The Americas Center / Centro de las Américas, the Rising Scholars Post-Doctoral Program, and the PhD Plus Program are happy to announce the following event:
Book Proposal Panel
Friday, December 10, noon - 1:30 pm
On Zoom and in Wilson 142 (box lunches will be available for those attending in-person)
Hosted by Sylvia Chong, Associate Professor of American Studies and English, Co-Director of the Americas Center
Registration required for Zoom link and for lunches: https://forms.gle/wWqqahXqQAT46Tbz9
- RSVP by Monday, Dec. 6, for the panel and/or lunch
- RSVP by Monday, Nov. 29, to schedule a one-on-one meeting with our editors sometime before or after the panel on Dec. 10
PANELISTS
Ken Wissoker, editorial director, Duke University Press
main areas: anthropology, cultural studies, and social theory; globalization and postcolonial studies; Asian, African, and American studies; music, film and television; race, gender and sexuality; science studies; and other areas in the humanities, social sciences, media, and the arts
https://www.dukeupress.edu/Books/Authors-Editors/Prospective-Authors/Meet-Our-Editorial-Team
Mark Simpson-Vos, editorial director, University of North Carolina Press
main areas: North Carolina and southern history, arts, and culture; nature and outdoors guidebooks; and cultural heritage tourism guides; American music American studies, Native American and Indigenous studies, gender and sexuality, and the history of the Civil War era
https://uncpress.org/mark-simpson-vos/
PANEL DESCRIPTION
How do I turn a dissertation into a book? Why can't I just publish it as is? What goes into a book proposal for a publisher? Where do I send my book proposal, and who actually reads it? And how do I know what a university press is looking for?
If you've ever wondered about these questions, or are struggling through any part of the process of preparing a book proposal for a press, come attend this workshop! Although we are gearing this panel towards post-doctoral fellows and early career faculty in the humanities and humanistic social sciences who are first-time authors, experienced authors as well as curious graduate students are welcome to attend. Our panelists are two esteemed university press editorial directors -- Ken Wissoker from Duke University Press, and Mark Simpson-Vos from University of North Carolina Press -- each of whom has extensive experience acquiring prospective books manuscripts from junior scholars and shepherding them to completion. Their panel will be less of a presentation, and more of an interactive Q&A to help demystify the process of submitting a book manuscript to a press.
We will concentrate on the genre of the book proposal, the 5-10 page document that summarizes the argument of your book, describes your intended audience, and situates it within a field of comparable books. The book proposal often serves as your calling card to a press, before you are invited to submit actual chapters or a full manuscript for review. As a result, the document can seem intimidating. Our two editors will offer their own takes on different strategies for approaching the book proposal, what works and hasn't worked well in their experience, and also give some perspectives on how to research different presses and book series and determine where to send your book proposal.
ONE-ON-ONE CONSULTATIONS WITH UNIVERSITY PRESS EDITORS
If you are a post-doc or a junior faculty who is a first-time author, you can also use this form (https://forms.gle/wWqqahXqQAT46Tbz9) to request a 15 min. one-on-one meeting with either Ken Wissoker (Duke) and Mark Simpson-Vos (UNC). All meetings will take place on Zoom either before or after the book proposal workshop on Friday, December 10, from 12-1:30pm, and attendance at the workshop is required. We will use the information provided to assign you to one of these two editors. We only have time for 20 consultations on December 10, but we encourage any interested parties to contact these editors (or other editors at other presses) on their own, and will provide guidance on how to do that during the panel.
If you have any questions about either the panel or the consultations, please contact Sylvia Chong at [email protected].