A commissioning editor's guide to working with authors
A commissioning editor's guide to working with authors aims to help develop an 
understanding of the distinction between ‘managing your authors’ and ‘working with them’.
It is important to know how to achieve prompt delivery of scripts not by cracking the whip, but by understanding authors’ motivations and the pressures of their own day jobs. It’s about learning what levers to pull, and being sensitive to individual circumstances, rather than being ruthless and demanding in achieving your own ends!
Course content
- Acquiring authors
- Briefing authors
- Maintaining communication
- The author relationship
- Project Management
- Post publication
e-Learning modules are optimised for desktop and laptop devices and not tablets and smartphones.
Learning outcomes
By completing this module you will gain a clearer understanding of:
- authors' motivations
- successful negotiation
- better briefing
- accurate feedback
- mutual communication
How does the course work?
A commissioning editor's guide to working with authors has six units. Across the units there are exercises and model answers.
About the authors
Brenda Stones has many years' experience in commissioning, editing, writing, lecturing and training. She started as a graduate trainee at Cambridge University Press and finished as Publishing Director at Oxford University Press, including smaller trade and independent presses in between.
Since then she has been Visiting Lecturer for the Publishing Studies MA at City University and has written 20 home-learning titles for WHSmiths. She has run many training courses for the PTC, and delivered publishing training overseas in Bangladesh and Eritrea. She is currently a freelance editor.
Rebecca Lovell has been commissioning authors for more than 10 years, both in the educational and non-fiction trade sectors, most recently for Cambridge University Press.
This e-Learning Module was developed with the support of the Unwin Charitable Trust.
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Eight to ten hours with eight months access to the module.
PTC e-Learning Modules are concentrated, online courses that focus on specialist topics relevant to publishing working life. They are designed to build on a foundation of existing skills and experience.