As part of its mission to address issues of recruitment, retention, and integration of women and people of color in the profession, the APSA Task Force on Mentoring periodically publishes articles on some aspect of mentoring that will help political scientists move successfully through the profession. This brief symposium on “Publishing Your First Book” is just one such example of this initiative. For more information about the Task Force and its ongoing projects, contact Linda Lopez, APSA Director of Education and Professional Development Programs, at llopez@apsanet.org.

I am an acquiring editor for the Higher Education group within Oxford University Press—that is, the books I am most likely to sign are explicitly intended to be used in courses. Nevertheless, most of the following nostrums are applicable in many different publishing situations.