Please send your 100-word proposal to Josh for the next phase of his Promptly Books project. Read through this page to see the form at the bottom, please.
Critical thinking isn’t what you think will be a collection of 500–1000 word mini essays that rethink what critical thinking is or can be (longer pieces will be considered if needed). Here’s the rough book cover design:
I’m not looking for the usual advice. I’m curious about unusual, challenging takes that rethink what critical thinking means, is, can be, or should be modeled etc. This may include critiques of criticality itself. Your piece can directly address the prompt, or come at it in a different way.
Purpose: In my experience critical thinking is always expected in education and professional settings, but rarely inspected as a practice in itself, and rarely taught with sufficient detail or nuance. Despite countless books on the topic, despite being on the tip of every teacher’s tongue every day, the practice is under-examined. It’s a classic expert’s blind spot. So let’s open it up, have fun with it, and invite readers to see this practice, this constellation of practices, with new eyes and open heart.
I’m especially interested in:
- Practical ways in and ‘take-aways’ for diverse audiences
- Alternatives to the usual criticality or ways of thinking about it differently
- Something you’ve been puzzling over but haven’t quite figured out yet
- Unusual ways to play with this topic
Again, please make it useful or generous to a broad audience of learners, thinkers, educators, and creative people.
Style: This is not academic journal voice. This is café, pub, or park walk voice—stimulating discourse with an informal vibe. The feeling of a favourite thinker you remember reading outside of a traditional academic style.
So, short sentences and paragraphs where short sentences and paragraphs will do. Bullet lists and napkin sketches if useful. Questions for reflection. Vulnerability and curiosity are fine. Uncertainty is fine. Anecdotes can be case studies. Observations can be evidence. Reflective journals and remembered conversations can be data.
Audience: Educators who enjoy a friendly challenge. A smart teenager struggling with voice and intellectual confidence. An artist who’s curious but doesn’t like ‘crits’. Someone who isn’t practiced at ‘criticality’ and could use a creative point of entry. Your friend who likes a quick read that makes them think.
Payment: This is a fundraiser for the press, but contributors will be paid if a minimum threshold is met. Contributors will receive annual payments based on net receipts, which are split equally between the press and all contributors (50/50). Payments will be made only in years where an individual contributor’s share reaches or exceeds £100.
Rights: Contributors retain full copyright of their work. The publisher retains the non-exclusive right to reproduce and distribute the work in print and digital form.
Promptly Books: Josh Thorpe (that’s me) published AI for Students using the Promptly Books imprint in 2024. The book has sold 600 copies and is now in 2nd edition with Bloomsbury. I’ve also done a couple of other projects that remain sleepers. It’s time to wake this press up!
PB is a nimble alternative press that keeps costs low and flexibility high by using the print-on-demand services or Amazon and Lulu. This book will be designed and typeset for readers to purchase in print-on-demand and epub. Authors will receive a free pdf and epub of the book and have a chance to buy print copies at cost.
PB focuses on collaborative community-building among academics and artists who want to reach broader audiences. We’re interested in unusual ideas communicated in approachable ways. We publish literature, non-fiction ideas pieces, educational workbooks, and perhaps the odd artist book.