Pearson Custom Publishing and Foreign Affairs have teamed up to create a searchable on-line database of select Foreign Affairs’ articles that professors can navigate and cherry pick to create their own personalized textbooks for International Relations courses. Pearson has been building custom textbooks for about four years (part of a growing trend – McGraw Hill’s Primus is similar), but none centered around a relationship with an outside magazine/journal. According to Pearson Marketing Manager Kathy Kourian, sales have been increasing every year by 30-40% – “There’s been a great response,” she said.
The books – with the umbrella title Among Nations – come with standardized covers but can be personalized and purchased for print runs as small as 25 copies. An editorial board (comprised of three professors and Gideon Rose, managing editor at Foreign Affairs) compiled the core material, including optional pedagogy, and assembled four general templates for what they believe to be good starters for subjects like “The Middle East” and “Foreign Policy.” Professors can trim, add, and rearrange content at will, or create their own books entirely from scratch. Although the majority of the content must come from the core articles, up to 20% can come from outside sources (Pearson will work through all of the permissions if necessary).
The books take 6-8 weeks to be delivered, but professors receive an advance proof which they can tweak until satisfied. Once the books are created online, an individual ISBN is assigned so that college bookstores can order it just like any other title.
Both Pearson and Foreign Affairs are running cross-promotions. Foreign Affairs is specifically trying to increase their college student subscriber base (overall circulation is 140,000), and make them familiar with the Foreign Affairs brand, while Pearson is interested in the material, and bundling the book with other Pearson textbooks at a discounted price. For more information go to www.amongnations.com.
