Inking the Deal

Table of Contents

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Foreword

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pp. ix-xi

Introduction: About This Book

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pp. 1-6

This is a straightforward—even at times hard-hitting—book about successful academic publishing in journals and books. It is expressly designed and written for you who wish to become successful academic authors especially in the areas of biblical studies, theology and religion, and the arts and humanities. Academic publishing is at the heart of the ...

1 Types of Publications

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pp. 7-39

Like animals, as George Orwell would say,¹ not all types of publications are equal. This became obvious to me and my academic colleagues when I taught and headed a university-level department in London, England. In the British educational system of the time, there was an enterprise called the Research Assessment Exercise. The RAE, as it was popularly ...

2 Basic Principles of a Publishable Manuscript

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pp. 41-54

The single most important skill that an aspiring scholar can develop is the ability to write and to write well. There is no substitute for the ability to craft your writing so that it conveys what you wish for it to express, rather than simply being an undisciplined series of words. I still find it amazing how many scholars are genuinely awful writers—even some who have ...

3 Always Writing for Publication

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pp. 55-65

The first two chapters were concerned with some of the technical issues concerning writing for academic publication. These include the various types of publications and how they are relatively weighted according to prestige and contribution to the field, and the mechanics of putting together a publishable article or monograph. In a subsequent chapter, ...

4 Pick Your Poison: Selection of a Publisher

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pp. 67-71

When it comes right down to it, you may know all of the mechanics of writing a publishable piece, but until you identify a suitable publisher—in other words, pick your poison—and send the article or book manuscript to that publisher, you will not become a publishing scholar. There are many different types of publishers. These include, among others, popular ...

5 Presentation Is Almost Everything

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pp. 73-87

Publishers, whether they are publishers of journals or of books, are some-times odd creatures. They have their own individual publishing styles, and they like to see and use these styles in their publications. Some of these particulars and, I dare say, peculiarities are driven by tradition, perhaps even nationalist pride. For example, British publishers tend to like ...

6 Handling Rejection—It Will Come

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pp. 89-102

The only authors who have probably not suffered the emotional pain of rejection are those who have never submitted their work to an editor. And it can hurt. There is no doubt that there is a sharp sting that is felt when you open up the envelope (probably not even returning the manuscript) and receive a rejection letter from an editor. I have received numerous ...

7 Handling Acceptance—It Too Will Come

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pp. 103-134

I am confident that if you follow the guidelines in this book, you will become a published scholarly author. In fact, I am confident that you will be able to develop a publishing research profile that leads from one good publication to another. Because I am so confident that that is the case, I include this chapter. As you can see from what I have said above, ...

8 Will I Run Out of Publishable Ideas?

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pp. 135-150

The short answer to this question is, “Almost assuredly no.” When I was just finishing graduate school and beginning to publish, I wondered whether I would run out of ideas for further publishing. I had done a couple of articles, and had a couple more in preparation, and I was finishing my doctoral dissertation and had a publisher for that work. I couldn’t help ...

9 Living a Publishing Lifestyle

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pp. 151-163

A publishing lifestyle is not simply a lifestyle developed early in your academic career and then abandoned once you have secured tenure. A publishing lifestyle involves constantly seeking to make a serious contribution to your field of academic endeavor, from first appointment to emeritus status and beyond. This means that it is not an “added extra” ...

10 Learning the Trade with Others

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pp. 165-177

The last topic that I wish to discuss is how you as a scholar aspiring to develop a writing lifestyle can build in the kinds of accountability structures to ensure both initial success and continuing productivity. As I have said repeatedly and tried to emphasize above, there is no substitute for simple and regular hard work. This hard work requires the kind of...

11 Final Words of Encouragement

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pp. 179-181

The world of academic publishing is often represented—by scholars, by publishers, and even by some of the guides to the field—as a complex and impenetrable world, full of all sorts of insuperable difficulties that only the fortunate or privileged can overcome. This is nonsense, as I hope that you have come to realize from reading this book. However, there ...

Notes

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pp. 183-188

Index

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pp. 189-191