Hi,

I've been wondering lately whether it is easier to get academic non-fiction published rather than fiction.

The reason I ask is that post-grads often find it helpful to submit to journals etc. and get their names in print. But the number of people submitting to many academic journals is less, I think, than those submitting to fiction publications. So your chances of getting published are greater.

Also I found that once you are in the academic system - either doing an MA or Ph.D., it is quite easy to stay in that system, and there is a network in place that facilitates getting published. You also have your supervisor etc, who can help you edit/ tighten up your submissions.

I've also known academics who have had books published that are neither very popular nor very detailed, as much of their thoroughly researched work ends up in publications geared mainly at those within the same feild - i.e. journals, conferences and so on.

Getting fiction work noticed seems to be harder than getting academic work noticed because there isn't a framework out there that is geared primarily to getting people published/ qualified.

Any thoughts on this?
Thanks in advance for any replies.

I confess I know nothing about publishing academic work, however, it's worth noting that only 10% of all published material is fiction - even I can do the maths on that one.

I think it's probably easier to get an interesting work of non-fiction published - although it may be a smaller print run to a specific audience. And there's an awful lot of popular non-fiction (particularly in history, science and travel) and biography that become commercially successful.

Katie

<Added>

sorry, missed out the 'has'!

I'm curious, is the 10% the percentage of titles published or the volume of sales made? (sorry if I am being a bit dumb)

I don't believe it is easier to get an academic book published. It's all relative, so absolute percentages can be misleading.

Academic publishing is not the largest part of the non-fiction market (biography, self-help and pop-psych are the big boons there, I believe). Of the lucky academics who do get published, most never sell a book to anyone who is not a library or a member of their immediate family, and cannot expect more than that.

The academic field is fiercely competitive when it comes to getting published and, as the adage goes, "publish or perish" -- many find themselves out of a job or kept on but out of the pension/perks race when they don't publish. Because of not being able to publish, a good number of academics in a number of fields are leaving academia and looking for jobs elsewhere.

So -- the grass, she is not greener on that side of the fence, no sir.