The times they are a-challenging, especially for academic authors. With submission queues stretching toward infinity and a bewildering landscape of publishing options, writing the darned article or book begins to seem like the easy part. And first-time authors in particular might find that competition for reputable publishing options is fierce.

How can authors get noticed and succeed in such an environment?

For book publishing, we will address: What sorts of projects are university press editors seeking? What selection process do they use? Should you write a specialized book for readers in your field or aim for a larger audience? Can you publish your dissertation as a book? Can you submit to more than one publisher at a time?

For journal publishing, we will address: How do you target a journal for submission? How will your article survive the peer review process at a top-ranked journal and what are the pitfalls to avoid? How do scholarly journal editors think about impact, and how can you ensure your article will have it?

In this session, MIT Press Journals Director Nick Lindsay and Books Editorial Director Gita Manaktala will answer your questions about the publishing process at their press and offer concrete strategies to help you get from proposal to publication.  They will be joined by two MIT authors familiar with journal and book publishing who will share their insights and experiences.