Jackie Steinitz

This UK project monitors and measures the addition of an opportunity for shared reading before a course of outside exploration. Twenty 10–12-year-olds from military families, who did not already know each other and were preparing to take sponsored places on an Outward Bound course on the Welsh coast, were sent a copy of an age-appropriate book. Cop...

This project outlines and explores the impact of the establishment of a book group organized during Lent 2023 within a particular benefice, in Surrey in the UK, that had three separate church congregations. The opportunity to join the club, which would run for six sessions, was made available across all three congregations. The title for sharing wa...

This paper reports on a project to use, within church communities, previous experience in universities and schools of shared reading for the purposes of outreach, widening participation, and community inclusion. It outlines and explores the experience of selecting a book, and its subsequent discussion among a group of parishioners, to promote a sen...

This paper outlines the experience of four universities that collaborated on a pre-arrival shared reading project, the Big Read, in 2018/2019. They did so primarily to promote student engagement and retention and also to ease the transition into higher education, particularly for first-generation students, to promote staff connectedness, and to pro...

This paper outlines the experience of four universities that collaborated on a pre-arrival shared reading project, the Big Read, in 2018/2019. They did so primarily to promote student engagement and retention and also to ease the transition into higher education, particularly for first-generation students, to promote staff connectedness, and to pro...

To explore the reason why some biographies by or about politicians are more successful than others, and to help publishers consider the range of factors that may impact on their commissioning decisions, we sought to establish a range of likely influencing factors and to combine them in a formula. This is not a magic prediction tool, but rather a ra...

This paper, the first of several, reports on a research survey of more than 900 authors to investigate the early influences on writers and their current practices, motivations and benefits, and the barriers they face. It demonstrates that writers of all ages and health profiles derive immense satisfaction from their craft despite often despite ofte...

Coombe Boys’ School in New Malden worked with Kingston University to establish a ‘Big Read’, a scheme of pre-arrival shared-reading for boys transitioning from local primary schools into year 7 of the Coombe Boys’ secondary school. A novel was chosen for shared-reading, and all arriving pupils were given a copy at their Induction Day (at the end of...

Seeking to improve student enrolment, engagement, and retention, Kingston University began a pre-arrival shared reading scheme in 2014–2015, sending a free book to every student about to start at the university and making copies available to staff in all roles and departments across the institution. A number of associated events were organized and...

This paper continues the exploration of Kingston University's pre-arrival shared reading scheme, the Kingston University Big Read (KUBR), this time considering action research into how best to choose a common book. After a review of methods used to choose books both specifically in American universities and generally within large shared reading gro...

This paper reports and reflects on the processes and outcomes of a shared reading programme targeted at new students embarking on a university qualification at Kingston University. It isolates the various stages involved, from selecting a book for sharing, to the despatch of a bespoke edition to new students and wider distribution within the instit...

Based on research into the benefits of reading for pleasure and the operation in the US of pre-arrival shared reading schemes for those about to embark on a university education, in the context of wider research on how to engage new students in their institution, an exploration was made of the likely response to such a shared reading scheme in a Lo...

This paper offers an overview, both internationally and with a particular concentration on the UK, of how the profession-orientated discipline of publishing studies (PS) is accommodated and established within those universities where it is offered. It presents a combination of data, gained from a survey of professionals teaching PS, desk research i...

This paper reports findings from an international survey into the research involvement and support of university teaching staff in a relatively new profession-orientated discipline, publishing studies (PS). It uses these findings to consider barriers and opportunities for academic research both specifically in PS and more broadly in other professio...

This paper, a follow-up to our previous Learned Publishing paper (http://dx.doi.org/10.1087/20130310), extends the reporting of new research into the motivations, demographics, processes, and outcomes of self-publishing authors. The research findings challenge traditionally held notions about the lack of satisfaction in either the process or final...

This paper describes new research into the motivations, demographics, processes, and outcomes of self-publishing authors of books. The findings challenge traditionally held notions about self-publishing being a process undertaken by the untalented, as a last resort. The cohort studied emerges as highly educated, often well informed about the publis...