Chris Rowell Jan. 2019 #SocMedHe18 From a tweet to a book: Social Media in HE Chris Rowell Jan. 2019 #SocMedHe18 From a tweet to a book: Social Media in Higher Education This short presentation will trace the journey from a single tweet, to a blog post and finally to a book about social media in higher education. I will describe how the process evolved on social media, how the book was edited into a coherent manuscript and give advice to others who might be interested in doing a similar project.

Introduction How the book started: The original idea. Contacting my social media networks. Introduction: From a tweet to a book: Social Media in Higher Education This short presentation will trace the journey from a single tweet, to a blog post and finally to a book about social media in higher education. I will describe how the process evolved on social media, how the book was edited into a coherent manuscript and give advice to others who might be interested in doing a similar project. The original idea: Some time ago I had a lecturer ask me about the process of self publishing a book. I didn’t really know much about so I did a little bit of research – mainly contacting David Hopkins and naively thought this didn’t look too much work – I’ll have a go! Looking around at what had been published recently I knew there was a gap regarding publications on Social Media in Higher Education. Contacting my Personal Learning Network: Given that the book was to be on Social Media I thought that the most appropriate way to contact people was through Twitter so in Sept. 2017 I sent out a tweet asking if anyone was interested in contributing a chapter, I had about 15 replies. I then contacted further people I thought might be interested via email – in total I got 28 respondents who said they would contribute a chapter

Putting the manuscript together. Integrating social media The process: Key issues: Managing the authors. Putting the manuscript together. Integrating social media The process Managing the authors. First I set a deadline of 1st February 2017 for the first draft and then a final deadline for 1st May last year. This was a time consuming task – it was a bit like set a assignment for students – here were ones who sent it in weeks before the deadline and other asking for extensions and others not producing anything! Putting the manuscript together. By the beginning of June I’d received 20 finished chapters. Then I started the editing process – which mainly consisted I having a consisted look and feel to the chapters I grouped the chaptets into 6 themes Integrating social media: As the book was about SM I was keen to add some interactivity into the process so I started interviewing the different authors and creating a podcast on each chapter which I tweeted out – DELcasts – these have not been integrated into the book.

Contents: Themes: Professional Practice Teaching and Learning Leadership Building Networks Innovation The Personal Journey Contents of the book: 6 different themes: Professional Practice Teaching and Learning Leadership Building Networks Innovation The Personal Journey

Approaching a publisher Why choose a Publisher? Who are Open Book publishers? What is a Platinum publisher? Why choose a Publisher? Greater accessibility and readership. It means that when a search is made in a library readers are more likely to find it. Also greater academic credibility – because the book is peered reviewed. For me it had to be an ‘Open Publisher’ – commitment to providing free to read publications Who are Open Book publishers? OB Publishers books are published in hardback, paperback, pdf and ebook editions, but they also include a free online edition that can be read via our website, downloaded, reused or embedded anywhere. Their free online books are currently being accessed worldwide by over 20,000 readers each month.  They are a nonprofit independent publisher with no institutional backing. Open Book relies on sales and donations to continue publishing and free to read titles. What is a Platinum publisher? i.e. without any charges to authors, or payment of fees or charges to readers and third parties

Large image slide The book! The book! Not quite ready for publication – changes sent back for February and then hopefully ready for print soon after that! The book!

Tips for doing your own book: The do’s and don‘ts….

The dos: Be very patient…it’s a long process Decide on your print format a the start. Have a Plan B Be very patient…it’s a long process. Especially editing a book where you are dependant on so many authors. Also the peer review process is very long winded. Decide on your print format a the start. Decide whether you want to self publish or go to the publishers from the start. Have a plan B

Thank You Chris Rowell rowellc@lsbu.ac.uk @chri5rowell