Academic Book Publishers
Prejudice in Harry Potter’s World: Legitimate Academic Study or the Latest Rowling Fleece?
Author: Eliza Days
Oxford graduate student Karen A. Brown has published a study on discrimination in J.K. Rowling’s ‘Harry Potter’ novels (See http://www.thelppc.com/featuredbook-prejudiceinharrypotter.html). While it has been widely acknowledged that Rowling’s work chronicles real-world social issues through some not-so-subtle subplots and allegories, so far, no one has dedicated an entire book to the subject. And Brown hastens to emphasize this feature in her blog, where she admits that she has been doing some “promotional work” for the new book. (See http://www.thelppc.com/karenbrown-blogg-prejudiceinharrypotter.html).
Ironically, this book’s release coincides with the latest controversy surrounding Rowling’s work, as HPLexicon.com founder Steve Vander Ark’s efforts to publish his own ‘Harry Potter Lexicon’ have been thwarted by Rowling’s lawyers. They claim that the Lexicon breeches their client’s copyright and infringes upon exclusive materials that Rowling intends to use in her own ‘Harry Potter Encyclopaedia.’
Since Brown has made it possible for readers to write to her, I contacted her to enquire how she felt about the Vander Ark controversy, and how it impacts upon her upcoming publication. She insists that ‘Prejudice in Harry Potter’s World’ does not in any way infringe upon Ms. Rowling’s copyright, and that all copyrighted materials (quotes and long citations) are properly referenced and kept to a minimum, as specified by the Christopher Little Literary Agency, to whom she wrote years ago to request permission to publish an essay entitled “Harry Potter and the Minorities Issue.”
“Lots of publishers turned me down,” Brown claims. “And it was not because of copyright concerns: Many other things have been written about Rowling’s work, none of them being given her authorization or approval. But I found it curious that most of the rejection letters I got clearly stated that my study was not marketable because no one was interested in reading about prejudice and racism. Some editors stressed that people who read Harry Potter are not interested in reading ‘about’ the books. So in the end I decided to publish the book myself, and mostly for me, because I strongly believe in the ideas put forth in it.”
All things considered, Ms. Brown appears to be quite passionate about this project, and seems to understand her own legal standing where Rowling’s work is concerned: “I did not create Harry Potter, obviously. I simply comment on how the books make reference to some of the social trends in our own world. Wizarding-world biases and social hierarchy share some shocking similarities with our own world. And I think we need to stop and take notice.”
Rowling herself has stated in various interviews that the series is a “prolonged argument for tolerance.” And it is at least encouraging that one of her readers has chosen to focus on this message.
About the Author
A seasoned copywriter from Michigan, Eliza Days now resides temporarily in the UK. A “citizen of the world” is how she likes to think of herself, as her writing has taken her to all parts of the globe.
Tagged with: harry potter • intellectual property • prejudice
Filed under: Uncategorized
Like this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed and get loads more!
i dont get your question.
Where are u from?
Do you want to buy books from Africa.?
or
Do you want African distributors?
I am willing to help you if i understand your question
I am a graduate from the University of Ghana Business School
hope to hear from u
Visit the following site it will answer all your questions:
http://www.msa-natl.org/resources/Bookstores.html
This is something that the publisher has to ratify because you are coauthors, not publishers. And it needs to be handled by a lawyer.
I suggest that you look at the niche that you are planning on advertising to and then profile them, then advertise according to that profile. I’ll tell you one of the biggest mistakes that academic publishers make with advertising is that they advertise to high school students, advertising to college students might make a little sense, but the important fact is that while publishing for high school students make sure you’er advertising and marketing to parents and not students. It’s one of the biggest mistakes that I see, try to avoid it.
What I’ve told you about is some basic tips, hope it helps you.
Good luck with this and your future evdeavors.
based on its title “innovation & entrepreneurship”, it’s under the (business & economics) management section.
I think its an academic book (essay/article). But I haven’t read the book so pick you’re choice among ff which u think best describes its form:
descriptive
exemplification
cause & effect
narrative
compare & contrast
classification
definition
dialectic
hope this helps!
PS. When u say GENRE, it can be classified as:
Fiction (under which are fantasy, horror, romance, etc.)
Nonfiction (autobio, bio, academic paper, &c.)
—- That’s why people here keep answering ‘non-fiction’ to your post.
*peace though*
Please rewrite your question if you want help. You say you’re the second author at the beginning, then at the end you say you know the second author will push to be on the contract. And in the middle section, you say something about a clause that you and the first author can get together to do something.
The best I can make out of what you’ve written is that the third author doesn’t have to agree to be dropped. If you and the first author drop her anyway, her recourse would be to sue for her losses (royalties as well as status of being published) and probably breach of contract.
Contact the publisher and tell them what happened, I’m sure that they will be very interested. Sell your copy on amazon.com you’ll get more money that way.
The first consideration is if it is publishing-worthy. Just because YOU wrote it does not mean you are the best judge of whether or not it’s ready to be published. Edit it completely. Cut out or change whatever needs to be. Be critical– does the quality, style, and so forth compare with other books you have read (of any genre)? If someone else had written it, would you think it was a well-written book? The ability to step outside yourself as ‘writer’ and sit in the chair of ‘reader’ is vital to any self-publishing endeavour. If you are not sufficiently mature or if you have too big an ego to do this, seek outside opinion. (If you are not honest with yourself about this, don’t expect miracles. The world doesn’t reward living in denial!)
That said… I chose Amazon’s CreateSpace scheme for my work. It is fast, easy, and best of all cheap– you pay ONLY for the books you order and the discount schedule is great. And there is NO minimum order (you can print ONE book). They will assign the ISBN and everything. Publish-On-Demand is the wave of the future– it nets you a real paperback professional-quality book in a very short time and at a very good deal. You will need to submit, in essence, a ‘picture’ of the book– two files, cover and interior– in ‘-.pdf’ format. Go to their web site and follow the directions. I found it very easy to do.
When I got my proof copies I went to the beach and sat with the book for like three days reading it as though I had paid for it (for I had) and as though it was some other author’s work. With blue pen I scribbled all over it like I was going to grade it as a student’s assignment and critiqued it to within an inch of its life. Then I went home and fixed the file and resubmitted it. I did this with THREE successive copy-edits… and this was AFTER I had ‘edited’ the text on the computer all those times. Editing is key. Explore these possibilities but don’t neglect to do the actual work.
When it comes to marketing, YOU will have to do it all. This is easier than you think– use your MySpace (do not link to the more private FaceBook) and everything else you have to advertise your work. I have easily sold more copies of my book(s) to people I don’t know that to people I do.
Don’t waste your time submitting to big-name publishers and agents. Their current mode is that they don’t even open a packet sent to them by someone they don’t know. This is sad, but realistic. What I have said about Publish-On-Demand is more reliable and better for you as a start in any case. Do research if you don’t believe me.
In NO cases should you EVER pay a so-called publisher to print your book– unless you are 100% willing to throw that money away. (And, if you are, throw it my way!) Author-paying schemes benefit only the one getting paid. After all they all consider YOU, the author– not the reader– their customer. That should tell you something. (Follow the money!)
And– good luck.
Sometimes yes…sometimes no. If the editor didn’t mention an honorarium up front, then you probably won’t get paid…just the credential. But depending on what field you are taking up, being published in an academic book has value too.
May I suggest that you think outside the box and put your key words into Google.com. Although there is no guarantee that something will turn up, there’s a good chance that it will.
On your first topic, see the book, The Logic and Rhetoric of Exposition, by Harold C. Martin. It is an older book and may not be mathematical enough for your needs, but perhaps it has a useful bibliography. I used it too long ago to recall. If it is not in your university library, used copies are available very cheaply on Amazon.
Please provide me a list of Academic Publishers who Publish on early Islam and Prophet Muhammad?
I want to get a Book on Prophet of Islam published from the USA.
I want e-mail contacts and no publishing agent or middle man between publisher and the auther.
Where do I get emailing lists for academic book buyers of books from Africa?
Academic libraries in Europe and North America wanting to buy academic books from African publishers
Do I get paid for an article in a book?
‘ve contributed an article to a volume which is a collection of articles and an introduction (by the editor of the volume). The editor says that she’s signed a contract with the publisher, but she hasn’t mentioned whether any of the contributers get paid for their contributions to the volume. What’s normal in academic publishing? This is my first article in a book; I’m a postgraduate student.
I’m about to start a marketing plan for an academic publisher – any advice?
This is basically a starting point for me – voluntary, mainly to get a reference, hopefully to get me started in publishing. I have the qualifications and the book smarts but lack experience. All I need is help in how to translate my theory into practice! Any advice from fellow marketeers would be great! x
What is the name of the genre of a book that teaches entrepreneurship?
i have to determine the genre of the book i am reading and explain if it is Is it an academic article? A popular one? An editorial? An opinion piece? ETC and think about the formal conventions for that genre when deciding.
i am reading the book Peter F. Drucker. “Innovation and Entrepreneurship” New York: Harper Collins Publishers Inc. can someone tell me the genre of this book?
seriously too vague genius not what i needed
how to find elusive academic research sources.?
I often bump into the problem of attempting to locate a textbook on the interrelation of two subdisciplines of two different academic fields, and the methods i use to locate such books – textbook publisher websites, amazon, the university library, the Library of congress classification system sourcebooks, invariably fail – for instance right now I am trying to locate a textbook that applies/shows the interrelation of philosophical and mathematic logic to rhetoric… how the structure of sentances can make for more convincing argument. Or say I wanted to find a book showing the application of psychology of memory to military sociology. Is there a database or resource somewhere that can search many textbooks by domain like this and return books that overlap classification?
I want my book published but How?
i have written a book and it would be really fantastic if i could get it published. its quite academic and very dull for most people but i think it would be very useful for my own career if i had something done. anyhow, i don’t know any publishers or anything so any help on that would be appreciated. thanks.
Are book stores allowed to sell books that says “NOT FOR SALE”?
I bought a textbook today from this book store near my school.
I came home and was taking price sticker off and underneath the sticker it said “NOT FOR SALE”
I am like WTF! I paid $80 for this thing. It even said “This book was originally distributed as a sample copy by the publisher for academic review” And now Im worried that after this semester when i would sell this book, the book store would buy it back from me.
I am a second author of a book for an academic publishing company. There is a clause that sayd the publisher?
There is a clause in an academic publishing contract that says a third author can be dropped if there is not significant contribution on their part. The third author has attended several conferences on the subject matter and may not agree to taking her name on the contract. There is a clause that makes me feel safe about getting together with the first author to do this. There is a section in the contract that says the third author can agree to be removed from the contract or I can request the publisher draw up a new contract. I know the second author will push to be on the contract. What is her recourse?
academic book contract authorship question?
I am part of a a book contract for an academic book. I am the second author. I have convinced the 1st author to drop the third author based upon a clause in the contract. I know the third author will disagree. What is the safest rout? The first author wrote the following to the third author:
We need to discuss the issue of the coauthorship of the casebook. We have to drop you from the book because you haven’t contributed what you were supposed to and, according to the contract in the section under joint authorship, this nullifies your coauthorship.
It is in the contract for the book in Section N (“If any author does not perform the obligation required, the Publisher shall have the right to proceed with the other authors without obligation to the non-performing authors”). So, in a sense, our hands our tied.
There are two ways we can go about this. We can amend the original contract, which you would sign, indicating that you are no longer on the project. Or Pearson will create a whole new contract and not include you.