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In our January “how can we help you?” thread, a reader writes:
Brief question: if you have a book ms under review with a press, is it appropriate to list the book project as under review with the press on your cv?
Not sure–maybe if it’s a really prestigious press?
What do readers think?
Personally, I would not do it. I have a number of books published with a top press, and I have always waited until the manuscript was in production before I listed them on my c.v.
CVs, as others have mentioned in other threads, are a list of accomplishments … things done (and awards won). A book under review is not that.
I think it’s appropriate, as it is appropriate to list any work in progress projects on one’s CV (one obvious signaling benefit is that it illustrates one is actively working on stuff, especially beneficial if there’s an easily discernible story or narrative about one’s research program). The only practical consideration I can think of is how to avoid incidentally creating some sort of negative affect in the person reading the CV. I myself tend to dislike “name-dropping” when it comes to those things. Under review? Sure. R&R? Better! R&R at PPR? Ehhhh.
I agree with the first comment. Under review doesn’t mean that much.
To be honest, these days, I even look a bit sceptically at Under Contract. The reason is that some presses (including big ones) seem to be quicker now to give out ‘contracts’, but these are before any review of substantial parts of the book. This means that a later round of review is needed, and I’ve heard of a number of cases where people have a ‘contract’, complete a manuscript, submit it, and then it is rejected when reviewed. The contract was basically just a first refusal for the press. I get why people would put it down, and I wouldn’t hold it against anyone, but it wouldn’t help much as contracts are not worth what they were. I’d also wait until it is ‘In Press’ before mentioning it prominently.
I think its useful if a person is applying for jobs for them to list a book manuscript that’s under review. I’m not sure its useful to list the particular press. But it can be useful to understand what kind of research the person is doing without having to read a research statement.
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