Publish Your Ideas Faster with Scalar

Publishing a physical book is a long game, sometimes lasting more than 5 years 🐌 By the time it emerges, the content can be out of date. Although turnaround times with ebooks can be speeder, it’s a limited format. Scalar is a free, open-source publishing platform that makes it easier for authors to write long-form, digital-first scholarship online. The interface is familiar to anyone used to blogging with tools like WordPress, but Scalar is better suited to book-length works. It’s great for collaborative authoring and also for inviting reader feedback or commentary. This would’ve been a huge help when I facilitated a book sprint a few years ago.

In the Scalar Showcase, you can find lots of examples, including digital exhibitions, critical editions, theses, monographs, and journals. In the USC Digital Voltaire project, you can see how the authors have included facsimiles of letters, along with transcripts and annotations.

Matthew F. Belmont’s Black Quotidian project is an online monograph, where you can take different routes through the content and supporting material.

If you have an academic email address and a project in mind, you can request free hosting. Otherwise, can download and install Scalar yourself for free. Maybe that’s not how you want to spend your time. Alternatively, you can buy a hosting package through Reclaim Hosting. Aimed at academics and non-profits, their shared hosting starts at just $36pa. Reclaim offers one-click installation for Scalar, which is really straightforward. Then the detailed user guide will help you get going. Reclaim also provides a simple hosting solution for WordPress and Omeka.¹

Scalar gives you much more flexibility over your publishing project and you can share your ideas with readers much faster 🚀

I discuss Scalar and similar platforms in my workshops Promoting Your Academic Research Online and How to Publish Your PhD.