Open Educational Resources Collective Publishing Workflow

If you’re planning to work with co-authors, and you don’t already have someone in mind, you’ll need to identify other experts you could approach to write on a specific topic.

Co-authors should have experience with the subject matter and add value to your textbook. Familiarity with – and passion for – open education is a plus.

Some things to look for when recruiting co-authors:

• Complementary strengths – Do they have strengths that complement your own?
• Philosophy – Does their working style fit well with yours?
• Challenge – Do they challenge you to do your best work?
• Diversity – Are they at a different career stage, from a different discipline or of a different gender or ethnicity?

Some strategies you could use to find co-authors outside your institution are to:

• tap into colleagues’ or mentors’ networks by asking them to introduce you to researchers with relevant expertise
• share your ideas with a researcher you met at a conference to see if they want to collaborate
• reach out to researchers of interest through social networks such as Twitter, ResearchGate and LinkedIn
• cold call or email a researcher you haven’t met before but want to collaborate with and ask them if they’d be interested in contributing to your textbook
• send out a call for contributions from other authors
• connect through the CAUL OER Collective Academic Authors Community of Practice.

Once you’ve found your co-authors, you’ll need to discuss your expectations and how you’re going to work together.

Adapted from:

‘Contributing Authors’ in Self-Publishing Guide by Lauri M. Aesoph, licensed under a CC BY 4.0 licence

‘Day 26: Expand Your Co-Authorship Base’ in The 30-Day Impact Challenge by Stacy Konkiel, licensed under a CC BY 4.0 licence.