Writing your book

Writing your book

Once your book proposal has been approved by the Press Committee, your assistant commissioning editor will send you your Memorandum of Agreement (your publishing contract) for you to sign. Once you return your signed document, your assistant commissioning editor will send you your author welcome pack. This will direct you to the essential information that you will need while preparing your book. You’ll also be eligible for your 40% author discount from this stage, so we’ll send you instructions on how to claim it.

Your assistant commissioning editor will keep in touch with you throughout the writing process and will be on hand to answer any questions you have.

Essential guidelines

• Publication ethics
• Style sheets – formatting your book to Edinburgh University Press house style
• Clearing copyright – how to clear permissions to use work that is not your own in your book
• Online resources – how to agree them with your editor, link to them in your book and submit them
• Illustration submission guidelines – special information for books with illustrations
• First time? Don't miss our guide to writing your first book on our Early Career Researcher hub

Extending your deadline

If you find that you are not able to keep to your writing schedule, please your assistant commissioning editor know as soon as possible. We are always happy to be flexible and agree a new date for submission. The sooner you can let us know, the less disruption the delay will cause to our sales team and customers. We’d always prefer you to be realistic rather than optimistic.

• Find the email address for your assistant commissioning editor

If you are writing a textbook, please be aware that these are only published between December and April. Delaying your submission date, even if it’s only by a couple of months, can result in your book being moved on to the following year’s textbook publishing period.