Upcoming Panel: What BIPOC Authors Need to Know

About Academic Book Publishing

It’s November! I’m back from my month-long sabbatical! And I’m excited to tell you about an event that I’m really looking forward to, happening next Friday (November 12, 2021) at 1pm EST / 10am PST.

“What BIPOC Authors Need to Know about Academic Book Publishing” will be an online panel discussion, held via Zoom. It’s completely free to attend — you just need to register in advance.

A recording and transcript will be provided to everyone who registers, whether or not you’re able to attend live.

Racism and inequity are real problems in scholarly book publishing, at both structural and individual levels. This panel will address those issues head-on and offer insight and strategies for scholars of color who are preparing to navigate the process of pitching and publishing their academic books.

While some general demystification of the publishing process will be included in the discussion, this will not be another colorblind publishing presentation. This will be a chance to have your experiences validated and to learn from publishing professionals who have faced similar issues in their own careers, in both academia and academic publishing.

I’m organizing the event (and will talk just a little bit about the academic book acquisition process at the beginning), but the bulk of the discussion will be between Dominique J. Moore (Acquisitions Editor, University of Illinois Press), Jenny Tan (Acquisitions Editor, University of Pennsylvania Press), and Karma R. Chávez (Series Editor, The Ohio State University Press).

I’ve heard all of them speak about issues of racism and inequity in scholarly publishing, and I’m very grateful that they are all available to share their expertise with authors via this panel. I will be paying them for their time, because I believe this kind of labor should be compensated financially. I also believe that the knowledge they will be sharing should be freely available to prospective authors, which is why there is no registration fee for this event.

We have some key points we plan to cover during the discussion, but we also want to be responsive to audience questions. To that end, we’ve set up a question submission form where you can submit questions in advance that you’d like the panelists to address during the discussion. (If you submit a question through the form, please note that this will not register you to attend the panel. You’ll need to do that separately.) You can also reply directly to this email with your questions, if you’d like.

Please help us spread the word about this event by telling your friends, colleagues, and graduate students about it. You can forward this email to anyone who might be interested. Thank you!