Author Experience (AX) is fundamentally about perception – how authors view and feel about a publisher’s brand throughout their journey. This journey spans from the first moment of interaction, such as encountering submission marketing, to ongoing engagement with the publisher. AX is not simply a sum of touchpoints, but rather the overall impression formed in the author’s mind. It serves as a critical indicator of an author’s propensity to publish with a particular publisher and recommend a journal to colleagues. In essence, AX is a barometer of author sentiment towards the publisher’s brand.

Advancing AX maturity involves carefully coordinated efforts across various functions, most notably Editorial, Marketing, Analytics, Digital Experience, and Operations. The goal is to cultivate and enhance positive author perceptions that translate into concrete outcomes: increased submissions, higher resubmission rates, and more frequent referrals.

It is important to note that AX is a subset of the broader discipline of CX – customer experience. Authors wear numerous hats with an organization and while we recommend a dedicated focus on AX, we stress the importance of connecting AX to broader Customer Experience strategies. To learn more about AX, we invite you to read our two perspective articles on the topic: Author Experience (AX): An Essential Framework for Publishers and How to Advance AX (Author Experience) Maturity: 6 Strategies.

Author Experience (AX) Services

Our AX services help publishers enhance customer experience and strengthen author relationships. 

AX Maturity Audit 

The Quest for AX Maturity  

We help small to large organizations assess and improve their Author Experience (AX) capabilities. We define AX maturity as building and growing positive author perceptions that translate to increased submission, resubmission, and referral. Our comprehensive AX Maturity Audit evaluates your current maturity and identifies opportunities for improvement across six key pillars:

• AX Strategy and Vision: Assessing the clarity and alignment of your AX strategy
• Organizational Alignment and Collaboration: Evaluating how well your organization is structured to support AX
• Data and Technology Infrastructure: Analyzing the systems and tools supporting your AX efforts
• Author Journey Mapping and Management: Examining how well you understand and manage the author’s journey
• AX Measurement and Insights: Evaluating your ability to measure and derive insights from AX data
• AX Governance and Optimization: Assessing your processes for continually improving AX
• AX as part of CX: Evaluating if you are making connections across your organization to ensure you are recognizing and leveraging the full set of relationships and experiences an author as an individual has with your brand.

Our audit process is thorough and actionable. We begin with a comprehensive analysis of your performance in each pillar, using our proprietary maturity scoring system based on industry best practices and our extensive experience. For each pillar, we evaluate your current capabilities and assign a maturity score. Upon completion, you’ll receive a detailed report highlighting our findings, including your maturity scores for each pillar. This report also includes high-level recommendations for enhancing your AX maturity.

Our approach is tailored to different organizational dynamics, taking into account factors such as the size of the organization, the time and resources that can be applied to AX, and whether the organization is self-published or works with a commercial publisher. The goal is to provide clear prioritized actionable recommendations that are appropriate for your organization and maturity level.

We then work collaboratively with you to prioritize and roadmap these recommendations based on business impact, cost, and complexity to implement. This audit provides a clear picture of your current AX maturity and an actionable path forward for improvement.

OA Author Engagement Playbook

Winning the Hearts and Minds of Authors

Our OA Author Engagement Playbook is a comprehensive guide designed to boost author submissions and loyalty—critical factors in successful OA publishing. It focuses on:

• Author Acquisition: Strategies for both editorial and marketing teams to attract new authors and expand your OA submission pool
• Author Loyalty: Developing programs to encourage repeat submissions, foster long-term relationships, and encourage positive word of mouth
• Building Brand: Enhancing a journal’s reputation and visibility
• Cross-functional Collaboration: Aligning editorial and marketing efforts for maximum impact
• Enterprise Strategy: For society publishers, leveraging society channels, community, and brand to support submission growth

The playbook provides strategic approaches and prioritized tactics, combining industry best practices, practical tips, customizable templates, and actionable metrics. We tailor this playbook to your specific needs, ensuring every strategy aligns with your unique challenges in attracting and retaining OA authors. Our service includes playbook customization and team training as needed, offering a complete solution for enhancing your OA author engagement.