This year’s UP Week blog tour theme, Who TeamsUP for Your Press?, celebrates the partnerships that connect university presses with the wider world. At Bristol University Press, author Paul Lindley exemplifies that spirit. By choosing to make his book open access, Paul has shown what it means to ‘team up’ for knowledge-sharing, inclusion and change.
When I wrote Raising the Nation: How to Build a Better Future for Our Children (and Everyone Else), I wanted it to do more than be bought, read and then left to sit on bookshelves. I wanted it to spark ideas, provoke conversations and inspire change – in how we think about childhood, how we make policy to help children thrive, and how we build a society that truly values and invests in its young people.
That’s why, when the opportunity arose, I chose to make Raising the Nation freely available as an open access (OA) book – downloadable by anyone, anywhere in the world.
This decision didn’t come lightly. Like most authors, I’ve poured time, emotion and decades of experience into those pages. The natural reward is seeing the sales numbers grow and royalties flow through. But I’ve always seen the book not as a personal achievement, but as part of a bigger mission: to help reframe our politics and priorities around children and young people. If that’s the mission, then making it as widely accessible as possible should trump royalties. That, I realised, would be my true reward.
Why open access?
At heart, this decision is about access and impact.
From the moment I began working with Policy Press and the Bristol University Press (BUP) team, I knew we shared a commitment to ideas that make the world fairer. As a not-for-profit social enterprise, BUP publishes books that challenge inequality, spark innovation and put evidence in the hands of those who can use it to make a difference.
For me, publishing with Policy Press meant ensuring the book had academic rigour, that its ideas were evidence-backed, and that its calls to action were practical and measurable. At the same time, it needed a clear narrative – a story that ‘ordinary people’ could relate to and be inspired by. It had to be intellectually and emotionally accessible.
So when BUP asked whether I’d consider making Raising the Nation open access – something they’d never done before for a trade title – my instinct was that it was exactly the right experiment to try.
Knowledge without barriers
University presses are brilliant at bringing research to light, but I’ve always been equally interested in how we bring it to life.
Storytelling is one way of doing both; open access is another. It breaks down the walls between policy ideas and the practitioners, parents, campaigners and policy makers who can act on them – or even just start talking about them.
When I think about who I hope reads Raising the Nation, it’s not just academics, policy makers, journalists and think tanks (though I hope they do!). It’s early-years workers in Manchester, play campaigners in Wigan, social entrepreneurs in Nairobi, charities in Sunderland and parents in Edinburgh. It’s anyone asking: What would our country look like if we put children first? And how could we practically do that?
Open access gives them the chance to find out – instantly and for free.
We live in an age of information abundance, but also inequality of access. Paywalls and print prices can too easily shut out the very people who most need the insights contained in books like mine.
By making Raising the Nation freely downloadable, I hope to help remove one of those barriers. The digital version will remain available through all its current outlets – from Amazon to BUP’s own platform – but will now also be hosted on OAPEN, a global library of open access books, and on my website www.raisingthenation.co.uk, so anyone, anywhere, can read it.
It feels right that a book ultimately about inclusion, fairness and opportunity should itself be as inclusive as possible.
Building on a broader mission
Making the book open access is also a natural next step in keeping Raising the Nation’s momentum alive and maximising opportunities for practical action.
Since its publication two years ago, I’ve taken other steps to widen its impact and use its ideas to drive real change. One has been developing the raisingthenation.co.uk website itself – where readers can find extra essays, reflections and updates that expand on the book’s themes. QR codes in both the print and digital editions link directly to this site. I think of it as ‘book-plus’: an extension of the book that’s already open and freely accessible to everyone.
Another has been leading the Raising the Nation Play Commission, a year-long national enquiry into the barriers children face to play and the solutions to overcome them. The Commission brought together experts, children and communities to develop a plan for a National Play Strategy for England, which we’ve presented to government. Its final report, Everything to Play For, has shown how ideas can become action and shape public policy when they reach the right audiences.
Open access should amplify that work. It allows more people to engage with the broader themes of the book and the Play Commission, follow up easily and at no cost, and – hopefully – drive real impact in government and society. A circular win-win.
Partnering for impact
None of this would be possible without the imagination and openness of the BUP team. I’m grateful for their confidence in taking such a pioneering step – converting Raising the Nation into their first open access trade book. Together, we’re testing what this could mean for the future of impact-driven publishing.
We’re treating this as an experiment: to see how many people read, share, cite and build on the ideas. We’ll learn what works and what doesn’t – and, hopefully, show that when commercial caution meets social purpose, it’s possible to do something bold for the common good.
Continuing the conversation
I believe making Raising the Nation open access will be an effective way to keep the conversation it started growing and alive – to extend its influence far beyond its pages.
Because in the end, that’s what this is all about: keeping the conversation going.
We can’t build a fairer, stronger nation for children by talking to ourselves in silos. We have to open the doors – and the data, and the books – so that everyone can take part.
Open access might mean forgoing some royalties, but the real reward will be if more people read, share and act on the ideas.
If Raising the Nation reaches even one more policy maker who changes course, one more charity that sees the power of play differently, or one more parent who recommends it to another, then it will have done its job.
That’s why I wrote it in the first place – and that’s why I’m opening it up now.
Paul Lindley OBE is an award-winning British entrepreneur, social campaigner and bestselling author. In 2006 he founded Ella’s Kitchen, the UK’s largest baby food brand. In 2018 he was appointed Chair of London’s Child Obesity Taskforce by Sadiq Khan, Mayor of London, and was appointed Chancellor of the University of Reading in 2022.
Websites: www.raisingthenation.co.uk, www.paullindley.uk.
Raising the Nation by Paul Lindley is available open access on the Bristol University Press Digital. You can also order the print edition here for £14.99.
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