WRITING FOR PUBLICATION AS A STATE OF MIND
Two years after receiving my MLS, I interviewed at an academic library for a position as a serials cataloger. At that institution, librarians enjoyed faculty status. For retention and tenure, it was necessary to be involved in professional activities and to have some publications.
One of the people I met on my interview was an assistant university librarian. She explained to me that a librarian’s rank was not tied to her position. She was a full professor, not because she had such a high-level job in the organization but because “she had a list of publications as long as her arm.” This image was etched into my mind’s eye and when I was hired there, it was my goal to emulate her.
I immediately began to think about publishing and soon realized that the first important step in writing for publication is to have a topic you really care about. Also, if you can talk about a subject, you can write about it. Fortunately for me, AACR2 came out just about this time. The cataloging world was buzzing with rumors about what changes these new rules would bring about.
Well, the rules finally reached our hands. As I perused the rules for serials in microform, something I had two years of experience cataloging, I saw that the rule for description of the publication area stated that the information to be provided would be for the place of publication, publisher, and publishing dates of the microform, not the original serial.
I was outraged. How could a journal or newspaper with a nonunique title (which describes most of them) be identified if the publisher statement said: Ann Arbor, Michigan: University Microfilms. I harnessed this energy and began to write my first article, “The Cataloging of Serials in Microform under AACR2 Rules,” which was published in Serials Librarian.
This is when I realized another important point in setting your mind to writing for publication. Every time I had to document procedures for staff working with me or write a report, I thought about what I could add or change to make my written document a publishable text.
In 1991, I was working as a cataloger at another academic institution when OCLC issued new procedures for cataloging using its utility. The documentation was quite cumbersome. To learn the new procedures myself, and make them understandable to clerical staff, my supervisor and I began to rewrite the documentation in more simplified language. We ended up with two volumes that were published by the Illinois State Library and used in their workshops to train libraries using this new system (Searching PRISM and Editing on PRISM, with Georgine Brabec).
Once you are tuned into writing for publication, you notice opportunities everywhere. At the academic library where I was the selector for materials for the Russian department, the professors asked me to purchase The Modern Encyclopedia of East Slavic, Baltic and Eurasian Literatures for our library. When I was ordering it, I learned that the publishers were looking for people to write articles for upcoming volumes. I immediately volunteered and was assigned to write entries on two Russian art magazines.
Soon after this, I saw a notice of a Slavic institute at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where scholars could come and use their library, which was one of the few that held issues of these journals. In addition, the library had many resources for background information for my research. I applied to attend the institute and was accepted. At the time I was living in New Mexico.
Fortunately for me, my university had a committee that granted funds to defray travel costs for scholarly pursuits, so I applied for a grant. Wow, three items for my tenure portfolio: acceptance into the institute, receipt of a travel grant, and two published encyclopedia entries.
There’s no doubt that once you are in the writing-for-publication frame of mind, each activity leads to another connection, which can lead to another publication. When I was cataloging textbooks, I was annoyed at the plethora of duplicate records in OCLC. Because textbooks come with many accompanying materials, libraries tended to catalog whichever pieces they owned. If a library owned the teacher’s edition and a workbook, that is what was in the cataloging record. If a library had a student edition with some maps, it cataloged those pieces.
At this time, I was cataloging a lot of filmstrip sets. The rules for these ancient relics stated that the film reels were the main item and the cassettes, booklets, study guides, and so on, were all listed in accompanying material and a contents note.
I thought, why not catalog textbooks the same way. Following my rule that if I cared about a subject I would write about it, I wrote another article, “Suggested Standards for Cataloging Textbooks” published in Cataloging and Classification Quarterly.
Some members of the American Library Association, Association for Library Collections and Technical Services, Cataloging of Children’s Material Committee saw my article and asked me to serve on the committee, which I did from 1993 to 1998, as chair from 1995 to 1998. This committee has published several editions of a book titled Cataloging Correctly for Kids. While serving on the committee, we were working on the third edition and I wrote one of the chapters, “Automating the Children’s Catalog,” once again reinforcing my point that writing for publication and professional activities lead to more of the same.
Another time I was on an Illinois Library Association committee, which had the task of editing the June 1985 issue of Illinois Libraries. Again, my committee assignment led to publication. I contributed to the issue with an article on the adequacy of library education for serials librarianship.
Working with others on an article or book is yet another way of getting into the writing-forpublication frame of mind. Besides committee members, coworkers make great coauthors because they are often interested in the same subject.
In my first faculty status position, I teamed up with two other librarians, Connie Thorson and Russ Davidson, from our library to see how other academic libraries handled faculty status. We devised a survey and published: “Faculty Status for Librarians: Querying the Troops,” in College and Research Libraries. At the same institution, we were deciding whether to retain the position of personnel librarian when ours left and the director appointed me and Janet Fredericks and Judith Bernstein to a committee; we wrote “The Personnel Officer in the Medium Sized Academic Library” for Journal of Library Administration.
So—get an idea, get mad, grab a partner, join a committee. If you don’t know how else to begin, do a survey and start writing for publication.
Academic librarians with faculty status must accept performance criteria that focus on excellence in librarianship, service, and scholarship. Yearly reappointments and finally tenure provide strong motivation for librarians to write and publish. The “publish or perish” mantra is reinforced in the professional literature. What receives less emphasis, however, is the intrinsic value of active engagement in research and writing for the librarian. These activities not only refine and deepen knowledge of a topic but also sharpen thinking and analytical skills.
The academic environment can be a virtual idea incubator that
Once the new academic librarian internalizes the library faculty model, the next step is picturing oneself as a writer capable of producing a publication. The impact of seeing one’s name on a first published work can dispel the question “Can something I write be published?” To achieve some sense of oneself as a writer, the following exercise can prove helpful.
Use yourself as the author and write a complete bibliographic citation for an article that you would like to write. Word process the citation, boldface and enlarge it, and put it on your desk. Look at it. Think about it.
You can revise the citation or even change the topic.
Brainstorm and write down, in short phrases, what you know about the topic.
Examine what you wrote and look for connections or patterns.
For a week or two, spend fifteen minutes daily logging what you have done to explore the topic. Did you search for books, skim tables of contents, search databases, or read articles?
Review your log and zero in on what needs to be done.
Write a 100- to 150-word abstract on the article you would write. Ask yourself why this topic is significant and what audience should read it.
Begin a focused literature review. Think about how your proposed publication will expand what is known and contribute to the literature?
Viewing the workplace as a laboratory for research projects can be played out for any issue affecting the library. In-house research might focus on user satisfaction with a website, evaluating a book jobber, or information literacy assessment. Examining the local situation and reading the professional literature put the study in a larger context. The benefits of research accrue to the library and can make an important contribution to the field.
Many colleges offer professional development funding to faculty that can be used to underwrite travel, manuscript preparation, image digitization, or equipment. Leave time may also be available for faculty working on research and publication. Money and time can be the two biggest impediments to professional development, and it is important that library faculty use whatever offerings are available. Unless specifically barred, library faculty should claim opportunities to apply for internal grants and leaves.
Librarians should not underestimate their tremendous networking capabilities. They meet campus teaching faculty through committee meetings, departmental liaison work, providing reference services, teaching to course assignments, and assisting in grant literature reviews. Some of these collaborations result in research discussions, joint publications, assistance with research methodology, or even offers to review manuscript drafts. External collegial connections through electronic discussion lists and association work can also pave the way to writing opportunities. Professional conference presentations benefit from audience feedback and can eventually result in manuscript publication.
Writing is a creative process and cannot be forced. When not writing, one should be thinking and reading broadly. Good writing is a reflection of concise thinking and analysis.
Carrying a pad and pen allows the writer to think on paper while waiting in lines or for appointments. Memory fades just like the name scrawled on wet beach sand will gradually disappear as waves roll in. Jotting down thoughts reminds the writer to verify a fact, check a citation, read another article, or change a phrase in a manuscript.
Keeping a daily log of activities is a self-monitoring technique that leads to progress in completing a manuscript within deadline.
Committing to write a certain number of words daily or for a certain amount of time makes sense once the writer is well grounded in the subject.
A writing block might mean that the writer has not sufficiently mastered the topic. The subconscious stews on problems when we do the ordinary things like sleeping. Today’s writing snag may flow more easily tomorrow simply by waiting to proceed.
Writers set boundaries. They let the answering machine take the call. They read their e-mail at set times. They close their doors to think, write, edit, and rewrite.
As you get involved with professional organizations and begin to write for publication, people sometimes ask you to write an article or a chapter for a book or to work with them on a publication. In this instance, it is harder to get started because you haven’t picked the topic yourself, so you haven’t been thinking about or talking about the subject.
Devising a survey to gather data on your topic is an excellent way to begin if the topic is amenable. Surveys also give you access to a topic you might not know anything about and information that is not available elsewhere.
Once I was a member of a committee that was editing an issue of a library periodical. The committee members were all working in or had experience working in the field of technical services librarianship because the issue was devoted to education for technical services. Although I had two cataloging classes in library school, I only had one course on serials librarianship, which was taught during a four-week January intersession and covered all aspects of serials. I did not feel that this prepared me for working with serials and wondered how many library schools were teaching courses devoted to serials and/or containing a module on this topic.
When preparing your survey, it is important to first determine your purpose: the outcomes you expect. Then, as with any other article for publication, you need to find out what other research has been done on the topic. In my research, I found evidence of two earlier surveys that had indicated that training for serials librarianship was not sufficiently covered in library schools, and I wanted to see what strides had been made.
I devised a survey and mailed it to all of the library schools accredited by the American Library Association. In this case, it was very easy to determine the participants for my survey because there are a finite number of library schools.
What I wanted to find out was, first, did the library school teach a serials course? If so, how often, was it required, and what percentage of the students took the course? Then I listed serials-related topics and asked which ones the course covered. I found out that while library schools were making a genuine effort to add serials-related subject matter to their curricula, few students took the course.
Another time I was asked to write a chapter for the book, Young Adults and Public Libraries, edited by Mary Anne and C. Allen Nichols. The topic was partnerships in the public library. I didn’t know a lot about the topic, so as part of my background research, I sent a survey to local libraries asking them about the types of partnerships they had formed.
Surveys are also a good way to find out how other libraries are doing something that your library is interested in pursuing. They are also a good way to show your library administration support for a particular point of view.
When I became the serials cataloging team leader at an academic library, I was surprised that all of the other serials catalogers were paraprofessionals and that the position did not require previous cataloging experience. I personally had five years of paraprofessional copy cataloging experience with books before I ever touched a serial, and I found it difficult to teach staff all of the intricacies involved in cataloging along with the eccentricities of serials. Also, this was almost thirty years ago, and the OCLC database was not as comprehensive, especially for serials, and the records were not as reliable as they are today. This led to my surveying other medium-sized research librarians about their staffing patterns and led to the article “Serials Department Staffing Patterns in Medium-Sized Research Libraries” for Serials Review.
In conducting this survey, I wished to determine how many of the libraries had a centralized serials department; of those that had one, what tasks they handled; and what level of personnel were assigned to the tasks. Because our library had a centralized serials department, I could then compare us to the respondents that also had this type of organization. Then I asked about the tasks handled because our department consisted of three sections: ordering, cataloging and processing, and serials check-in. I was mainly interested in the tasks performed by the cataloging personnel and whether they were professionals, paraprofessionals, or clerical. I assigned these terms on the basis of an article I had read while doing research for my survey.
For the survey, first I asked if the library had a separate serials department. If the answer was no, I wrote “no need to continue, but please return the questionnaire.” Of course, I mailed self-addressed stamped envelopes with the surveys. I listed all of the tasks performed by our serials department and had column headings asking for the number of clerical staff involved, the number of paraprofessional staff involved, the number of professional staff involved, and whether the process was manual or automated. This way, the respondents had to fill in only a limited amount of information. The rest of the survey involved circling the types of materials ordered and then the types of materials cataloged by their serials departments.
Pick your topic, do your background research, choose your participants, and design your survey. It is vital to make the survey easy for the person answering it to ensure the highest number of surveys returned. Use multiple choice, fill in the blank, circle the answers that apply, and so on, whenever possible and always include a self-addressed stamped return envelope. Write up the results of your research and survey and you will have a written document ready for publication.
So, let’s say the assignment you have from the publisher is to edit a book on a broad library and information sciences topic, a book that you don’t write yourself but for which you solicit authors for the various chapters. Where do you start? What are the parts of the assignment that you have to do, and what do you leave to the chapter authors? Is there anything for you to do at all except wait for the authors to do the work for you, fix a couple of commas here and there, and then send the whole thing off to the publisher?
One of the most important tasks of the editor is to take that broad topic, research what has been previously published on or around it, and then decide what take or slice or flavor of the topic this book will have. It is hard to overestimate how essential and vital this part of the editing process is, because if it is not done well (or at all), the result will be a book that has already been written or, perhaps even worse, a book on a promising topic but with large, obvious gaps for which you should have solicited chapter authors to write. So, choose an approach to your topic that has not been done before and get a comprehensive suite of well-informed authors to cover it well.
Solicit each potential author by an individual e-mail, explaining clearly and succinctly what the book project is; the exact subject matter you want him or her to cover; and the most important details about length, deadline, style, and so on. Don’t overwhelm during this first contact, but make sure that the authors know what they would be committing themselves to. For the potential authors that decline for any reason, thank them for taking the time to consider your project, and then find someone else to write that chapter. For those who say yes, thank them even more and have full guidelines ready: how long the chapter should be, in what physical or electronic format it should be submitted to you, the style for footnotes or endnotes, the deadline, and so on. Even though the publisher may ultimately want you to submit the completed book on paper (even multiple paper copies), don’t burden your authors with this requirement, which generally slows down turnaround time: if possible, just ask them to send the chapter as a Word or rich-text document attached to an e-mail.
A word about another essential part of the editing and publishing process, and one that will affect you several times: deadlines. Your book is likely one of many on which the publisher has many editors, both internal and external, working, and so in short: respect the deadline that the publisher has given you and plan your work with your contributing authors accordingly. Don’t ask the publisher for another week, or a few days, or even a single extra day just because something unexpected has happened at work, or you got sick unexpectedly, or your computer crashed, or any other perfectly understandable reasons that make sense for you but may cause serious scheduling problems for the publisher. Always provide wiggle room for yourself and for your authors: plan for the fact that a few unplanned things will happen, and provide them time to be over.
Be clear with the chapter authors about what exactly your editing policy is. An editor should never make assumptions or guess at anything, but one viable policy is to correct obvious errors silently on behalf of the authors, but to query those same authors when anything substantive is wrong or if there is a passage or sentence or word that you just can’t figure out. This really is a service that you are providing to the authors, saving them before their words end up in print, because it’s likely that if their editor can’t understand the writing, then readers won’t either. Always be available to the writers and give them time on the phone, by e-mail, or in any other reasonable way they might want to communicate with you. Answer their questions clearly and promptly: don’t let an e-mail sit in your in-box for days while the author languishes, waiting.
My own experience has been that contributed chapters fall into three basic categories. A few are a breeze to edit, the majority are middling, and another terrible few will be (ahem) challenges for one reason or another. The 90-10 rule probably applies: you will spend 90 percent of your editing time on 10 percent of the contributions. Don’t begrudge that of the authors or think that it is anything strange; simply accept it as a statistical fact of the process.
When you are actually reading and editing the chapters, it is important to be attentive to the macro and the micro. As you read each chapter, ask yourself whether the structure and the arrangement make sense to you. No, you won’t be an expert on all the details of the subject matter, but of course you will know enough to expect each chapter to be logical and comprehensible. Query the author if anything doesn’t make sense to you. As for the micro, these are the typical things that most people probably think editors are solely concerned about: spelling, usage, punctuation, the minutiae of note style, and so on. The authors may not (and should not) be cavalier about such details, but generally speaking, they will be more concerned with the content of the chapters than with anything else; do them a favor as a good editor and make sure the details are right. A note on notes: my experience has been that most writers, quite understandably perhaps, don’t have the time or inclination to pore over the Chicago Manual of Style or even a shorter guide trying to track down the intricacies of citation, so make sure the guidelines you provide to the authors include examples of the most common bibliographic entities they will likely cite (e.g., book, chapter in book, website, article in journal).
Once you’ve submitted the edited chapters (on deadline!) to the publisher, the main remaining step for you to be involved in as editor is proofreading. Be aware that, during the proofreading stage, it is generally not possible to make major changes to the text, only relatively minor corrections. Spend most of your time on the chapters before you submit them to the publisher—read and reread them—to make proofreading fairly trouble free. Some publishers will also allow you to compile the index to your own book (also done at the proofreading stage), and if you know how to do this, you should. However, don’t underestimate how difficult it is to compile an index or how long it takes.
Finally, be patient with any delays in publishing and always keep your contributors informed of progress.
Lessons Learned from a First-Time Book Editor
Developing a book concept into a publishing success involves discipline, management, and creativity. Furthermore, understanding the scope of work involved in the book publishing process can be one challenge facing library practitioners who are contemplating taking on such a project. Therefore, the aim of this chapter is to demystify the process of publishing a book by offering practical advice from a first-time guest book editor who has collaborated with international contributors. In particular, lessons learned about identifying a potential topic for a book, writing a book proposal for the publisher, and negotiating the book contract are highlighted. In addition, important skills needed for publishing success are described.
The book-publishing journey is a time-consuming, yet rewarding, process. When formulating an idea for a book, it is important to consider some of the reasons for wanting to write a book. According to Goetting, Miguez, Curry, and Richard (2007, 3), there are “many reasons why a librarian might want to publish.” For instance, potential authors may wish to share their knowledge, experience, or expertise with their peers, and writing a book offers a way to reach a wide audience. In addition, publishing can generate interest on a focused issue. From personal experience, publishing a book became an exciting opportunity to work with several contributors to help shed light on important issues and to explore particular topics in-depth. Some authors may also envision that their books could be used as textbooks to help inform students. Furthermore, writing offers the advantages of name recognition, resume enhancement, professional networking, and career development (Gordon 2004).
Understanding the reasons for wanting to write and who the potential readers are will help conceptualize and refine the book idea. Conducting a review of the literature to determine what has already been published about the topic is also a crucial step in this process. Overall, selecting a topic that one is passionate about, assessing whether there is a need for the book, and identifying potential readers are important considerations when formulating an idea for a book.
After identifying a possible idea for a book, the next step is to perform some background research to find a suitable publisher. One useful approach is to locate publishers with books on similar topics by searching online via WorldCat, exploring publisher websites, visiting publisher booths at conferences, and browsing catalogs from publishers. Another recommendation is to assess the quality of books from potential publishers by reading book reviews of their publications and obtaining copies of their books from interlibrary loan for inspection. If feasible, consider contacting the authors of books from a prospective publisher to inquire about their experience with the publisher.
Furthermore, contacting a publisher to inquire whether there is interest in a particular topic is highly recommended. This will let the author know whether the idea is worth pursuing early in the process. In addition, the publisher may provide helpful suggestions and guidance for refining the idea. If there is interest from the publisher, the next step is to prepare a compelling book proposal to convince the publisher that the idea is worth the investment.
The main purpose of a book proposal is to elicit interest from the publisher. Guidelines for preparing book proposals are generally available on the publisher’s website or sent directly to authors who are invited to submit a book proposal. However, most book proposals share several common elements. A book proposal typically includes an annotated table of contents describing the chapters and content of the planned work, a description of the intended readership market, and information about the proposed author for the book. It is also essential to research the competition to effectively demonstrate how the proposed book is unique and how it contributes to the profession. In addition, publishers often ask for a sample chapter or a writing sample as part of the book proposal package.
If the book proposal is accepted, the publisher will prepare a contract to be signed by both the author and publisher. Several items are often specified in the book contract. These include the length of manuscript, delivery date of the book manuscript, and royalties paid to the author. Some clauses in the contract are standard. However, authors may want to investigate provisions allowing the author to retain the rights to a future electronic version of the book and the ability to post the work, or a portion of it, in an institutional repository. The contract also states whether an index is needed, which typically falls under the responsibility of the author. If there are plans for several authors to contribute to the book, then each contributor will need to sign a contract. Therefore, negotiating a book contract requires a careful review of the language in the contract, understanding the terms of the contract, and negotiating with the publisher for any desired amendments.
Book publication “represents a substantial investment of time, effort, and money by both [the] publisher and author” (Schuman and Harmon 1997, 20). For authors contemplating writing a book, cultivating a book from an initial concept to printing entails a series of stages. These stages range from identifying a possible book topic, locating a suitable publisher, sending an inquiry to a publisher to determine whether there is interest, and preparing a compelling book proposal. Whenever a book proposal is accepted, then the task of the book author evolves. As such, the author next focuses on writing the book manuscript, coordinating any contributions to the book by additional authors, and delivering the manuscript to the publisher for review and feedback. Therefore, for book publishing success, a variety of skills are needed including being an effective writer, negotiator, coordinator, marketer, and problem solver. In summary, publishing is a great challenge, and understanding the overall process of publishing a book increases the likelihood of moving from book concept to publishing success.
Goetting, Denise, Betsy B. Miguez, Sheryl M. Curry, and Susan M. Richard. 2007. “First-Time Book Publishing: Negotiating the Perils and Pitfalls.” Technical Services Quarterly 25 (2): 1–18.
Gordon, Rachel S. 2004. The Librarian’s Guide to Writing for Publication. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press.
Schuman, Patricia G., and Charles Harmon. 1997. “From Book Idea to Contract.” Library Administration and Management 11 (1): 19–25.
Most library associations produce some kind of magazine for their members. In fact, the receipt of a regular magazine (often they’re quarterly or monthly) is often a much-cherished benefit by the members of a wide range of associations, whether national, state or provincial, or even more local. The editorial teams that work to edit and publish them vary in size and operating procedure, depending, of course, on the size of the magazine’s readership or print run, the frequency, the complexity of the publishing process, and a hundred other things that may or may not apply to one or other magazine. Many associations also have no printed magazine at all, simply an online magazine or presence that may be updated continually or regularly. The following paragraphs present the main components of the editorial team for a typical library association magazine.
The regular columnists. Regular columnists are the members of the team who take responsibility for the editing of a column that appears in every issue. Editing in this sense may mean either actually writing the column or soliciting someone else to do the writing: in the latter case, the columnist would then play the role of what most people think of when they think of editors, that is, working with the writer on revisions, putting the column in the magazine’s style, copyediting, and so on. The topics that each columnist writes about or solicits are the ones that are at the core of what the members of the particular association are interested in and that they would consider necessary for the magazine to cover.
The feature writers. Feature writers are generally not members of the editorial team per se but have been solicited by any member of the team to write about an issue of topical or timely interest to the readership. Often these features are completely unsolicited: a reader who knows about the magazine or is a member of the association simply submits an article to a member of the team, asking whether the magazine would be interested in publishing it.
The association executive. Many associations set up their magazines so that members of the executive staff of the association (e.g., the executive director, one or more or all board members) are also part of the editorial team. The idea is to provide very broad oversight for the general direction of the magazine, and in some cases, the executive may choose to be involved in the regular process of editing as well.
The editorial board. The editorial board members are advisors to the magazine, often recruited because they are already very involved in the profession and can identify others to write for the magazine. Editorial board members may even solicit directly themselves. An active and engaged editorial board can be essential to ensure that the magazine remains relevant to the readership.
The managing editor. The managing editor oversees the logistics of putting each issue together: setting deadlines, liaising with the publisher or printer, cajoling writers to get their copy in on time, coordinating proofs, and so on.
The editor in chief. The editor in chief coordinates all of the foregoing activities.
Depending on the frequency of the magazine, the editorial team is always either finishing off one issue or starting the next. Often the deadline for the final go-ahead to the printer is met for the current issue and then it’s immediately time to start thinking about putting together the lineup for the next one. A lot of the work of editing an association magazine, as for any magazine, involves deadlines: a deadline for getting copy from the writers, a deadline for column editors to have to submit edited copy to the managing editor, a deadline for submission to the printer, a deadline for first proofs, a deadline for second proofs, and on and on.
It’s extremely important for the editor to be well organized, to stay on top of what aspects of the work are done and remain to be done—otherwise the timely production of the issues can be seriously compromised. The editor has to keep control of the broad goals of the magazine and the big tasks associated with regular production, but he or she also has to be mindful of details that demand attention at nearly all stages of editing. An important tool in this latter regard is the style sheet or style guide, which records many of the decisions and policies that the magazine has decided to follow: dictionary, stylebook, style of citations, house style for numbers and dates, certain spellings and treatment of specific words, and so on. A well-developed style sheet can save the editors and columnists the time of having to revisit various options (website or Web site? serial comma or not?) and can provide valuable guidance to the writers. Make it available right on the association’s website.
As for those macro issues, the main one on the production side is to always be planning a few issues ahead. What topics or events are coming up that the magazine needs to cover? It is also essential that the editor always have articles that can be used in the current issue if necessary: a thin magazine, one without copy, is no magazine at all. Finally, the editor should keep in mind who the readers are and, as simple as it sounds, always supply them with the kinds of things that they want to read.
Are you well organized? Do you meet deadlines on projects easily? Are you a tactful communicator? Do you typically work well with other people—including coauthors or coeditors? If you can respond yes to these questions, then you should consider volunteering as a conference proceedings editor.
For academic librarians appointed as tenure-track faculty members or quasi faculty members working in a continuing appointment system, publishing is of grave importance. Editing conference proceedings provides us with interesting publishing opportunities that may be outside of (but perhaps related to) our own scholarly research and writing areas. Compiling and editing conference proceedings are large projects that reappointment and tenure committees look on favorably; however, do not let the amount of work scare you away. By planning your editing project and holding your contributors—and yourself—to firm deadlines, the task is manageable.
Earlier this year, I served as coeditor of The Thirteenth Off-Campus Library Services Conference Proceedings, the proceedings for a biennial national conference that my institution sponsors and publishes. (The papers in the proceedings will also be published in 2009 in the Journal of Library Administration.) Only by happenstance was I asked to coedit the proceedings. My only previous experience was coediting my state library association’s newsletter for two years. The editor of the last proceedings was the head of the department that organizes the conference; when she took a new job last year, she asked me to serve with her as coeditor of this year’s proceedings to preserve continuity in retaining a member of my institution’s staff as an editor.
With these things in mind, I encourage you to volunteer to edit newsletters of the professional organizations to which you belong. That will give you great experience in corresponding with contributors, editing articles, and meeting myriad deadlines. From there, look for opportunities to edit more and different kinds of publications such as conference proceedings.
When you agree to edit (or coedit) proceedings, you may also automatically become a member of the conference advisory or programming board. If that is indeed the situation in which you find yourself, you will have responsibilities beyond those of an editor. You may be asked to review paper and poster session proposals. (This will be helpful in that you will know what the papers are about when you receive the drafts.) Your contributions—as an editor and/or board member—will be acknowledged at the conference. You may also have the opportunity to introduce speakers or facilitate workshops during the conference. All of these activities are great additions to your vita.
Once you find yourself serving as an editor or coeditor of conference proceedings, familiarize yourself with the publication standards that contributors must follow. Are they to draft papers following the guidelines of the American Psychological Association? Are they to use some other format? If you have the opportunity to do so, talk to the conference manager about reviewing the requirements for the call for papers before they are publicized. This not only will give you the opportunity to revise the guidelines as you see fit (especially if you are an experienced editor) but also will allow you to start planning your editing schedule. Here are questions to consider:
Caveat: If copies of the proceedings will be distributed at the conference, your turnaround time to edit and compile the manuscript will probably be quite short. Do not let that prospect frighten you, but it is an important question to ask of the conference manager before you agree to serve as editor.
When I agreed to serve as coeditor, I was able to review the paper guidelines and make changes in format requirements and rewrite some of the text regarding the graphics included in the contributed papers. These revisions made the directions clearer to authors and undoubtedly saved my coeditor and me some headaches once we began receiving drafts.
We had a fairly short turnaround time in editing drafts, communicating with writers regarding suggestions and corrections, and compiling everything necessary for the manuscript of the entire proceedings. I spent several hours each weekend for three consecutive weeks reading and editing papers.
Fortunately, I was able to spend some time working on this project during the week, too. In total, I spent approximately 120 hours editing (nineteen of thirty-two papers), corresponding with authors, and compiling all of the materials (papers, poster session abstracts, and introductory sections) over two months.
My coeditor and I had only one face-to-face meeting during which we began compiling all of the papers into one document. All other communications we had with each other were via e-mail or phone, and that worked well for us. No doubt, though, it was advantageous that my coeditor had compiled the previous conference proceedings by herself.
The effort I put into this editing project was well worth it. The proceedings were well received by the Off-Campus Libraries Services Department and the conference attendees. Not just a niche publication, proceedings have an audience beyond just the contributors and conference-goers. Subjects covered included library instruction via course management software, database tutorial creation, and conducting focus groups of distance education students.
In the end, editing conference proceedings— though time consuming—was easier than I had anticipated. My compensation for my work as editor, advisory board member, and moderator of three presentations was a waiver of the conference registration fee and reimbursement for my airline ticket and hotel expenses during the conference.
Here is a quick list of tips to keep in mind if you are thinking about editing conference proceedings:
Mapping one’s yearly publication strategy is important for a long career as a writer. It requires writers to examine aspects of their writing style, their upcoming projects, and their nonwriting commitments. Deliberately aligning these elements will foster better writing habits, increase productivity, and help stave off burnout.
The greatest factor when starting to create a yearly publishing plan is honesty. Our egos want us to believe that we will be able to have that two-hundred-page manuscript done in a month. In reality, that manuscript may take a year or more to complete. To delineate what to publish when, you must first examine what you write and how you write.
If your focus is writing research papers, you must attempt to discern the amount of time needed to collect and analyze responses, as well as to manage unintended outcomes. Allot time to deal with recommendations from peer reviewers. Other factors can cause your time line to shift. Carefully considering the many influences on the writing of research paper is necessary to judge correctly the amount of time needed to complete a project.
Creative writing represents a different challenge. Allowing time for creative works to ferment is important to quality writing. It is also an important consideration when attempting to discern your yearly publication trajectory. How long does it take a poem to feel complete? For some poets, the answer is never, but in most cases, there is a definitive point at which a poem has reached its final form. As you work, you need to track this process. This will allow for a reasonable approximation when calculating the time needed to complete a project. For fiction, there is a substantial period of development and evaluation throughout the course of the work. Character sketching, plot line summaries, and other tools require time to prepare. These things should be accounted for when honestly assessing the amount of time needed to complete a work of fiction.
Now that you have determined the time needed to complete a project it is important to consider when you should begin. For writers, a calendar is the next best writing aid next to the thesaurus. The notion of all writers being free spirits answering only to the dictates of the Muses is romantic but a bit unrealistic. A writer’s life is just that, a life. Doctor’s appointments, work requirements, weddings, and other issues all compete for the same time as your writing. A quick consultation with a well-maintained calendar would mitigate some of the intrusions a life can have on a writer’s efforts.
If you require three months to complete a research article, a quick review of your calendar will provide you with a good approximation as to when you should begin. Writing and publishing for research require long stretches of deep concentration. You would be ill advised to start a research project during the winter holiday season. Distractions abound at this time of year whereas the postholiday season (February to April) is less likely to contain disruptive events. If your writing relies on referenced research, you should also consider library availability when planning start dates.
Poets and novelists may not need to consider distractions like holidays, but other events can be factors in completing projects on time. Travel plans may be both a positive and a negative influence on creative writing. If a series of poems concentrates on a particular place and your travel plans require you to be away from that place for a period, it will affect your ability to work. On the positive side, the distance may foster a different perspective on the subject. For novelists, interruptions and distractions may be beneficial. Planning to complete a certain number of chapters before an event such as a wedding or a houseguest’s arrival will allow you to take a short hiatus from writing without feeling the guilt that is sometimes associated with such breaks. The change in pace may also assist in figuring out a plot line.
Once the calendar has been set and the work is under way, you can consider what to do in the lulls. As various forms of writing require different attentions and work ethics, it may be best for you to space out your projects with a decided rhythm. This will help stave off boredom and burnout. It can also help to avoid market saturation in any one area.
If you send out a set of poems for consideration, why not attempt to write an essay or even a short research paper while waiting for letters from the publisher? Developing a poem, essay, or article rhythm allows you manipulate your working habits and the calendar to your advantage. For the novelist, in the pauses between chapters or larger book sections, consider conducting and even publishing research on issues, places, or events your characters must contend with. This is an excellent way to multitask as a writer.
Writing is so subjective that it is difficult to prescribe an effective plan of any kind. What is not difficult is knowing and understanding that publishing quality writing takes time and that you must assess how much time you need, how best to manage that time, and what to do with the spaces in between. This will extend your writing career and make you a much happier writer in the end.
When I was in middle school, I wrote my first book. Unfortunately, it was the kind of book only a mother could love. So, when I was approached by a library publisher to write a book for librarians to love, of course I jumped at the opportunity. There was one catch of course: this book was to be written by more than twenty authors and I was going to have to edit everyone’s work.
The first step was to come up with a formal proposal including a book summary, target audience, and sample table of contents. This process may be different depending on the publisher you are working with. While the first two items on my guidelines were relatively simple, it was the sample table of contents that required several hours of thinking.
I decided to find chapter authors through word of mouth instead of submitting a call for proposals. A call for proposals is sent out to mailing lists, outlining the book and what would be expected of authors. Then authors would submit their chapter ideas to the editor for review. Both options are valid ways to find contributors for your book, but using word of mouth allowed me a bit more control over the influx of ideas and questions.
I started with some suggested contacts I received from the publisher. When I contacted potential authors, I simply asked whether they had any recommendations for other authors. Using this method I was able to find twenty-seven authors around the world to contribute to the book (a number that changed throughout the process).
When compiling your content, you want to make sure that you avoid having too much overlap in your chapters. I chose to have several introductory chapters on my topic, but made sure that all three were authors who brought a different point of view. I also tried to find projects that used many different techniques so that, in the end, the book would be a well-rounded guide for librarians of varying experience levels.
Make sure that you have an outline of chapter-writing guidelines for your authors. The more information you provide, the less likely it is that you will have to do major rewriting. I chose to use online tools provided by Google that would allow me to store my guidelines online. I wrote up several documents using Google Docs (http://docs.google.com) and was able to share them with my authors. This way I knew that everyone had the same information.
I also requested that my authors write their chapters using the same tool so that they could share their work with me and I could offer suggestions along the way. This also guaranteed that I would have all chapters submitted in the same format, making it just a little bit easier for me to make everything uniform in the end.
While you will have a deadline from the publisher for the final draft of the book, as an editor you have to decide how much time you will need to edit the work of others and give your contributors a deadline that you can work with. Always keep in mind that there will be requests for extensions and/or authors pulling out of their commitment, and you’ll need to accommodate accordingly.
One option is to stagger deadlines so that each bunch of chapters comes in at a different time. This will allow you to edit the work over a longer time period. I chose to have all of the chapters submitted at the same time giving me five months to go through the works submitted and edit them for publication.
Once you have the chapters in hand the hard part begins. As an editor, you have to step back from your own personal style and look at the chapter submitted to you objectively. When working on a guide for librarians, you do not necessarily need the entire book to have the same tone, you just want your chapters to be well written and useful to the reader. This was the hardest part for me, to not push my personal writing style on my authors’ chapters.
It is important to spread out your editing time so that you can keep a clear eye on what you are reading. Start by skimming through the chapters to get a feel for the content that your book will include. Then spend some time on each chapter individually. Once you have gone through the entire book once, go through it again. Even though your title is editor, the community will expect you to be the expert on the topic of your book.
The process of editing a book is going to be different for each person and publisher. Once you have the guidelines from your publisher, sit down and think carefully about how you want to approach your new project. Do you want to put out a call for proposals? Do you want to find authors on your own? How much time will you need to edit the chapters submitted to you?
The most important tip I can provide is that you have to be flexible. Be prepared to have authors who do not meet your deadline, expect authors to send you works that are not up to your standards, and be prepared to work harder than you ever imagined. I went into this project thinking it would be easier than writing an entire book on my own, but it was just as hard, if not harder, to be the editor of a book.
The traditional method of publication has been to write an article, submit it, and wait for acceptance or rejection. While this method is still valid, there are many more opportunities to publish today, making it much more exciting.
E-mail, electronic discussion lists, blogs, wikis, websites, and social networking are all venues for your creativity. I belong to many electronic discussion lists and contribute occasionally after proofing what I write.
With blogs, you don’t control all the content, if others comment, but with wikis, you can restrict contributions to yourself or give rights to only those you choose, although the end result may not clarify who wrote what. A major challenge with these forms of publication is to get people to visit them, but they are searchable on the Web for those who are interested in the topics.
Websites are more work than blogs and wikis and are often the face of your organization. They convey information, promote your organization, and facilitate online interaction with users. Organizations are also jumping into Facebook, MySpace, and Second Life. For example, the California Academic and Research Libraries group has had a website for a long time, but in its latest PDF newsletter, it announced a presence on Flickr and Facebook.
So how do you make this work for you? The Librarian in Black, a longtime blogger, has created a franchise out of good topics, good writing, hard work, and publicity through her blog, Flickr, and her website. On Google, I also found a blog about her website.
I’ve found it useful to combine these tools for a niche set of audiences. For example, I teach a two-credit information literacy course, first face-to-face, now hybrid, and soon online. I store material and grades on Blackboard, our campus learning management system, but I use external wikis and blogs because they are the real information world in which students will work. I ask each student to create a blog on Blogger.com for their assignments. They may keep their blogs private, but most students don’t bother.
In summer 2008, our library redesigned its website, requiring librarians to change their subject pages. I chose to create a basic website from the library template, but I primarily use it as a jumping-off point to other sources, including my supplementary wiki pages and a couple of my modules. I have the flexibility to change the wiki, yet if our website is revamped again in future, I won’t have to redo the whole fabric of information I’m building. (See http://library.csueastbay.edu/guides/english/.) I am also collaborating with Sarah Nielsen, the coordinator of our MA in teaching of English to speakers of other languages program, to embed information literacy in a redesigned curriculum (see http://tesolcsueb.wetpaint.com).
Modules are the latest publication endeavor in our library, involving PowerPoint presentations with voice-over or other combinations of text and media. We are now creating an interactive map and exploring film for a library welcome. These creations require knowledge of some software (e.g., Camtasia, Captivate, VoiceThread, Premiere) and added assistive technology capabilities. You can output to the Web, MP3, and iPods. It’s time consuming but fun, and it provides a new form of publication. For a great example, see the Weigle Information Commons Music Video created by University of Pennsylvania students at http://wic.library.upenn.edu/about/musicvideo.html.
All of the foregoing can lead to presentations, articles, and further writing opportunities. Possibilities are often announced on electronic discussion lists. Submit a proposal if you have something to offer. If you don’t feel confident enough to propose on your own, find a partner. Don’t worry about rejection; everyone’s rejected sooner or later. Ask for feedback if your piece is rejected. Sometimes that’s more valuable than the experience of proposing. Sooner or later, you will be offered an opportunity.
While seeking shorter-term opportunities, you can pursue a research project for a more traditional research paper you submit for peer review. As the process takes many months, it’s good to keep other projects going.
An opportunity to present can also lead to publication. The last time I presented, at the American Library Association’s Summer Conference in 2008, an editor from New Library World came up to me afterward and asked me to write an article for the online peer-reviewed journal. I submitted a couple of months later and my article will appear in 2009.
At some point, you may decide to tackle the challenge of a book chapter or a book. You need a concept that’s uncommon enough to attract an editor, because of either the content or the angle you intend to take on the subject. You also need to plan your time. You can handle smaller pieces along with your full-time job, but a book is different. I responded to a call for chapters, submitted a proposal, asked someone I barely knew to be my partner, enjoyed writing, and made a great new friend. You’ll find the chapter and my partner listed on my resume page at http://libraryresume.wetpaint.com.
Once you start, you’ll find out whether writing is for you. You’ll note that I say “writing,” not “publishing.” Some people pursue publication for tenure and promotion, not because they like writing. With the increasing variety of opportunities, however, you have more chances to find what suits you best. Try things. I’ve written in all the forms I have described here, modules being my latest adventure. Writing is my passion and I hope that it will be yours, too. Publication is simply the icing on the cake.
It is my belief that for people to accomplish their goals, they must affirm and visualize them on a regular basis. During those days when I was trying to get published, one of my frequent visualizations involved going to the fiction shelf in my library and seeing a book written by Jan Siebold nestled between ones by Anna Sewell and Shel Silverstein, picturing my book titles on numerous award lists.
I imagined a student painstakingly laboring over a cereal-box book report based on one of my books. I rehearsed what I would say to students (and knew what I would wear!) when I would be invited to do author visits at schools. And I knew that when the ISBN agency assigned my first book its ten-digit ISBN number it would outrank my Social Security number in importance to my life. (I wondered if an ISBN tattoo would be considered over the top for an elementary school librarian.)
This may be a good time to mention visualizations to avoid. Among them are imagining piles of your book for sale in an aisle of the local dollar store, finding your book in a box of discards awaiting a trip to the garbage, and seeing one of your books placed under the leg of a computer projector to raise the image’s screen height.
The positive visualizations provided the necessary fuel for me to keep sending my writing to publishers. Fortunately, as a working library media specialist, I had a rewarding job that also provided me with income as one manuscript after another was rejected.
In high school and in college, my formal writing training had been limited. I often tell students that my best training as a writer comes from being a lifelong reader. However, at the time, I felt the need for some type of writing class.
I attended the summer workshop Teaching Writing Using Museums and Local Resources at the Smithsonian Institution. During the two-week seminar, I participated in activities and writing assignments in each of the Smithsonian museums, including the National Zoo.
Our class met back at Smithsonian headquarters at the end of each day to compare notes and to read what we had written. For the first time, I experienced the support and feedback that a writing group can provide.
On arriving home from the Smithsonian workshop, I signed up for a community education writing workshop, and again was fortunate to find a group of helpful and supportive fellow writers. After the class ended, a small group of us continued to meet as a writers group.
At both writing workshops, and from everything I had read or heard about writing, it seemed that one of the tried-and-true rules of authorship is that a writer must write every day. I resisted this idea at first, finding that I was able to summon the words whenever I was inspired to write. However, during what I have since named the “Age of Rejection,” that inspiration was more and more difficult to find.
At that same time, my niece had begun writing for her college newspaper. She was given daily writing assignments with very short deadlines. Her writing quickly became much stronger and prolific. Her editing skills improved greatly. She blossomed into a writer of amazing depth and insight. I was duly impressed and gave the rule about writing every day new consideration.
I began looking for alternative ways to practice my writing skills and to broaden the avenues of opportunity for publication. I found that editors of newspapers, newsletters, and professional journals are always on the lookout for pieces. After all, most of them have daily, weekly, or monthly publication schedules and require an ongoing supply of well-written articles.
I received my first monetary compensation for an article that I wrote for the Buffalo News. I had written about the neighborhood observations that I made while walking two miles to work every day. I received a first-place award in a New York State United Teachers journalism competition for a feature article that I wrote about starting over in a new school after my library position was cut. The Artifacts newspaper featured my piece about watching the sun rise from Cadillac Mountain in Maine.
The checks and awards were welcomed, but much more important were the boosts in confidence that I received from seeing my words in print. They helped to negate the frustration and sense of hopelessness that I was feeling about my children’s book manuscripts.
By writing every day, I also began to notice that ideas started to flow more freely. Many of those ideas came to me while I was out walking, and it became difficult to remember all of them. I started to carry a small notebook and pencil wherever I went, lest I forget a gem of a writing topic. From a mail-order catalog, I ordered small notebooks and pencils that are worn like a necklace.
I started keeping paper and pencil on my bedside table for those middle-of-the-night inspirations. In fact, it was one of those nighttime ideas that led to the idea of structuring my book Rope Burn (Albert Whitman, 1998) around well-known proverbs. If I hadn’t reached over in the dark and scrawled the word proverbs on a piece of paper, I’m not sure that book would have come together as it did.
After several years of receiving big, bad brown envelopes containing manuscript rejections, I came home from school one day (Monday, February 3, 1997, at 4:10 p.m., thank you!) to find instead a white business envelope with a publisher’s return address. Folded neatly and exquisitely in that envelope was a publisher’s letter of acceptance. I will never forget how I felt after reading it.
Since that day, every one of my previously mentioned positive visualizations (except the tattoo) has come true. As librarians we are in the unique position of being surrounded by examples of literary inspiration. We have the inside scoop on publishers and trends. We have opportunities to attend author and illustrator presentations. Newspaper and professional journal editors are constantly appealing for articles.
The writing itself must come from within, but we are fortunate to be surrounded by resources that can help us along the path to publication.
Breaking into publishing is not as hard as it might seem, especially if you know a few tricks of the trade and are willing to do some writing pro bono to establish your reputation and quality of work.
Editors are busy people. They are always on the lookout for good writers who are easy to work with and dependable. Establishing yourself as a professional will give your writing career some longevity. Getting started is often the most difficult part of the process. Don’t try to write a full-length three-thousand-word feature article if you’ve never done it before. Work up to that level by building your portfolio of published clips with smaller, shorter pieces.
One of the easiest ways to obtain a publishing credit is by doing book reviews. Book reviews are typically short and based on the publication’s specific guidelines. Dozens of journals and magazines publish reviews of new books. Librarians are perfectly suited to write reviews, and just because you’re a librarian, doesn’t mean you have to limit yourself to library-related publications. (The same goes for professional articles.) Expanding your publishing horizons can take several paths. Here are a few:
Consider a range of publishing sources such as journals in management, math, education, and the sciences.
Obviously, some of the material in other professional journals will be too esoteric unless you have prior knowledge of the subject specialty. So exploit your undergraduate degree. For example, if you have a BS in engineering, consider reviewing engineering books for journals in that field. Editors will be impressed with your technical knowledge.
Take stock of yourself. Think about things you do and how you might be able to turn your own experiences into a review or article. For example, if your hobby is training dogs, keep your eyes open for dog-training books to review.
Once you’ve picked up a few bylines, you may want to attempt a feature article. The first thing to do is research your topic to find out whether anyone has written similar articles. Try EBSCO and Google. Doing preliminary research on your topic prevents you from looking like an amateur when you contact an editor proposing an article on something the magazine just covered. If an editor has published something similar to your idea, simply adjust your topic to give it a fresh angle.
If no one has written about your subject recently, the next step, if you are a beginner, is to write the article. Yes, write the article before you contact editors. Write the whole article. I know many writers will stomp their feet and say I’m wrong; but, when you query an editor with an idea, the first thing the editor will do is decide whether your proposal is a good fit for the publication. If it is, then the editor will check your background and previous publishing experience.
If you have little or no experience, the chance of an editor accepting your proposal is slim because plenty of people have great ideas, but you have to be able to actually write the article. Just because you can sum up the article in three to five sentences and write a nifty cover letter doesn’t mean you can put together a cohesive article following all the elements of style under strict deadline. Why should an editor take a chance on you? You need to prove yourself.
If you have already written the article and enclosed it with your query letter, the editor can make a decision immediately. You have eliminated the risk the editor must take by giving you an assignment.
Many individuals disagree with me on this point. As an editor, if I don’t know you, I would rather see a completed article to prove you can do what you say you can. As a writer, writing the whole article first is somewhat of a gamble because you might not find a home for it. As a beginning writer you are better off writing the entire article and trying to get an editor to work with you on the basis of your submission.
If you are an experienced writer with previous publications (clips), it is in your best interest to query editors rather than write spec articles (i.e., articles that you write without a commitment from an editor).
Before you submit anything, you should pay special attention to your manuscript and query letter. Your first impression will go a long way toward earning an assignment. If your work is sloppy or wrong for the publication, you will be dismissed immediately.
Proofread. Have someone else look at your article and query letter. It must be error free.
Follow submission requirements. Find out how the publication wants articles to be submitted. Most magazines accept electronic submissions. Ask for a copy of the publication’s guidelines and follow them exactly.
Be succinct. Your query letter should be short and to the point and should contain your personal and professional qualifications. Summarize your article. Include something about why people will want to read your article. Is it timely? Is it a new trend? Is it a new look at an old problem?
Cater to your audience. If you’re writing for a math journal, keep that in mind as you’re writing. Make sure your style fits the magazine.
Be on time. Production schedules are usually four to six months in advance and can be more. Do not miss your deadline. Your editor will put you on “The List.”
Getting published is often about finding the right magazine or editor. Don’t give up if you’re turned down the first few times. Keep after it. An academic librarian friend of mine recently sent out a story thirteen times before it was accepted and published. Think of topics that will attract attention or create buzz. This is what editors are looking for as well. Seek out topics that are of interest to you. If you can find a topic that fits your interest, it will make the article better and your publishing experience more enjoyable.
Today’s readers crave authenticity. With the exception of an autobiographical narrative, nothing achieves this quite like an interview. Interviews in magazines such as Library Journal and American Libraries cover a range from noteworthy directors and leaders in the publishing industry to authors, educators, and innovative frontline librarians. These magazines normally publish interviews only when conducted by staff writers and editors. Your publication outlets for interviews include state, regional, and specialized library publications (such as ACRL section newsletters). You may also conduct interviews for historical purposes, which I cover at the end of this chapter.
Personal narratives are compelling. Librarians read interviews to discover the keys to professional success: how to lead or reach an elusive target audience for library services.
Avoid asking your interview subject anything you can find in background research. If you are interviewing a public library director, come to the interview with knowledge of the community, current developments (such as new services or facilities), and the library’s challenges. If you’re interviewing an author, read his or her latest work and criticism, and be able to discuss the work’s setting, similar works, and authors.
If you plan to interview an author, artist, educator, librarian, or mid-level administrator, you can usually contact your subject directly. Top-level administrators, including agency heads, normally have staff screen their calls and e-mail. In either case, a phone call or e-mail is an acceptable way to establish contact. You should introduce yourself and give your affiliation. Explain why you’re requesting an interview (e.g., to coincide with a library opening or, for an author, to publicize an upcoming talk or book signing) and tell where and when the interview will be published. Ask for an appointment of a specified length (usually no more than forty-five minutes to an hour, although you can still conduct a good interview in less time). Indicate your availability and set up a meeting time and place. If you will conduct the interview over the phone, verify the number that you will call to reach your subject. Tell him or her whether you plan to record the interview, because some people are uncomfortable having their voices recorded.
You should record your interview with a reliable, portable audio recorder especially if you intend to publish it in question-and-answer format. Good battery-operated digital recorders currently start at about $200. These devices record in common file formats, such as WAV, and can convert to MP3 for easy storage and e-mailing. Keep fresh batteries and a DC adaptor handy.
When you arrive for the interview, start with a question that will encourage your interviewee to relax and talk at some length about his or her recent work. Listen and be prepared to ask follow-up questions, such as, “You said you envision the new library as a focal point for the community. How will that happen?” This is only an example, but the point is to ask questions that elicit expansive and authentic responses. A bit more about authenticity here: your interviewee will likely have an agenda to promote. For instance, I’ve interviewed performers who see their audiences somewhat differently than I do. Explore your subject’s perspective, but probe enough to keep the interview broadly informative and more than simply free advertising. Remember that it’s your job alone to achieve balance and inform your readers.
Transcribe the recording as soon as possible after you’ve completed the interview. Edit the interview for publication by excising fillers (e.g., uh, um), revising disfluencies into standard sentences (e.g., “The building is beautiful and people . . . you see people here at all hours” becomes “The building is beautiful and you see people here at all hours”), and rearranging text into a narrative that flows logically for the reader. Write an introduction providing background about the person and the reason for the interview. When the interview is published, notify the interviewee and send a copy to him or her, along with your thanks. If your editor plans to post the audio file to websites, you should obtain prior permission from your subject.
By the 1920s and early 1930s, ethnologists, historians, and musicologists were using audio recording as a documentary tool. American historians launched large-scale interviewing projects shortly after World War II; today, most sizable manuscript repositories in the United States house oral interviews. The current StoryCorps project allows family members and friends to interview one another and archive their recordings at the Library of Congress (www.storycorps.net).
While collecting oral testimony is a respected research activity, oral histories are not always widely published. Librarians interested in collecting oral history should become familiar with the Oral History Association’s “Evaluation Guidelines.” This pamphlet address matters such as ethical and legal guidelines, equipment use, and responsibilities to interviewees, the public, archival institutions, and the historical profession.
Librarians have created several oral history projects of their own. The Medical Library Association has a model program designed to promote the history of the association and health sciences librarian-ship. Two smaller collections are Careers in Librarianship, housed at Indiana University’s Center for the Study of History and Memory, and Boston Public Library’s New England Round Table of Children’s Librarians. These collections and others in all subjects are a nationwide treasure trove for authors seeking primary sources for historical research.
If you’re like most writers, you probably have boxes of unpublished work—much of which has never made it past the rejection-note phase of the publishing process (if you’ve actually gotten as far as submitting). Many poets I know usually start out by eagerly sending a few poems to some big-shot magazines (raise your hand if you’ve ever sent a poem to the New Yorker, Poetry, or the Atlantic), just hoping that maybe their poem will be “the one.” Let’s be honest—the chance of getting a poem published in a national magazine is pretty slim. As director of the Rooftop Poetry Club reading series at Buffalo State College, I often counsel less experienced writers on how to promote their work. While it’s great to have high aspirations (I would never discourage anyone from trying!), I always remind fellow poets not to overlook local networking and publishing prospects. But where does one begin? Here are a few pointers to keep in mind when attempting to break into the local scene.
Bob Dylan didn’t start out his musical career touring Europe—he began playing in a coffeehouse in Dinkytown (an actual neighborhood in Minneapolis) and later made important connections in Greenwich Village. The point is, all artists start somewhere— and it’s usually in their own communities. It can be easy for writers to be reclusive and simply ignore the community aspect of the craft—but in doing so, they also shut out possibilities for networking and creative collaborations. Imagine Kerouac without Ginsberg and Burroughs. Consider the importance of the Black Arts Repertory Theatre within the black arts movement. Community really does matter.
The local writing scene can seem a bit cliquey when you’re the new kid on the block. But remember, there’s a first time for everyone. Grab a friend and check out the local literary happenings in your town. Most community newspapers have weekly listings of readings, workshops, and writing groups. As they feature readings from local authors, independent bookstores are often great places to break into the literary scene. Our local used-book store has a community room that can be rented out for readings and events.
Many bookstores carry small press and little magazine publications, including handmade poetry chapbooks and zines. These can be a great source of inspiration for your own work and help you to make connections in the community. If you read something that you enjoy, why not contact the writer and tell him or her so? You might just make a new connection in the process.
Today’s desktop publishing tools allow one to easily self-publish. Promote your work by creating your own chapbook to give to fellow writers—or circulate the work of others by establishing your own zine. How-to books and art stores (check out the beautiful papers) are excellent sources for bookmaking inspiration. Think of your own chapbook as material for trade, and take these with you when you attend (and give!) readings.
Is your town short on literary happenings? Why not start your own open mic or reading series? Coffee shops, tearooms, libraries, bookstores, bars, park spaces—all can be really interesting places to host readings. The Rooftop Poetry Club uses the rooftop garden of the E. H. Butler Library (Buffalo State College) for its meeting space. Informal workshops and formal classes can also be great places to make connections with fellow writers. In the spirit of Gertrude Stein, consider organizing a literary salon for your writerly acquaintances.
Don’t forget audio venues to showcase your writing—such as radio and Internet podcasts. Our local NPR station hosts listener commentaries and has sponsored a poetry show. There are a number of poets in Buffalo who have their own blog-talk radio programs that feature interviews and readings by local writers. Ask around. You’ll be surprised what you hear.
Don’t ignore the importance of social networking sites, such as Meetup.com and Facebook. Social networking sites are a convenient way to connect with other writers, share your work, find out about local happenings, discover calls for work, and advertise your own literary events. I’ve been introduced to many fellow writers through the world of Facebook. When we do finally meet in person, there is already a feeling of camaraderie. When you’re new to the scene, it’s easy to feel like an outsider—but social networking tools can help you meet established writers, publicize your work, and achieve social recognition in and outside of your own community.
Community poetry projects offer unique publishing opportunities. I’ve participated in or organized community poetry projects using vintage postcards, library catalog cards, discarded 35 mm slides, and topographical maps. Look past your own publishing endeavors to have success with your own writing career. As librarians, you are already in a natural place of leadership—so why not use your position within the literary community?
If all of this sounds too political for you—try thinking of being political as being participatory. Just as one participates by submitting a poem to a magazine, writers participate by becoming involved in the literary community. If good things happen (for example, you get published) because of the connections you make, this is simply a side effect of your involvement in the community. Now get out there and participate!
Writers love librarians. When attending literary events, don’t be afraid to introduce yourself. You’ll soon discover that these strangers aren’t as intimidating as they first appeared—and as fellow writers, you obviously have something in common. Librarians—already in a natural position of literary leadership—are perfectly suited to take on such roles as reading series organizer, zine publisher, or literary salon host. With a little effort, unique networking and publishing opportunities are yours for the making.