In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

73 & PRESENTATION IS ALMOST EVERYTHING 5 Publishers, whether they are publishers of journals or of books, are sometimes 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 single quotation marks (what they sometimes affectionately call “inverted commas”) and put them (usually, though not always—believe it or not, there are extensive rules for these things) inside the closing punctuation mark, such as a comma or period (“full stop,” they would call it). Some are a matter of tradition, or perhaps even wanting to be different from someone else. Major university presses disagree over whether words such as particulariz/se should use z or s in the spelling. In that sense, both are good British spellings (or bad or troublesome British spellings). Some publishers like to include full publishing information in the footnotes or endnotes, including city, publisher, and date, while others simply want the city or even just the date. Some use a host of Latin words, such as ibid., loc. cit., op. cit., and the like; others use short titles; while others use something else. Some publishers like full names of authors, while others like initials for first names, and some want small caps for surnames , while others do not. Continental European publishers are perhaps the most unusual in some of their preferences, such as odd punctuation or continual cross-referencing in footnotes to the first mention of a work. In other words, despite what you may have been taught in high school, college , or even graduate school, there simply is not a single, unitary, and— certainly not—correct way of writing and submitting a paper or book manuscript, insofar as the style of the publishers is concerned. However, 74 Inking the Deal there is a single, unitary, and correct way of presenting an article, chapter , or book manuscript to a particular publisher—that is their way. And these publishers let you know what it is. In light of this situation, there are a number of considerations that you should attend to in preparing your written manuscript for presentation to the publisher. These include (1) giving reasons for publishers to say “yes” to your manuscript, (2) following every stylistic detail as closely as possible , (3) paying attention to some of the most important details, (4) not trying to become a typesetter, (5) knowing about CRC, (6) paying attention to spelling and grammar, and (7) writing the cover letter. Give Reasons for Publishers to Say “Yes,” Not “No” As an author, you need to give the publisher every reason for saying “yes” to your submission, rather than giving the publisher excuses to say “no.” Think about this for a minute. If you were the lofty editor of an important journal or monograph series (you may already be, or may well become one, and may wish to remember some of the thoughts and feelings you had as you contemplated this), how would you respond if you received a potential article manuscript that completely disregarded the format in which you wanted it submitted? Let’s say that your journal only considers hard copy submissions accompanied by a disk with the electronic file, written in 14-point type double spaced on the page. Instead, you receive an e-mailed pdf file (of course, preceded by a very kind cover letter begging you to consider the attached article) of a manuscript in 10-point single-spaced type. This gives you every reason in the world simply to push the return button on your computer and say, “Sorry, we don’t consider submissions of this sort.” Fast, efficient, and done—rejection . Such a form of rejection—and it no doubt does happen, believe me (more on that in the following chapter)—does not even get to the issue of whether the article has any academic or intellectual merit. The submission was obviously written by someone who had not bothered to take time to conform the manuscript to the standards of your particular journal. Despite the apparent arbitrariness of the various presentation styles used by publishers, there is usually at least a rationale for why they want what they want. You as a potential author need to know what it is and do it. You want the editor to be favorably disposed toward your article at least initially, and put...

Share