Mark Simpson-Vos
Brian LeechWhat is the scholarship equivalent of a novella? I’d like to write and read short books that are both more developed and detailed than an article but shorter than a regular monograph. Are there examples of this kind of thing being regularly published by someone? #AcademicToots #AUPresses #ScholarlyPublishing #UniversityPresses #HigherEd #histodons
Giacomo Parrinello@brianleechphd not sure it fully qualifies but the collection edited by Michael Egan at MIT publishes shorter books by design (50k words)
Adam M. Sowards@GParrinello @brianleechphd I was on that series editorial board. That was partly our intent, although I don't recall anyone ever using"novella" in conversations. More of these works are needed for sure.
In academia, rewards for such volumes need to be sorted. Not all departments would support something like that for promotion, I assume. That IS something we discussed.
J. D. Hamblin@GParrinello @brianleechphd in addition to the series GP mentioned, Bloomsbury has an “object lessons” series on tech. They describe it this: “Object Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things.”
@jdhamblin @GParrinello @brianleechphd
Those are great and what I thought of immediately, too.
@brianleechphd Agreed! It would be nice to hear from someone in #scholarlypublishing weigh in. I assume the economics make it tough.... But what do I know?
Rebecca Colesworthy@brianleechphd Absolutely! A bunch of UPs and ac publishers have short book series—Forerunners at MN, the Objects series at Bloomsbury, Provocations at Nebraska, American Studies Now at UC, Practices at Duke, and others too that are escaping me rn.
@RColesworthy Thanks for the great examples!
@brianleechphd my pleasure! And sorry it’s Object Lessons, not Objects (as someone else noted)
matthewharrison@RColesworthy @brianleechphd I’ve been thinking about this, too: I’d much rather write short, and I think the result is more useful.
Cassandra Good@brianleechphd That would be great, especially for teaching!
@cgoodhistorian Right! I’d love to be able to require more books with original research, but length can be a challenge.
Ustinoff auf Eis@brianleechphd In physics and medicine, we have review papers, 30-50 pages, which are very helpful in summarizing a topic and giving an overview.
Emilie K. M. Murphy@brianleechphd Cambridge Elements - https://www.cambridge.org/core/what-we-publish/elements
Heidi Li Feldman@brianleechphd Not sure they are scholarly enough to qualify but I immediately thought of OUP’s Very Short Introductions series.
STCWhite@heidilifeldman @brianleechphd
A good series of primers for topics, generally. I would not hesitate to use the ones that I can vet for introductory classes.
A good series of primers for topics, generally. I would not hesitate to use the ones that I can vet for introductory classes.
AspiringLudditeAlthough it is targeted at a re-enactor audience, the Compleat Anachronist pamphlet series has some good historical scholarship.
Gabriel Hankins@brianleechphd Elements at Cambridge! I coedit one of these
Heide Estes@brianleechphd So many presses are doing short-form monographs these days, usually in the 20k to 40k range.
@brianleechphd see the Oxford Short Introductions series. Cambridge, Brill, AUP are just a few presses that come to mind.
@brianleechphd Forerunners at U of Minnesota Press a possible example. https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/series/forerunners-ideas-first
We also publish lecture series @uncpress that include some works of this length and are suggestive of what you can do with the form.
Jason Weidemann@brianleechphd check out our (U of MN Press's) Forerunners book series -- short, argument-driven scholarly texts of around 25K words https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/series/forerunners-ideas-first
@fiveoclockbot Will do!