around the World in 18 Elements.

Subject areas we cover

Commissioning Editors at the Royal Society of Chemistry have a portfolio of Series and subject areas they look after, including:

• Food
• Analytical
• Materials
• Nano
• Energy and Environment
• Chemical Biology
• Drug Discovery
• Toxicology
• Green Chemistry
• Theoretical
• Catalysis

If you would like to submit an idea for a book, please fill in a Book Proposal Form and email it to the Books Editorial Department.

What to do if you have an idea

The first step to publishing a book with the Royal Society of Chemistry is to submit a Book Proposal Form to the relevant Commissioning Editor within Books Editorial.

The Book Proposal Form helps to frame your idea and provides us with the level of information required to assess and review the content. The proposal covers everything from the book title, to the table of contents, to the proposed chapter contributors.

When you have completed the Book Proposal Form, please email it to the Books Editorial Department. The proposal can then start the review process and the journey to becoming a reality.

What are we looking for?

When evaluating a book proposal there are several pieces of information the Royal Society of Chemistry requires.

These include:

• Book title.
• A paragraph providing an overview of the coverage of the book.
• Table of contents, detailing proposed chapter titles and authors.
• The anticipated readership, eg academic or industrialist.
• An estimation of the length of the book (allowing 500 words per page).
• A guide as to the number of figures, graphs, schemes etc.
• The intended timescale for delivery of the manuscript.
• A brief description of the Editors’ research interests and affiliations.

Upon receipt of the Book Proposal Form we send it for external peer review. We will discuss the feedback with you and, if the proposal is accepted, prepare the proposal for internal approval.

For more information on the Series and topics we have published to date, please see our website.

This is part of a series of blogs about book publishing at the Royal Society of Chemistry – read more on the RSC Books Blog.