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Get Published 101
Guide to publication in the management literature
Rachel Singer Gordon – Consulting Editor, Information Today Inc., and author of several books
and John Peters – Chief Executive Officer, Emerald Group Publishing Limited
www.emeraldinsight.com
Research you can use
Table of contents
Page No.
Preface
2
Introduction
3
Identifying and overcoming your self-imposed obstacles
4
Banishing rejection
5
Where do you get your ideas?
7
Working with co-authors
8
Amazing abstracts
Spinning straw into gold
9
11
Time keeps on ticking ...
13
Selling your work, selling yourself
14
Improve your writing, step by step
15
What if? Overcoming writer’s remorse
16
Getting published in Emerald journals
17
Emerald’s Author’s Charter
18
Emerald Management journals: an overview
20
About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.com
History
In 2007, Emerald celebrated its 40th anniversary. The company has moved a long way from small beginnings as a consulting venture by
academics from the University of Bradford, to become the world.s leading scholarly publisher in business and management. Our challenge
for the next 40 years, starting now, is to make a significant contribution to making ours a better-managed world.
Research you can use
From the beginning, Emerald publications have sought to bridge the gap between the scholarly and practitioner world of management.
Emerald has always aimed to publish research which makes a significant contribution to practice. Good management makes a difference
to all of us. Management, in its various forms, is the world’s most studied subject at university, as well as the world’s most practised
occupation. In 2009, more than ever, we need good, responsible management to rebuild our economies, and make a better, more sociallyresponsible business world.
International and inclusive
Many of the world.s business schools and management studies departments subscribe to the entire Emerald collection online, as well as
keeping selected journals in print. In 2008, more than 20 million Emerald articles were downloaded and read in research and study. This
equates to more than 50,000 a day, every day of the year. Emerald is a truly international publisher, with authors, editors, advisers, reviewers
and customers drawn from around the world. Emerald has representative offices in the USA, Canada, Malaysia, Australia, China, India,
Dubai, Brazil and Japan, as well as its head office close to its original foundations in Bradford, UK.
PAGE 1
Preface
Writing for the professional literature can transform your career.
Your publishing activities can help you:
• Gain tenure or get promoted
• Develop yourself professionally
• Learn about issues of interest
• Share successes with others in your field
• Share the results of your research
• Expand your professional horizons
• Become more attractive to potential employers
• Gain name recognition
• Open up additional opportunities.
If you’ve been hesitant about taking the plunge into publication, wait no longer! We hope the hints and tips in this guide will be useful as you begin
your writing career.
Rachel Singer Gordon ([email protected]) and John Peters ([email protected])
Rachel Singer Gordon is Consulting Editor,
Information Today, Inc., Book Publishing
Division and editor of the electronic newsletter
Info Career Trends. She maintains two
professional blogs: The Liminal Librarian
(www.lisjobs.com/liminal/), and Beyond the
Job
(http://librarycareers.blogspot.com).
Rachel has published widely in professional
literature; she is also the “Computer Media”
review columnist for Library Journal and coauthors Computers in Libraries’ “Tech Tips for
Every Librarian” department. Her books include The Librarian’s Guide to
Writing for Publication (Scarecrow, 2004), The Accidental Library Manager
(ITI, 2005), The NextGen Librarian’s Survival Guide (ITI, 2006), and
Information Tomorrow (ITI, 2007). Rachel holds an MLIS from Dominican
University and an MA from Northwestern University.
PAGE 2
John Peters is Chief Executive of Emerald
Group Publishing Limited. He joined Emerald
in 1999, having worked previously in
consultancy and academia in Europe, North
America and Australia. He has held visiting and
advisory posts at Bradford School of
Management, University of Sydney, City
University, London and E-TQM College, Dubai.
John is Editor of the journal Management
Decision and co-author of the text book The
Management of a Student Research Project
(3rd edition). He has written papers and presented at conferences on
themes including publishing strategy, corporate social responsibility,
business strategy, marketing, performance management, learning at
work, and the management of quality.
Introduction
In any field, beginning to write for professional publication can be an
unfortunately (and often unnecessarily) intimidating process. As with
anything else, though, the more we familiarize ourselves with the tools,
practices, and conventions of publishing, the more comfortable and
natural the idea of participating through publication becomes. In this
guide, we’ll help demystify the publishing process, and show you how to
get started, how to improve your odds of getting published, and how to
interact in this new environment.
We all have something to say
Apart from writing for the professional literature in our chosen field, we all
benefit from reading our professional literature – and the more varied
voices that are willing to participate, the richer and more interesting our
literature becomes. Many potential and newer writers falter originally
under the belief that they have nothing new to contribute. For most of us,
nothing could be further from the truth. We are all in some sense both
professionals and practitioners, and can approach our writing from either
angle. Whether you write about how you carried out a successful project,
start out small by writing book reviews or conference reports, create your
own weblog, contribute a short article to an online newsletter, or conduct
and write up the results of a lengthy methodologically-strict research
project, you are adding your voice and helping others learn from your
experiences and insights.
“
In any of these cases, your main reason for writing should be to share
your enthusiasm for your profession, connecting with colleagues through
your publishing activities. You may in time establish yourself as an expert
on a certain aspect of your field, finding your own niche, or you may use
your writing as an opportunity (or excuse!) to research and to inform
yourself about a variety of subjects. Either way, you stretch yourself
professionally, keeping informed and involved.
Where to start?
If you want to write, start by reading. In order to keep up with changes in
your profession and to find ideas to spark your own imagination, you do
need to devote time each day to reading the literature of your profession.
In order to see what others have already suggested and to find gaps
where your ideas might fit, you need to make a commitment to keeping
current with literature in your areas of interest. (This will make you not only
a better author, but also a better professional!) Your professional reading
here ranges from association publications, to magazines and journals in
your areas of expertise and interest, to online venues such as e-mail
discussion lists, newsletters, and blogs. Our opportunities for learning
about our chosen field and for expanding our own knowledge are
endless, and each of these venues also provides a potential outlet for
your own work.
“ ”
”
START OUT SMALL BY WRITING BOOK
REVIEWS OR CONFERENCE REPORTS
Throughout our careers, we make a habit of sharing with others through
conferences, e-mail lists, workshops, or just one-on-one conversations
with colleagues. Writing for publication is just another way of participating
that helps formalize these discussions and make them accessible to
both your current colleagues and future researchers.
Why write?
We generally have no problem keeping ourselves busy. The question
then becomes: why take time out of our busy schedules to contribute
through writing for publication? Reasons for writing vary as much as
people themselves. You may be required to write for peer-reviewed
journals in order to gain tenure or promotion in your academic institution.
You may want to share the results of a successful program that you have
implemented, or it may be necessary to write these results up as a
requirement of a granting body. You may want to enhance your résumé
as you think about moving up the career ladder; you may like to see your
name in print; you may be encouraged to publish by colleagues or
bosses – or you may just enjoy the process of writing itself!
LET OTHERS’ WORK TRIGGER YOUR
OWN IDEAS
As you read, let others’ work trigger your own ideas. Ask yourself
questions while you read: How would you respond to someone else’s
article, build on the author’s ideas, or spin off on a tangent? What
additional topics do you wish your favourite journal would cover? Why
has no one done a study on a recurring topic in the news? What warrants
a closer look or would benefit from an alternative viewpoint? The more
you train yourself to think about the literature as an ongoing conversation,
the more clear it becomes that everyone does have something to
contribute.
What’s next?
Within this guide, you will find more specific ways of beginning – or
enhancing – your professional writing career, from finding an appropriate
publishing outlet, to working effectively with your editor, to handling
rejection, to just carving out the time to research and write. Some of
these areas might come more naturally to you than others; we each have
personal strengths and sticking points. In the meantime, why not take
some time over the next month to reconnect with your professional
literature and to spy out where there just might be a place for your voice?
We’ll look forward to hearing your side of the conversation!
PAGE 3
Identifying and overcoming your selfimposed obstacles
Before you can start writing for publication, you need first to get yourself to
a place where we are ready to begin. We often hear otherwise articulate
and thoughtful professionals demur by insisting that they have nothing to
contribute to their literature, or that they just “can’t write”. Others, equally
convinced that they can’t write, but knowing that they have to, slog through
and publish only as required for tenure. (That always shows!)
This kind of self-deprecating attitude dumbfounds us. People write all the
time – from grant applications, to memos, to user documentation, to email messages, to conversations on professional forums. At university,
we’re trained to research; as professionals, we spend plenty of time
thinking about and discussing the relevant issues. What is it, then, about
formalizing the process through publication that intimidates so many to
the point that they decline to participate?
Where’s the block?
Many of us can blame our elders, especially our middle school teachers
or college professors. When we contemplate putting pen to paper or
fingers to keyboard, we flash back to term papers covered with red ink
and last-minute all-nighters pounding out pages on a topic not of our
choosing.
Writing on a subject that interests you is a night and day difference from
writing on an assigned topic – the more natural your topic, the less panicinducing the process.
Other would-be writers have more personal reasons for their
procrastination. Some may stop after their first rejection. Here, you are
only stymieing yourself – maybe your work is right for another publication,
maybe it just needs a bit of polishing, maybe the editor already has a
similar topic lined up. Rejection is a natural part of the process; use it to
hone your work and improve your odds of success next time.
“
TOO YOUNG, TOO INEXPERIENCED TO
HAVE ANYTHING TO CONTRIBUTE
”
Others think they’re too new, too young, or too inexperienced to have
anything to contribute. Unlikely! What have you learned that will be useful
to your even-newer, even-younger, even-more-inexperienced peers?
What do you wish you knew starting out, starting school, looking for that
first job? What do you want to learn? Why not research and write about
it? Why not seek out and publish with a more-experienced colleague?
Why not look for publications that specifically welcome new writers?
Still another group of would-be writers argues that they’re too busy with
their day-to-day duties to put the time into writing for publication. This we
do sympathize with, but why use it as an excuse to avoid writing
altogether? Look for simpler, shorter options – write a conference report,
a short informal article for your local association newsletter, or a firstperson account of your experiences for an online publication.
Straightforward projects that take little time to complete can build your
writing portfolio and confidence.
Start slow, move easily
You have to begin somewhere. Realize first that publishing is a two-way
street: while you depend on editors to publish your work, they rely on
writers to fill their pages. A number of published professionals mentioned
that their first published piece was solicited by an editor who heard them
speak, saw a thoughtful post they made to an e-mail list, or had a
conversation with them at a conference. Editors wouldn’t be out there
actively soliciting articles if they weren’t interested in finding and nurturing
new talent.
As editors and publishers we find that locating writers is sometimes like
pulling teeth. Other editors comment about the difficulty in finding
contributors willing to share their opinions, even on topics that seem as
if they would be of interest to many professionals. Between publications
actively seeking authors and the tendency of authors to focus on big
name journals and publishing houses, opportunities abound for writers
willing to take advantage of smaller or less-well-known publishing outlets.
Your job, then, is simply to find editors who want your work. Think
realistically here. If you’re just starting out, or if your confidence is shaky,
why not contact publications that publish work from others just like you.
Don’t start with the most prestigious and academic journal in your field;
start with an association publication or internal company newsletter.
Do it anyway
If you can speak, you can write. If you can think about your profession, if
you can participate in projects and spearhead new ventures in your
institution, if you can discuss solutions and ideas and problems and
issues with your colleagues – you can write! The more you write, the
more you will develop the self-confidence needed to continue. Aim for
that first published work and move on from there. Take the time you
spend thinking of excuses for not writing, and put that time and energy
into your work.
If you are interested in being published, yet feel too unready to show your
writing to others, then start out with prep work. Begin researching a topic
of interest. Start a clippings file, start bookmarking web sites, start emailing yourself articles of interest. Do your daily professional reading
and think about which publications match your comfort level in tone,
subject, and style. Bounce ideas off colleagues, whether online or in
person. Sign up for a couple of writing-related blogs, such as:
• Academic Coach: http://successfulacademic.typepad.com
• Inkygirl: www.electricpenguin.com/ohi/inkygirl/
Supplement these with blogs and lists in your particular field or area of
research interest.
Make a point to read some books that encourage newer professional
and academic authors, starting with:
• Dorn, Fred J. (1985), Publishing for Professional Development,
Accelerated Development, Muncie, IN.
• Germano, William (2001), Getting It Published: A Guide for Scholars
and Anyone Else Serious about Serious Books, UC Press, Chicago.
• Gray, Tara (2005), Publish & Flourish: Become a Prolific Scholar,
Teaching Academy, New Mexico State University.
• Henson, Kenneth T. (1999), Writing for Professional Publication: Keys to
Academic and Business Success, Allyn & Bacon, Needham Heights,
MA.
The more reading, research, and thinking you do, the more you will get
in the writing mindset – and you may even find yourself anxious to begin!
Give your enthusiasm a chance to shine, and be willing to take the
plunge when you are ready.
PAGE 4
Banishing rejection
Potential authors often scare themselves away from the very thought of
publication due to fear of rejection. While there is of course never a
guarantee of publication success, you can easily eliminate some of the
most common reasons why your work is rejected.
First, let’s look at the typical reasons that editors reject any author’s work:
1. The work is not appropriate for the particular publication or publisher
2. A failure to put the necessary effort into a query or draft
3. A lack of willingness to start small
4. An unwillingness to rewrite or rework an article or topic
5. The work does not offer anything new on the subject
6. The publisher has something already scheduled on a similar topic.
There are other minor reasons – perhaps the editor is having a bad day;
she has personal issues with you or your work; he just isn’t interested in
your topic. The six above, however, encompass the most common
reasons for rejection. If we examine these closely, we find something
interesting: in all but the last case, we as writers have control over the
outcome.
How heartening! If we have control over the outcome, there are some
simple steps we can take to minimize the chance of rejection and
increase the odds that our work sees the light of publication. Let’s take
these one by one, and see how we can conquer each.
The work is not appropriate for the particular publication
or publisher
This is the biggest reason for rejection, and the one which is most easily
remedied. Do your research ahead of time. Familiarize yourself with a
publication or publishing house before you submit your work, by reading
the journal or by reading several books from that publisher. Read their
author guidelines (which are usually available online); these provide
direction on the type of work the publisher looks for. Think about their
typical topics, tone, style, and audience, and take the time to target your
work.
Information Today, Inc.’s Editor-in-Chief, John Bryans, notes: “This might
seem rather obvious, but if I had a penny for every hopeful children’s
book author who approached me over the years (without considering the
fact that I have never, ever published a children’s book) I wouldn’t be
worrying about my retirement plan today.” He echoes a common
complaint of editors who see inappropriate submission after
inappropriate submission. Submitting work appropriate to a given
publishing outlet is the biggest – and simplest – step you can take
towards publishing success.
A failure to put the necessary effort into a query or draft
Sometimes we get so excited about our topic and the prospect of seeing
it in print that we dash off a query, article, or proposal and send it out
without taking the time to let it sit, edit our work, or think about the best
way to make our case. There’s nothing wrong with excitement! But, a
sloppy query or sloppy draft easily convinces a publisher that we will also
fail to put our best effort into the finished product.
The same applies to writing that lacks focus or clarity, to academic work
that fails to explain its methodology, and to any work that fails to follow
guidelines. Take the time to proofread. Take the time to spell-check. Take
PAGE 5
the time to show your work to a trusted friend or colleague who will read
it with a critical eye and suggest ways to make it stronger. Never expect
your topic to sell itself without your help; show editors from the outset
why they should publish your work.
A lack of willingness to start small
Start small and build up your writing muscles, résumé, and confidence
before tackling larger or more prestigious publications. Those people
facing tenure pressure, people who are ambitious, or those people who
are only aware of “big-name” journals sometimes forget this advice and
get overly discouraged by rejections from prestigious publications.
Prestigious journals earn their prestige partially by a rigorous acceptance
process. Big-name journals often have correspondingly low acceptance
rates – sometimes only 5 per cent or less of papers submitted – precisely
because everyone has heard of them: they receive, and therefore must
reject, a larger number of articles.
“
BIG NAME JOURNALS HAVE
CORRESPONDINGLY LOW ACCEPTANCE
RATES
”
If you cultivate an awareness of the wonderful variety of publication
outlets in your field, though, you improve your odds of success by your
willingness to branch out beyond the well-known. Once you have built a
record of successful publication and a comfort with writing for your
profession, you will be readier to tackle bigger projects and bigger-name
outlets. Think of this in the same way as you think of building your career
in general; entry-level positions have a lot to teach you, although they
may not be where you choose to spend your entire career.
An unwillingness to rewrite or rework an article or topic
This is not, strictly speaking, rejection. Often we get so wrapped up in our
writing that we tend to see any suggestions or requests for modifications
as a personal insult. In peer-reviewed publications, nearly every article
that eventually appears in a journal undergoes a process of reviewing,
rewriting, and revisions. If an editor kicks an article back to you with an
invitation to revise it, it means that he has an interest in publishing the
revised version. He is not likely to waste his time asking to see a rewritten
article with no intention of using it. If an editor kicks a book proposal back
to you with suggestions on refocusing your topic or modifying your
approach, it means she is seriously considering publishing the refocused final work.
Remember that editors have experience with the types of material that
succeed with their audience. Review boards exist, not just to approve or
reject material, but to make expert suggestions on improving and
strengthening a journal’s content. Editors serve a function as
gatekeepers, and must take that role seriously in offering suggestions
and improvements to the work that they publish. If you take their criticism
and suggestions personally, your publishing career will be short-lived.
The work does not offer anything new on the subject
This complaint is especially common among those who publish peerreviewed or more academic work. Your responsibility as an author is to
make a unique contribution to the literature, not simply to rehash what
has already been said on a topic without adding fresh data, a unique
perspective, or a different conclusion. This is one main difference
between writing for professional publication and the writing you might
have been used to doing in school, for example. Even a literature review
needs to be evaluative; let your thoughts about the topic shine through.
The wish for work that says something new is often explicitly stated in
publishers’ guidelines, and for good reason. Readers expect to be
enlightened, informed, and even provoked by the professional literature
– work that simply rehashes old conversations is unlikely to do so.
The publisher has something already scheduled on a
similar topic
publishers have already published on a topic, and avoid duplicating
previous work. We can also put aside our suspicions: editors are
extremely unlikely to “steal your ideas” and assign them to another writer.
When people think, talk and read about issues important to a given
profession, some inevitably arrive at similar conclusions and have similar
comments. Editors who made a habit of taking others’ ideas would not
stay in business long – people talk!
Any actions we can take to decrease our chances of rejection only make
our work stronger and our writing more likely to find an audience.
Realizing the real control we have over our work’s acceptance helps us
feel more secure in our publishing careers, and lets us put aside our fear
of rejection to concentrate on the writing itself.
This we have no control over. We cannot read editors’ minds or foresee
what other authors might have turned in. We can, however, see what
PAGE 6
Where do you get your ideas?
The question of where successful writers get their ideas is nearly as old
as the first written texts. We all wish we had a glimpse into some magic
crystal ball that could tell us which topics will be winners and which might
fall flat. Truth be told, though, no one has a crystal ball – not me, not you,
not Stephen King, not the Chicken Soup for the Soul guys, nor any other
prolific author.
Fed up with this unanswerable query, speculative fiction writer Harlan
Ellison even started telling aspiring writers that he subscribes to an idea
store in Schenectady, which for a low fee sends him a new packet each
month. Unfortunately, that doesn’t always put an end to the question – he
notes that some people then ask him for the address of the service!
If only life were that simple. Those of us who are newer to writing or newer
to our professional careers may be used to having had all of our topics
handed to us, from college papers to grant applications. In real life,
though, we generally have the responsibility for coming up with our own
ideas, just as we are responsible for our own career paths. Barring the
occasional lucky accident or actively-solicited paper, we need to pull
together our own ideas from our reading, our professional conversations,
our work experiences, and our cogitations about our field.
There are, however, several ways in which you can help ideas flow more
naturally and spur your own inspiration.
Stay circumscribed
Beginning authors can start by writing book reviews and conference
reports, which offer a more circumscribed way to begin. Even these,
though, benefit from your ability to draw on your experience and your
other reading: a good book review draws on your knowledge of the topic
and previous reading on the subject; a good conference report builds on
your ability to compare the workshops you attend with previous meetings
and on your knowledge of the subjects discussed. If just finding an initial
topic, though, is what has you stumped, these defined assignments can
help you build your confidence as a writer so you can later move on to
articles of your own.
You can also stay circumscribed in other ways. Think about starting your
writing career by making contacts within your own circle of colleagues or
co-workers. Think about others in your field as potential co-authors; take
the time to bounce ideas off one another.
creating a blog or other on-line resource, or joining a professional
association and volunteering for a local or state committee. Get creative
with your professional activities; each of these offers new ideas for your
professional writing. You can mine all of your professional interactions for
ideas, from conversations with colleagues, to projects you carry out in
your own institution, to workshops you attend.
Rachel: where my first book idea came from
In my own professional life, I often find ideas that turn into
successful projects while engaged in other endeavours. Trust in the
power of serendipity, and remain open to ideas everywhere. The
idea for my first book, for example, grew out of my own experiences
as a newer reference librarian trying to put together public Internet
classes in the late 1990s. At the time, there were few materials
available on the subject. I thought: “Someone should write a book!”
and screwed up the courage to send in a proposal. A year and a
half later, ALA Editions published Teaching the Internet In Libraries.
A couple of years later, I had moved up from beginning reference
librarian to computer services department head. I found myself
managing a network, maintaining a web site, providing tech
support, and doing computer repair – all without formal technical
training. I happened to be thinking about my position as a lucky
accident and wondering how many others were in the same boat
while reading Computers in Libraries magazine one day, saw a call
for contributors, and sent in a proposal. This turned into the 2001
article “A Course in Accidental Systems Librarianship” – which later
expanded into the 2003 Information Today, Inc., book The
Accidental Systems Librarian.
In 2003, I was working for my library one day and deciding which
general books aimed at beginning writers to keep and which to
discard. This made me wonder if there were any books aimed at
beginning author-librarians. I took a look, and found nothing recent
– a niche just begging to be filled. In 2004, Scarecrow published The
Librarian’s Guide to Writing for Publication.
Stay professionally active
In order to make original contributions to the literature, you need first to
become a full participant in your profession. Our ideas evolve best in
conversation with others, and our efforts to keep current can spur our
own thoughts. The old adage to “write what you know”, while
unnecessarily restrictive when taken to extremes, does have a grain of
truth. What we know – what we learn from our professional activities –
informs both our writing and our thoughts about our profession in
general. Where we often fall short is in the assumption that there is one
right, and costly, way to remain engaged, when in fact any professional
today has multiple options for getting professionally involved.
These can be as simple as joining e-mail lists or taking workshops in your
area of interest, forming a book discussion group with colleagues,
PAGE 7
Stay the course
The more time you spend reading, thinking about the issues, and
interacting within your profession, the more you will find that ideas begin
to flow naturally. The more time you spend writing, the more often you will
find that your own writing and reading and experiences spark new ideas.
As in all other aspects of our careers, our confidence and knowledge
base as writers build on all of our previous experiences. If you remain
open to the possibilities, you will find that you start facing the opposite
problem of too many ideas, too little time.
See you in Schenectady!
Working with co-authors
Working with one or more co-authors can be a great way to ease into the
writing process; what better comfort than having someone with whom to
share the work and responsibilities? Working with an established coauthor, whether you approach them or they approach you, can help you
get published in the professional literature, as their name recognition and
familiarity with the process help break down barriers.
Working with any co-author can help produce a stronger work, as you
rely on multiple strengths, benefit from another pair of eyes, and
approach problems from different directions. The academic literature in
particular lends itself to collaborative work and research; take a look at
the literature in your field with an eye to which articles are co-written and
whether the research and/or writing seems to benefit.
Before you jump into collaboration, though, there are a few factors to
consider.
Picking partners
Or, how do you find someone – or multiple someones – to work with?
Look for co-authors first among your colleagues, whether within your
institution, an association, or on-line. Working on a project together?
Suggest that you collaborate to write an article about it. Arguing a hot
topic on an e-mail discussion list? Identify someone with similar views
whose writing you admire, and propose a collaboration. Have a
colleague who’s also seeking tenure? Think about co-authoring an
article, helping each other through both the tenure and writing process.
Be sure, though, to think long term. It’s tempting to invite a close
colleague or friend to write with you; after all, you know them, you know
their style and their background and their habits. Should you argue or
become frustrated during the creation of this work, however, remember
that you will still have to see this person every day when your project is
done. Also, be careful not to pick a co-author based solely on your
friendship with them. You may get along great, but this doesn’t mean that
she can write, or that you can work on an extended project together.
Step back and look objectively at any potential co-authors’ strengths and
weaknesses. Can you work together? Can they write? Do your writing
and work styles seem to mesh? Do they meet deadlines? Are they
interested in your topic; have they done previous work in the area?
What if someone invites you to collaborate with them? If you’re new to
professional publication, you may be tempted to say “yes” to every
opportunity, and this can be a great way to get started. Before agreeing,
though, do take some time to evaluate your potential co-author (and
project). Is this someone you can work with? Why do they want to work
with you? Are you inherently interested in the project, research, or topic
they are proposing? Have they published before? Where? On what
topics?
Breaking up the work
Or, who will do what? Will you divide all the work equally, each doing half
(or a third of, or…) the research, half the writing? Does one person have
better access to research databases, or does one person’s strength lie
in editing rather than in writing? Will you have a team conducting
research, but pick just one or two lead authors? Who will write the
abstract, be the contact person for editors, be responsible for any
revisions?
Lay down responsibilities and boundaries before you start, so that each
person has a clear idea of what he or she is supposed to do, and stick
to your end of the agreement. For a large-scale project, such as a book
manuscript, you may even want to lay everything down in writing.
Sweating the small stuff
Or, how do you work out the details? As in any relationship, seemingly
insignificant points can strain co-author arrangements. The best way to
avoid complications? Establish ground rules from the very beginning.
Think about:
• Who’s listed first on the finished work? This may seem silly, but can
take on importance in tenure reviews and promotion. Decide whose
name comes first based on who needs credit the most, alphabetical
order, who will be doing more work, picking names out of a hat – but
do decide, before you even start. If you co-author more than one
piece, think about taking turns.
• How will you manage workflow? If you’re collaborating with multiple
people at multiple institutions, you may wish to explore newer
electronic tools that enable group communication and collaboration.
Set up a temporary Yahoo! or Google group to manage e-mail
messages and share files. Think about using online word processing
services like Zoho Writer (http://www.zohowriter.com) or Google Docs
(http://docs.google.com), which allow each invited individual to edit
documents and provide easy rollback to previous versions.
• Who makes the money? For many publications, this won’t be an issue
– for those that pay, you’ll need to decide how to distribute the
proceeds. If you’ve broken down the work equally, you’ll want to share
any gains equally; if you’ve taken on different roles, you’ll need to work
out what seems fair.
Clarifying these issues at the beginning will save a lot of argument later.
Ending a partnership
Or, what do you do if things aren’t working out? If you and your coauthor(s) are working on a single project, see if you can stick it out until
the end, then chalk things up to lessons learned and resolve not to work
with that person again.
If you are working on a large project, such as a book-length manuscript,
and your co-author isn’t holding up her end of the deal, talk to her
honestly about it. See if other obligations have intruded; see if she might
be willing to renegotiate, back out, and take a flat fee and/or contributor
mention for her trouble so far. (Yes, this leaves you holding the bag for
the rest of the manuscript, but if she isn’t holding up her end you’d be
doing so anyway; cut the aggravation short.)
If you are working on an ongoing project, such as a monthly column or
blog, things get a little more complicated. See if you can stick it out until
the end of your contract, usually the end of the year. In the case of a more
informal arrangement, such as a blogging partnership, you’ll need to
work out the terms of a (hopefully) amicable separation. In this
discussion, focus on your need to move in a different direction rather
than on the ways in which your co-author has disappointed you; the
professional version of “it’s not you, it’s me”.
With just a few ground rules, though, working with others can help
jumpstart or reinvigorate your writing career. Keep your options open,
and keep on the lookout for others who share your passion for the
profession. If you find someone whose work meshes well with yours, this
might just be the beginning of a beautiful partnership.
PAGE 8
Amazing abstracts
Academic journals, conference organizers, and thesis committees often
require authors or presenters to provide abstracts of their work. On the
face of it, these short descriptions of the article’s intent and content seem
easy enough to create. Often, though, abstracts allow you only 100-300
words to get to the point of your article and to “sell” your work, requiring
you to think carefully about each bit of content you include.
Abstracts serve researchers and readers in several ways, including:
• Providing pre-publication information about a given work, which can
be useful for current awareness.
• Providing searchable text for electronic databases, which can
maximize the retrieval of a work by including specific key terminology.
• Providing a summary of a work, which can help researchers evaluate
the relevance of the full article (and decide whether to request it).
make yours more effective. As always, keep your intended audience and
publisher guidelines in mind. Welcome this opportunity to summarize
and sell your work; a well-designed abstract can help you sell your work
to an editor and convince researchers to read your published article.
“ ”
YOUR ABSTRACT IS YOUR ELEVATOR
SPEECH
Emerald was the first social sciences publisher to introduce the
“structured abstract”, which sets a consistent format for an abstract. It
provides the discipline required to ensure that your abstract is a clear
and concise “sales pitch” of your work.
Purpose of this paper
What are the reason(s) for writing the
paper or the aims of the research?
Who better to produce an abstract than you, its author? Who knows your
work best; who knows your main points and arguments? Unfortunately,
though, we are sometimes too close to our own work to gauge whether
we are creating an effective abstract. You will need to cultivate the ability
to step back and see whether your abstract serves all the purposes for
which it is intended.
Design/methodology/
approach
How are the objectives achieved?
Include the main method(s) used for
the research. What is the approach to
the topic and what is the theoretical or
subject scope of the paper?
The cheese stands alone
Findings
Always remember that your abstract needs to be able to stand alone,
apart from the work it describes. It may be the only piece of information
a researcher views about your work, or may be separated from the larger
work in a non-fulltext database. Readers need to be able to understand
your abstract without referring to the text of the full article.
What was found in the course of the
work? This will refer to analysis,
discussion, or results.
Research
limitations/implications (if
applicable)
If research is reported on in the paper
this section must be completed and
should include suggestions for future
research and any identified limitations
in the research process.
Practical implications (if
applicable)
What outcomes and implications for
practice, applications and
consequences are identified? Not all
papers will have practical implications
but most will. What changes to practice
should be made as a result of this
research/paper?
What is original/value of
paper
What is new in the paper? State the
value of the paper and to whom.
• Providing journal readers with information that helps them decide
whether it is worth their time to continue reading the full article.
For this reason, any abstract needs to be:
• Precise
• Concise
• Clearly structured
• Thorough.
“
”
CUT OUT EXCESS VERBIAGE
While abstracts are inherently short, precision and logic will allow you to
be thorough in incorporating the key concepts and content from your
work. This is not the place to go into detail on your methodology or
thoughts or process; merely present your main points as concisely as
possible. Be sure to include every main point. If you run out of room, you
may need to cut some less-necessary descriptive text. Think about using
active tense and cutting out excess verbiage; not only can this make your
writing stronger in general, but it can help you stay within word count
limits while still making your important points.
Components
Marketers stress the concept of the “elevator speech” or a clear, concise
description of your service or product that you can get out in the time it
takes to ride in an elevator with a stranger. Your abstract is your elevator
speech: make it intriguing enough so that people will want to spend more
time with you (your work). Understanding how and why researchers,
readers, and electronic databases make use of abstracts can help you
In addition, Emerald authors are required to categorize their paper
according to its type – there are seven to choose from:
Research paper – Papers which report on any type of research
undertaken by the author(s). The research may involve the construction
or testing of a model or framework, action research, testing of data,
market research or surveys, empirical, scientific or clinical research.
Viewpoint – content here is dependent on the author’s opinion and
interpretation, should be included in this category; this also includes
journalistic pieces.
Technical paper – Describes and evaluates technical products,
processes or services.
PAGE 9
Conceptual paper – will not be based on research but will develop and
test hypotheses. The papers are likely to be discursive and will cover
philosophical discussions and comparative studies of others’ work and
thinking.
Case study – Describes actual interventions or experiences within
organizations. They may well be subjective and will not generally report
on research. A description of a legal case or a hypothetical case study
used as a teaching exercise would also fit into this category.
Literature review – This category should only be used if the main purpose
of the paper is to annotate and/or critique the literature in a particular
subject area. It may be a selective bibliography providing advice on
information sources or it may be comprehensive in that the paper’s aim
is to cover the main contributors to the development of a topic and
explore their different views.
General review – Covers those papers which provide an overview or
historical examination of some concept, technique or phenomena. The
papers are likely to be more descriptive or instructional (“how to” papers)
than discursive.
PAGE 10
“
INCREASE THE FINDABILITY AND
CITATION OF YOUR WORK
”
Some journals will ask that your abstract include a separate list of
important keywords and key phrases that can later be used in indexing
and retrieving your article. Others will ask that you incorporate these into
the body of the abstract itself. Again, following directions here will
increase the later findability (and therefore the use and citation) of your
work.
Each of these components is important in an effective abstract. Given
limited space, focus most heavily on your main findings and conclusions,
since these will be most interesting to later researchers. If your publisher
provides guidance on which components they want to see or on which
they want you to stress, follow their rules.
Spinning straw into gold
Effective professional authors often learn to make their work do double
duty, cultivating the ability to share their ideas and content among
multiple formats. If you have ever written an essay, researched a paper
for class, or prepared a presentation, you now have useful content you
can translate into another medium. The question then becomes how best
to take this material and transform it into a publishable paper.
First, step back, take a deep breath, and realize that you have already
conquered the most significant hurdle in any publishing effort: you have
content; you have ideas; you have something to say. Secondly, though,
realize you may have to let go of some parts you treasure to be able to
adapt your work successfully to a new format. Be willing to approach
your existing work with a fresh eye; depending on the project, you may
even need to reduce your paper or presentation down to its core outline
and start almost from scratch.
“
BE WILLING TO APPROACH EXISTING
WORK WITH A FRESH EYE
”
The sections below highlight several main ways that authors tend to
rework existing content into publishable articles, with tips for success on
each.
Presentations
Presentations differ from published articles in a number of major ways:
• Visual cues. When you present on a given topic, you may be
accustomed to having PowerPoint slides or other visual material to
back you up, which is not always applicable in the written medium.
• Audience interaction. When speaking in front of an audience, you have
the advantage of a certain amount of give and take. If people look
puzzled, you know you need to backtrack and explain yourself better.
If people are nodding in agreement, you know you have struck a
chord. In a written work, your audience is further removed, and you
lack this sort of instant feedback.
• Gaps. When you speak to an audience, you automatically fill in the
gaps from your slides, notes, or other material. (Good speakers soon
learn not to write their talks down word-for-word!)
Converting a presentation to a publishable work requires you to
compensate for the lack of these cues, filling in the gaps where
necessary and giving your readers the background to understand your
main points. You might tend to put in verbal transitions automatically, for
example, but need to make a conscious effort to work them into the
written product.
Rather than trying to directly convert your presentation to an article, you
may wish to reduce it down to its main ideas, then use these as an outline
for your written work. This lets you see where the gaps are, but also gives
you a structure to work from, rather than needing to start your article
entirely from scratch.
Also understand that, when presenting on a project or on research you
have completed, you may tend to skimp somewhat on background and
methodology in order to keep the attention of your audience: some
things translate less well into the verbal medium. When making the move
to print, though, you will need to fill in all of this background for your
reviewer, editor, and readers.
“
RATHER THAN TRYING TO DIRECTLY
CONVERT YOUR PRESENTATION TO AN
ARTICLE, YOU MAY WISH TO REDUCE IT
DOWN TO ITS MAIN IDEAS, THEN USE THESE
AS AN OUTLINE FOR YOUR WRITTEN
WORK
”
Research papers
Writers of papers for school have an advantage in that they have often
been required to research and document their work. Papers, however,
differ from publishable articles in several ways:
• Tone. School papers are often easily identified as such; students get
in a certain mode of writing that serves them well from college through
graduate school. When moving to the professional literature, you will
need to pay attention to the tone of a given journal and identify how it
differs from your own.
• Style. When you write a paper for class, you address a particular
professor, who tends to make his preferences clearly known. When
writing for a journal, you will need to adapt your material to follow their
guidelines rather than those laid out by your instructor.
• Content. Professional journals are often more strict in the content that
they require from their authors, asking for every article to contain
specific elements. If your initial paper lacks one or more of these
elements, you will need to add them in prior to submitting your work
for publication.
If, as a student, you are interested in publishing your work, keep this
thought in mind as early as when researching a paper for class. Hold on
to additional material and ideas that might not fit into your initial
assignment; this research and notes may be useful when later reworking
your paper for publication.
Think also about asking your professor for assistance. Most have
experience with the publishing process, and many will be willing to share
tips and advice with students. Get their honest opinion as to whether your
paper might be revisable for the professional literature; get their
feedback on areas they would change or beef up.
Essays
Essays also differ from professional articles, in:
• Style. Essays are generally opinion-based, and may or may not be
grounded in research, data, or a larger project. Those that are solely
opinion may not translate well into a larger article, but can spark an
idea for later professional publication.
• Tone. Essays are often more casual in tone than the articles that tend
to get published in the professional literature. You’ll need to rework
your phraseology and approach for most publications, adopting a
more formal tone.
If you have written an essay, whether for publication, for a blog, for
personal clarification, or for class, you need to take a hard look at
PAGE 11
whether its content will effectively translate to publication in a
professional journal. If your original essay relies more on opinion than on
research, it may belong on an opinion page or in a more general
professional magazine.
“
YOUR ARTICLE, EVEN IF ACCEPTED, MAY
NOT APPEAR IN PRINT FOR A YEAR
”
If your essay stems from a larger project, you will again need to step
back and think about starting from close to the beginning. You may be
able to use material from your essay in certain sections of your journal
PAGE 12
article, but will need first to fill in a lot of gaps; these are very different
types of writing.
Lastly, recognize in all of these efforts the inherent differences between
journal publishing and other types of professional participation. Those
used to receiving timely feedback on papers or instant feedback on
presentations must reconcile themselves to the drawn-out review
process; realize that each step may take months, and that your article,
even if accepted, may not appear in print for a year. Think of these
activities as complementary; each fills in a piece of your career.
Time keeps on ticking ...
Busy people often complain that they lack the time to devote to building
a publishing career. The very thought of producing lengthy peer-reviewed
articles, reading books in time to write reviews on deadline, creating and
conducting valid research studies, or investing the time into finishing a
book-length manuscript gives them nightmares. In other cases, a bad
first project that took over their lives for a time makes them reluctant to
repeat the experience.
All evidence to the contrary, though, most writers do indeed lead busy
lives outside their prose, taking the time to hold down day jobs, raise
children, pursue hobbies, eat dinner, and maybe even read a book or two
every once in a while. So, where do successful writers find the time, and
how do they achieve balance? The suggestions below will be most
applicable to those who want to make writing for their profession a
regular part of their careers. If you are on the tenure track and just looking
to publish a couple of articles, or simply interested in contributing
occasionally as the muse or mood strikes, then you will want to scale
down this approach to match your needs.
Get consistent
Julia Cameron offers the concept of “morning pages”, where you get up
each morning and write at least three longhand, freeflowing pages on
any topic, without judging or editing or criticizing your own work. While
this often works well as an unblocking technique for fiction writers,
something similar, whether you call it morning pages or freewriting, can
work for you, too.
Your writing muscles get out of shape just like any others, and the best
way to ensure that you are able to write consistently and reasonably
quickly is to... well... keep writing consistently and reasonably quickly.
Write something every single day. It doesn’t all have to be publication
quality, it doesn’t even have to be related to your profession – but it does
have to be down on paper or on screen.
“
WRITE SOMETHING EVERY SINGLE DAY. IT
DOESN’T ALL HAVE TO BE PUBLICATION
QUALITY
”
This is one good use for a blog or other self-publishing venture, although
do beware of letting your work out on-line in too rough a form. You can
also write longhand or on your own PC for personal consumption and
never let your scratchwork see the light of day. You may be surprised,
though, at how many ideas find eventual fruition or by how many
thoughts you manage to work out, just by consistently writing them
down. You will also be surprised by how pleasantly your work can flow
when you make it part of your everyday life rather than consistently
procrastinating until deadline.
Stop and do the maths for a minute. One doublespaced typed page is
about 250 words. If you wrote just one double-spaced typed page every
single day for one year, you’d have 91,250 words! If you got ambitious and
wrote two pages a day, you could take some time out for spring break,
having the flu, taking Saturdays off, or just plain old mental recovery time –
and still end up having written comfortably over 100,000 words.
If numerical goals make you uncomfortable, try setting aside specific
blocks of time instead. Do you have half an hour free each morning? An
hour at night before going to bed? An hour when the kids are napping or
when cartoons are on? Call this block your writing time, turn down the
ringer on the phone, make it clear what constitutes an emergency where
people can bother you (house on fire) and what does not (can’t find the
grape juice).
Of course, most of these daily words may not be publishable in their
original form. But, how many usable articles could you distil out of this
work? How many of these pages might turn into ideas that later see the
light of day, even if the original iteration justifiably disappears forever? Try
devoting half your time to writing and half to editing and organizing your
existing content, or half to writing and half to researching and collecting
ideas. Find the balance that works best for you.
Get organized
One problem we have in maximizing our time comes when we fail to
organize the work that underlies our writing. Julie Hood’s “Files, Piles,
and Stacks...Get Organized for 2005” (http://www.writersweekly.
com/this_weeks_article/002316_01052005.html)
gives
some
suggestions for organizing ongoing writing projects that will be especially
useful to anyone working on more than one project at a time. Use,
though, any system that works for you and enables you to put your finger
quickly on a needed piece of information, or to recall items you have read
or skimmed and wanted to keep for future reference. The main point of
organizing is to reduce the time you spend finding the content you need
to do your work, and increase the time you have to spend actually writing.
Think also of your everyday efforts to keep current as research. Clip
articles for future reference, bookmark web sites and blog entries, and
organize these in a manner that will let you recall them when needed.
Get going!
You’ve written, you’ve organized – now, how to turn this flow of
productivity into publishable work? After taking a month or two to simply
write, the first skill you will need to develop is the ability to let go. Look at
your piles of papers and pages and words. Some will be duplicative – of
each other, of something you just read in the literature. Some will be
confusing – what were you thinking when you wrote that? Some will have
seemed important at the time, but now not necessarily worth the effort to
pursue.
Pull out the parts that still interest you, that contain the gem of an idea,
or that, in wonderful but rarer cases, contain the bones of a full-fledged
article or book proposal. Now you have the genesis for creating
publishable work; you have ideas written down that you can expand
upon, combine, and otherwise use. It is always more difficult to start from
scratch than to take the usable sentences, paragraphs, or even
fragments from your previous writing and expand them into a complete
work. Consciously perpetuate this writing cycle, and you will be able to
make the most of the time you have available – and should never run out
of ideas!
PAGE 13
Selling your work, selling yourself
In order to be published in the professional literature, you need to
develop the ability to sell your ideas to editors. Thinking in terms of
“selling,” especially if you are writing for peer-reviewed publications, can
seem strange. The reality, though, is that you are selling yourself and your
ideas whenever you put your ideas or your work out there. Your ultimate
goal is to convince an editor that your work is appropriate for him to
publish; you do so by marketing yourself. You can think of effective
marketing as a variation on the old “who, what, when, where, why and
how” series of questions:
Who – are you? Show that you are the right person to write the article,
book, or other work.
What – is the work about? Be able to explain it succinctly yet accurately.
When – should the work appear; is it topical now; will it be topical by the
time it appears in print?
Where – is the best place for this work to appear; can you picture it in this
journal or among this publisher’s offerings?
Why – should an editor publish it?
How – is it appropriate for the readers of this journal or target audience
of this publisher?
Before you can even think about selling your idea or your work to an
editor, you need to be able to sell it to yourself. Devote time to thinking
and talking about your topic, bounce ideas off colleagues, and take the
time you need to clarify your thoughts. If you are unable to summarize the
subject of your book or article or work in a couple of sentences when
talking to a colleague, you probably lack the focus to sell it to an editor.
Effective query letters
When you write for non-peer-reviewed publications, you will often be
asked to submit a query letter describing the topic, focus and content of
your proposed article before actually sitting down to write the piece. This
saves you from taking the time to complete a whole article and then
finding out it is inappropriate for, or unwanted by, a given publication.
Calls for queries for Rachel’s electronic newsletter, Info Career Trends,
often attract incomplete, oddly formatted, and inappropriate
submissions. Although potential contributors are enthusiastic, it is hard
to tell from their messages what they want to write about or why they
might be qualified. Although they have interesting ideas, their topics
often fail to fit into the scope and tone of the publication.
One query recently received read, in its entirety: “I’d like to write for the
next issue, so send me the deadline.” This is less a query letter than a
demand, with no indication who the potential author is, what he plans to
write about, or why their work should be published. Another aspiring
author sent, in its entirety, a 20-page footnoted academic article.
Publication guidelines at Info Career Trends call for 1,000-word
conversational articles around thematic issues. Neither of these
approaches made a positive impression.
Before writing your query letter, take time to look at a publication, any
back issues or articles it makes available, and its contributor guidelines.
Think about the “who, what, when, where, why and how” series of
questions above, and have your answers formulated – your letter will then
pretty much write itself! Query letters in many ways parallel the cover
letters you write when seeking employment; you show how you match a
publication outlet’s needs, just as you would show how you match an
PAGE 14
employer’s needs. If sending a paper query, keep it to a page, and keep
e-mailed queries similarly brief; practise selling yourself and your work
concisely and effectively.
Effective cover letters
When you publish in the peer-reviewed literature, you will instead of a
query letter often be asked to submit a finished piece of work with a cover
letter and/or abstract that summarizes its content and goals as
discussed in the amazing abstracts section. An abstract briefly
summarizes the purpose of your paper, your methodology, your
argument and your conclusion(s). Here again, the practice you went
through in learning to describe your topic succinctly to colleagues will
come in handy.
In your cover letter, describe your article briefly, and supply any important
information. Are you submitting it for a particular section of the journal, a
special issue, or an upcoming thematic issue? For a multi-authored work,
identify one contact author and include full contact information; this
person will be responsible for any communications with the editor. If the
publisher’s guidelines ask for specific verbiage to be included in the
cover letter (for example, assigning copyright to the journal), be sure to
do so – and be sure you know what you are agreeing to.
Effective book proposals
The content and format of your book proposal will vary, depending on the
guidelines of your target publisher. Most supply detailed proposal
outlines on-line; be sure to follow a given publisher’s format and style
when submitting yours. Each, though, asks for similar basic elements.
These often include items such as: a description of the proposed work
(more practice in succinctly summarizing your topic!), an annotated table
of contents, a biographical statement, a sample chapter and/or other
writing samples, a description of the potential market, a list of competing
works, and delivery details.
Potential authors are often intimidated by the length of a book proposal
and the amount of work required with no guarantee of success. It may
help, though, to look at a proposal as merely a lengthier version of a
query letter, covering the same “who, what, when, where, why and how”
type of questions. Its greater length is appropriate, given the greater
commitment you and a publisher are making to one another in working
together on a book-length project.
Working on a proposal, further, can help you clarify and organize your
own thoughts about your potential book. The process of creating the
table of contents and describing the work will help you determine if you
really do have a book-length idea, or whether your topic might be better
off as an article.
Effective selling
As in any other aspect of publishing, you improve your odds of success
by giving editors what they are looking for and remaining professional in
all of your communications. This is especially important in an initial
communication, such as a query, cover letter, or book proposal – these
offer your best chance at making a good first impression. Put the same
thought into these documents as into your other writing; if an editor sees
that you can create an effective letter or proposal, she will be more likely
to take a chance on your longer work.
Improving your writing, step by step
Many authors assume that editors will take care of any problems with
their writing, so pay less attention than they should to points like
grammar and flow. Others assume that professional writing requires a
more formal style, which they interpret as wordy and convoluted. Neither
assumption is entirely true; editors appreciate writers who make their job
easier. Delight your own editors by putting an effort into making your
writing flow.
The steps below will help you say what you mean and mean what you
say. Taking the time to follow these simple suggestions will also help
readers focus on content rather than form, paying attention to what you
say, rather than how you say it. Passive, awkward prose hampers
readers’ understanding and pulls their attention from the points you
actually wish to make.
Those writing in English will benefit most from this process, although the
overall goal of straightforward and concise writing remains the same in
any language. Tighten up your writing with these five steps and let your
unique voice shine through.
The steps
1) Go through your work and reword sentences to remove half of the
“being” verbs (am, is, are, was, were, be, being, been).
One high school English teacher made his class write five-page papers
– the height of cruelty, to a sophomore – without using a single “being”
verb. (Try it sometime, as an interesting exercise!) You don’t have to
eschew these verbs entirely in your professional writing, but should use
them sparingly, and repeat this step as necessary.
Note the difference between:
“What is lacking in these materials is…”
and
“These materials lack…”
The first tells you about the materials’ state of being, the second tells you
what the materials are doing. Repetitive being verbs make your writing
drag; give your work an instant makeover by making the switch to action
verbs. Doesn’t “to act” sound immediately more interesting than “to be?”
2) Go through your work and change your sentences to active voice.
Which sounds more straightforward?
“Research will be presented by this paper’s authors at next month’s
conference.”
or
“We will present our research at next month’s conference.”
Using active voice helps your writing really pop, and this step in itself
helps eliminate “being” verbs from your prose. Again, which sounds
more natural?
“Many issues must be considered before…”
or
“We need to consider many issues before…”
Passive voice is just that: passive. Overuse of passive voice weakens
your prose and lengthens your sentences, tending to bore and confuse
readers. Use it as sparingly as you do being verbs.
Note, however, that some academic publishing outlets do encourage use
of passive voice in certain contexts, as a way to remove personal
pronouns and other identifying information from the subjects of
sentences. In these cases, passive voice is meant to convey objectivity,
demonstrating that the article contains factual information rather than
biased viewpoints. When in doubt, match your writing to the commonlyaccepted style of your chosen publisher – always, though, with an eye
towards overuse.
3) Go through your work and cut out any excess verbiage.
Watching out for wordiness both encourages you to use active tense and
helps rid your writing of those pesky “being” verbs. Note the difference
between:
“The reason XYZ works well is because…”
and
“XYZ works well because…”
or between:
“What is involved in XYZ is…”
and
“XYZ involves…”
or even between:
“A large percentage of the population uses…”
and
“Many people use…”
If you notice a sentence beginning to stretch out, think about how to
reword it. See if you can preserve meaning while slashing word count.
Lengthy sentences, again, tend to confuse readers: they lose your point
by the time they reach the end. Read a lengthy sentence aloud to see if
you lose your own train of thought, then take the time to shrink it.
4) Don’t use a fancy word when a plain word will do.
Why say “utilize” when you can say “use” – especially given that the two
words have slightly different meanings? Fancier terminology doesn’t
necessarily make you seem more educated; just say what you mean,
and avoid overusing terms you’d be unlikely to use in everyday life.
This also goes for jargon: go through any manuscript with an eye out for
excessive jargon (including acronyms!) that your readers may not
understand. Remember that your work may be read by newer
professionals or those more familiar with a different branch of the field.
Define unfamiliar terms, and use jargon only as needed, not just to help
you feel like an insider.
5) Make sure everything agrees.
Think back to your high school English classes here. (Yes, back to basics
yet again.) Make sure your subjects and their verbs get along. And, while
you’re at it, keep your tenses consistent. Overall, avoid jarring
inconsistencies that cause your reader to stop and think about
agreement rather than content.
That grammar checker in Microsoft Word? Don’t bother with it; your
prose will come out worse than it went in. You can be your own grammar
checker, and can always enlist another pair of eyes if you need a second
opinion.
If, after all this, you need to feel better about your own writing, check out
the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest (“where www means Wretched Writers
Welcome”) at http://www.bulwer-lytton.com. This humorous literary
competition challenges writers to come up with the opening sentence to
“the worst of all possible novels” and you can view the winning entries
on-line. It takes some serious effort to be the “worst”, so go read, and
take heart!
PAGE 15
What if? Overcoming writer’s remorse
Writer’s remorse: all writers have had it. As soon as we send in an article,
we have a flash of inspiration about the perfect hook we could have used
to snare readers’ attention. As soon as a book is on its way to the printer,
we run across the perfect source to shore up its weakest spot. As soon
as we turn in a manuscript, we have an epiphany about the perfect
section we could have included – had we only thought of it earlier. As
soon as we see the final version in print, we cringe at an unfortunate word
choice here, an incomplete train of thought there.
“
WRITER’S REMORSE HITS AT THE
CENTRE OF OUR INSECURITIES ABOUT OUR
WORK – OUR WORDS
”
It’s natural to second-guess ourselves; writer’s remorse being merely
one manifestation. The fact that we can think, remember, and envision
alternative scenarios is part of what makes us human. We’ve all thought
of the perfect comeback to a days-old insult, dreamed about another
path we could have taken and where we could be now. Writer’s remorse,
though, hits at the centre of our insecurities about putting our work –
more than that, our words – out there for others to see. In order to
overcome our insecurities and go on as writers, we need to gain some
perspective on what part of this is really under our control.
Purchasing perspective
Try this exercise: pick an author in their field whose work you admire, one
who has been writing for at least ten years. Read a recent piece or two,
taking note of topic, writing style, voice and where the work appears.
Now, go back three to five years and pick another couple of pieces. Look
at the same aspects. Lastly, go back another three to five years. Would
you know this was the same writer? How have their approach, their
topics, their publication outlets changed over time? Has her distinct voice
emerged over time, or was it present from the outset?
Next, pick someone who has been writing for the past twenty years. Look
at his recent work, then go back ten years, fifteen, and twenty. How do
you see his work evolving over the years?
out, why compare yourself to someone who has been writing for years?
Everything you write, everything you work on, helps create your own
unique voice and style, helps hone your writing muscles so that your
voice can shine through. A simple shift in perception helps move early
writing from the category of “mistake” to that of “building block” – as
does the recognition that we are generally our own harshest critics.
The best way to sidestep writer’s remorse, though, is always to have that
next project in mind. When we are busy writing, researching, or thinking
about our next article, we have less time to wallow in “could’ve, would’ve,
should’ve” from the last one. Yes, some of us only have one article, one
book, or one idea in us; in others, inspiration strikes but rarely. If,
however, you have the ambition to call yourself a writer, if you have the
need to publish widely for tenure or promotion purposes, if you have a
flood of ideas waiting to take shape, you have the perfect antidote. Best
of all, your work on that next project, that next article, hones your writing
that much more – as your writing improves and your unique style takes
shape, bouts of writer’s remorse will become fewer and further between.
Remorse for the rest of us
All of us, no matter the volume or frequency of our writing, can battle
writer’s remorse pre-emptively. Regardless of how long you have been
writing or how often your work appears, you are more likely to secondguess your own work when you know you have failed to put in your best
effort. Much of the time, our remorse stems from the guilty knowledge
that we could have – should have – done better.
“
ENSURE THAT ALL YOUR WORK IS YOUR
BEST EFFORT
”
If you wait till the last minute and dash something off for a waiting editor,
you are sure to regret it in the morning. If you get tired of looking at a
given piece and send in an unfortunately rough draft, it will fail to
miraculously polish itself up in transit. While not a sure-fire cure, avoiding
sure-fire paths to remorse increases our odds of being able to take pride
in our work.
Buying time
One well-known business book says (in so many words): “Sell like hell,
do the work, take the money.” In writing, as in business, it can be a lot
more fun to sell (to get others excited about our fabulous ideas), and to
take the money (or résumé fodder or recognition), than to spend time on
the nitty-gritty details of writing. Neglecting this middle bit, though, pretty
much obviates the whole point; there is only so much selling we can do
before our failure to really do the work leaves the rest right out.
Now that we are done dissecting others, let’s get back to you and your
writing. The above heavy-handed exercise should, if nothing else, show
that people’s writing naturally changes over time. If you are just starting
Writing is indeed work! Again, as in business, the key to satisfaction is to
find the work that is personally rewarding, interesting, and challenging, to
do it well, and to expend your energy where it is important and needed.
Now, just for fun, pick someone who has just started writing recently.
Make the same notes about their work. How do you envision their topics,
style, voice, and choice of outlets changing over the next five years? The
next ten? Keep an eye out for their writing and see whether they match
your expectations over time.
PAGE 16
Getting published in Emerald journals
If you are researching, teaching or consulting in management, or if you
are yourself a manager with something to say... Emerald’s aim is to be
the first choice as a publisher for you.
With over 200 journals in publication, mainly in business management
and strategy, but also covering economics, property research, materials
science, librarianship and policing, Emerald can probably offer a
publication which fits your area of interest.
We believe that business research should be applied to the business
world, and that it must communicate to managers in organizations. This
means that we actively encourage applied research, case description
and qualitative discussion and analysis as well as quantitatively based
papers.
As well as established researchers, we encourage new researchers and
first-time authors. We provide information which is aimed at making the
scholarly publishing process accessible to a wide audience.
We believe in the value of authors from a wide range of nationalities,
cultures and contexts. Although we only currently publish in the English
language we encourage contributions from around the world. A few
recent issues including our founding publication, Management Decision,
feature papers from France, the UK, The Netherlands, Australia, Hong
Kong, USA, Canada, Scotland and Kuwait. Similarly, we encourage
papers on management and management-related issues from other
disciplines and professions, sociology, anthropology, science,
philosophy, psychology and so on.
And we believe in our authors. We offer pragmatic, realistic and forwardlooking attitudes on copyright. The Emerald Literati Network is a unique
service that provides unmatched benefits for authors – something which
has grown from prolonged investment over the years in our relationships
with the research community. We distribute our titles through a range of
electronic media (as well as traditional print format) which gives very wide
dissemination into universities and businesses world-wide. In 2008,
nearly 18 million Emerald articles were downloaded by researchers,
scholars and managers world-wide – that’s one every two seconds!
Publishing in Emerald journals offers a wide range of benefits:
Span across theory and practice
• The research and theory of academia
Multimedia publication
• In print
• In Emerald Full text databases
• In major indexing and abstracting services
Global verification of your work via
• Peer review
• ISO 9001:2000 – certified production
• 40 Emerald journals ranked in the Thomson Reuters (formerly ISI)
Citation Indices
Freedom
• Self-archive
• Re-publishing without asking permission
• Emerald Author’s Charter
Eligibility
• Best paper awards
• Research funding
• Outstanding Doctoral Research Awards –
www.emeraldinsight.com/awards
Easy submission
• Online interface
• Template for the composition of structured abstracts
• Online copyright assignment
• Manuscript tracking through the review process
Post-p
publication
• The action and decision of practice
• Free copy of the journal issue in which you were published
• Research you can use
• Free article reprints
PAGE 17
Emerald’s Author’s Charter
Emerald – the international publisher of choice for
researchers and practitioners
Your moral rights as an author
Emerald's mission is to be the international publisher of choice for
researchers and practitioners in management, business, library
sciences, engineering and related fields. We will do so by adding value
throughout the publication process and investing in new technologies to
increase dissemination of knowledge. We aim always to work in
partnership with our contributing authors and promote their best
interests.
• to be acknowledged as the author of your work and receive due
respect and credit for it
Copyright principles
Emerald Group Publishing Limited seeks to retain copyright of the
articles it publishes, without the author giving up their rights to use their
own material. Authors are not required to seek Emerald's permission to
reuse their own work. As an author with Emerald you can use your paper
in part or in full, including figures and tables if you want to do so in a
book, in another article written for us or another publisher, on your web
site, or in any other way, without asking us first. We believe that this
copyright policy benefits our authors by ensuring that we can:
• Develop our electronic publications and their delivery to meet
customer needs and create maximum dissemination of authors' work.
Emerald represents and protects moral rights as follows:
• to be able to object to derogatory treatment of your work
• not to have your work plagiarized by others.
The Emerald Literati Network
The Emerald Literati Network is a unique service for authors, which
provides an international network of scholars and practitioners who write
for our publications. Membership is a free and unique service for authors.
It provides:
• A dedicated area of the Emerald web site for authors
• Resources and support in publishing your research
• Free registration of yourself and your work, and access to the details
of potential research partners in Emerald Research Connections
• The opportunity to post and receive relevant calls for papers
• Information on publishing developments
• Awards for outstanding scholarship
• Protect authors' moral rights and their work from plagiarism, unlawful
copying and any other infringement of copyright.
• Usage information on authors, themes, titles and regions
• Recoup copyright fees from reproduction rights organizations to
reinvest in new initiatives and author/user services, such as the
Research Fund Awards and the Outstanding Doctoral Research
Awards.
Awards for Excellence
Provide an efficient service for permissions.
Our responsibility to you
Emerald takes its responsibilities to both its existing and potential
authors very seriously. Every effort is made to provide the service that
most fully meets your publishing requirements for:
• Quality journals
• Peer review, where stated
• Editorial excellence
• Due respect and credit for your work
• Global readership for your work.
Your rights as an author
Emerald believes that as an author you have the right to expect your
publisher to deliver:
• Access to tips and tools on how to promote your work further.
The Emerald Literati Network's renowned annual Awards for Excellence
for the most outstanding papers published during the preceding year
encourage editorial excellence and scholarship by public
acknowledgement and reward of the effort, commitment to quality and
high standards of the authors and editors who publish with us.
Wide dissemination
Emerald invests considerable time and resources to ensure that your
work reaches an international audience and is published to a high
standard of excellence, in both print and electronic format:
• Our journals are included in widely used citation indices, abstracting
services and subscription agents’ electronic access services
• We provide electronic access and search facilities to subscribers in
the Emerald database, ensuring that your work is available to all our
customers 24 hours a day
• We achieve wide dissemination of authors' work beyond distribution
via subscription through licensing to reputable third parties.
• An efficient and courteous publishing service at all times
While seeking to maximize dissemination of articles, Emerald is
committed to providing readers with the correct attributions to papers:
• Prompt acknowledgement of correspondence and manuscripts
received at Emerald
• We will not under any circumstances republish papers without
attribution in Emerald journals
• Prompt notification of publication details
• We would only republish with attribution with the written agreement of
the Director responsible for editorial policy.
• A high professional standard of accuracy and clarity of presentation
• A complimentary journal issue in which your article appeared plus
article reprints
• A premium service for permission and reprint requests.
Promoting your rights
Assigning copyright of your work to Emerald allows us to act on your
behalf to:
PAGE 18
• promote your rights
• facilitate dissemination of your work by granting permission for
educational use or re-publication
• target other Emerald journals whose readership would benefit from
access to your work
• endeavour to protect your work from any infringement of your rights
which is brought to our attention.
It does not, in any way, restrict your right or academic freedom to
contribute to the wider distribution and readership of your work. This
includes the right to:
in an Emerald journal (to which Emerald holds the copyright) to assist
your teaching, provided that they are not for resale.
To assist us in publishing your work
In order to provide faster and more accurate processing of your
manuscripts through the editorial, review and publishing process, we ask
that you:
• Carefully read the author guidelines of the journal to which you submit
your work
• Carefully check for spelling, grammar and syntax
1. Distribute photocopies of the published version of your article to
students and colleagues for teaching/educational purposes within
your university or externally.
• Ensure that your references are carefully and accurately cited in
Harvard style (name, date)
2. Reproduce your article, including peer review/editorial changes, in
another journal, as content in a book of which you are the author, in a
thesis, dissertation or in any other record of study, in print or electronic
format as required by your university or for your own career
development.
• Promptly address any revisions as specified by editors and reviewers
3. Deposit an electronic copy of your own final version of your article, preor post-print, on your own or institutional web site. The electronic copy
cannot be deposited at the stage of acceptance by the Editor.
Authors are requested to cite the original publication source of their work
and link to the published version – but are not required to seek Emerald's
permission with regard to the personal reuse of their work as described
above. Emerald never charges its authors for reuse of any of their own
published works. Emerald does not allow systematic archiving of works
by third parties into an institutional or subject repository.
In addition, the Premium Permissions Service for Emerald authors
entitles you to make up to 25 photocopies of any single article published
PAGE 19
• Ensure that the work is original and free from copyright encumbrances
• Submit your manuscript in the format specified by the editor or in the
author guidelines
• Complete, sign and return the Journal Article Record (JAR) form and
include any authorization for the inclusion of copyright materials in
your article
• Keep us informed of any change in your contact details and areas of
interest.
To discuss any aspect of this Charter please contact:
Emerald Literati Network,
Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Howard House, Wagon Lane,
Bingley BD16 1WA, United Kingdom
Telephone +44 (0)1274 777700
E-mail: [email protected]
May 2008
Emerald Management journals:
an overview
Business and management is the world’s most studied academic
subject at both Bachelor’s and Master’s degree levels. Emerald’s
portfolio represents the leading collection of business and management
journals in the world – and it continues to grow. Emerald Management
Journals as at January 2009:
Accounting, Finance and Legal
Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal
Accounting Research Journal
Asian Review of Accounting
International Journal of Accounting & Information Management
International Journal of Islamic and Middle Eastern Finance and Management
International Journal of Managerial Finance
Journal of Accounting & Organizational Change
Journal of Applied Accounting Research
Journal of Financial Crime
Journal of Financial Regulation and Compliance
Journal of Human Resource Costing & Accounting
Journal of Investment Compliance
Journal of Islamic Accounting and Business Research
Journal of Money Laundering Control
Journal of Risk Finance, The
Managerial Auditing Journal
Managerial Finance
Pacific Accounting Review
Qualitative Research in Accounting & Management
Qualitative Research in Financial Markets
Review of Accounting and Finance
Studies in Economics and Finance
Sustainability Accounting, Management and Policy Journal
Computational Mathematics
COMPEL
Engineering Computations
International Journal of Numerical Methods for Heat & Fluid Flow
Economics
Agricultural Finance Review
China Agricultural Economic Review
Humanomics
Indian Growth and Development Review
International Journal of Development Issues
International Journal of Manpower
International Journal of Social Economics
Journal of Chinese Economic and Foreign Trade Studies
Journal of Economic Studies
Journal of Financial Economic Policy
Education
Campus-Wide Information Systems
International Journal of Educational Management
International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education
Journal of Educational Administration
Multicultural Education & Technology Journal
On the Horizon
Quality Assurance in Education
Electronics Manufacture and Packaging
Circuit World
Microelectronics International: An International Journal
Soldering & Surface Mount Technology
Enterprise and Innovation
Assembly Automation
Industrial Robot
International Journal of Intelligent Computing and Cybernetics
Rapid Prototyping Journal
Sensor Review
European Journal of Innovation Management
International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour & Research
International Journal of Gender and Entrepreneurship
Journal of Chinese Entrepreneurship
Journal of Enterprising Communities: People and Places in the Global Economy
Journal of Knowledge-based Innovation in China
Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development
Social Enterprise Journal
Built Environment
Health Care Management
Construction Innovation
Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management
Facilities
International Journal of Disaster Resilience in the Built Environment
International Journal of Housing Markets and Analysis
International Journal of Law in the Built Environment
Journal of Corporate Real Estate
Journal of Engineering, Design and Technology
Journal of European Real Estate Research
Journal of Facilities Management
Journal of Financial Management of Property and Construction
Journal of Place Management and Development
Journal of Property Investment & Finance
Property Management
Structural Survey
Human Resource Management
Advanced Automation
Business Ethics and Law
Corporate Governance
International Journal of Law and Management
Journal of Global Responsibility
Journal of International Trade Law and Policy
Social Responsibility Journal
Society and Business Review
Clinical Governance: An International Journal
Health Education
International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance
International Journal of Workplace Health Management
Journal of Health Organization and Management
Leadership in Health Services
Nutrition & Food Science
Career Development International
Employee Relations: The International Journal
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal
Gender in Management: An International Journal
Human Resource Management International Digest
Journal of Chinese Human Resource Management
Journal of Management Development
Journal of Managerial Psychology
Personnel Review
Strategic HR Review
Industry and Public Sector Management
British Food Journal
Disaster Prevention and Management: An International Journal
info
International Journal of Climate Change Strategies and Management
PAGE 20
International Journal of Energy Sector Management
International Journal of Public Sector Management
International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management
International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy
Journal of Service Management
Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies & Management
Transforming Government: People, Process and Policy
Information and Knowledge Management
Industrial Management & Data Systems
Information Management & Computer Security
Information Technology & People
Interactive Technology and Smart Education
International Journal of Pervasive Computing and Communications
International Journal of Web Information Systems
Internet Research
Journal of Enterprise Information Management
Journal of Information, Communication and Ethics in Society
Journal of Intellectual Capital
Journal of Knowledge Management
Journal of Systems and Information Technology
Kybernetes
Records Management Journal
VINE
International Business
African Journal of Economic and Management Studies
Baltic Journal of Management
Chinese Management Studies
Competitiveness Review: An International Business Journal
critical perspectives on international business
Cross Cultural Management: An International Journal
Education, Business and Society: Contemporary Middle Eastern Issues
EuroMed Journal of Business
European Business Review
International Journal of Commerce and Management
International Journal of Emerging Markets
Journal of Indian Business Research
Nankai Business Review International
Learning and Development
Development and Learning in Organizations: An International Journal
Education + Training
Industrial and Commercial Training
Journal of European Industrial Training
Journal of Workplace Learning
Training & Management Development Methods (print journal only)
Library and Information Studies
Aslib Proceedings
Bottom Line, The
Collection Building
Current Awareness Abstracts
Electronic Library, The
Interlending & Document Supply
Journal of Documentation
Library Hi Tech
Library Hi Tech News
Library Management
Library Review
New Library World
OCLC Systems & Services: International digital library perspectives
Online Information Review
Performance Measurement and Metrics
Program
Reference Reviews
Reference Services Review
Management Science/Management Studies
Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Administration
International Journal of Conflict Management
International Journal of Managing Projects in Business
Journal of Advances in Management Research
Journal of Management History
Journal of Modelling in Management
Management Decision
Management Research Review
Qualitative Research in Organizations and Management: An International Journal
PAGE 21
Managing Quality
Benchmarking: An International Journal
Business Process Management Journal
International Journal of Lean Six Sigma
International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management
Journal of Quality in Maintenance Engineering
Management of Environmental Quality: An International Journal
Managing Service Quality: An International Journal
TQM Journal, The
Marketing
Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics
Corporate Communications: An International Journal
European Journal of Marketing
International Journal of Bank Marketing
International Journal of Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Marketing
International Journal of Wine Business Research
International Marketing Review
Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing
Journal of Communication Management
Journal of Consumer Marketing
Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management: An International Journal
Journal of Historical Research in Marketing
Journal of Islamic Marketing
Journal of Product & Brand Management
Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing
Journal of Services Marketing
Marketing Intelligence & Planning
Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal
Young Consumers
Materials Science and Engineering
Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology: An International Journal
Anti-Corrosion Methods and Materials
Industrial Lubrication and Tribology
International Journal of Clothing Science and Technology
International Journal of Structural Integrity
Pigment & Resin Technology
Operations and Logistics Management
International Journal of Logistics Management, The
International Journal of Operations & Production Management
International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management
International Journal of Quality and Service Sciences
Journal of Manufacturing Technology Management
Journal of Science and Technology Policy in China
Journal of Technology Management and Strategy in China
Journal of Technology Management in China
Strategic Outsourcing: An International Journal
Supply Chain Management: An International Journal
Organization Studies
International Journal of Organizational Analysis
Journal of Organizational Change Management
Leadership & Organization Development Journal
Learning Organization, The
Performance Management and Measurement
International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management
Measuring Business Excellence
Team Performance Management: An International Journal
Strategy
Business Strategy Series
foresight
Journal of Business Strategy
Journal of Strategy and Management
Strategic Direction
Strategy & Leadership
Tourism and Hospitality
International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management
International Journal of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research
International Journal of Event and Festival Management
Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Technology
Tourism Review
Worldwide Hospitality and Tourism Themes
LiteratiNetwork
Support and services for authors and editors
The Emerald Literati Network provides services and support for those authors who
publish within an Emerald journal and for the Editors of each of our journals
The Emerald Literati Network is a tangible expression of commitment by a publisher to
its authors and Editors
Through our internet presence we aim to offer support and resources to all authors and
Editors world-wide
We address issues such as copyright, service levels and standards, time in review and
time of publication
For further information or suggestions please contact us at
[email protected]
www.emeraldinsight.com/authors
Research you can use
Research you can use
Emerald Group Publishing Limited
For further information contact: [email protected]
Howard House, Wagon Lane, Bingley BD16 1WA, United Kingdom
Tel: 44 (0) 1274 777700
Fax: 44 (0) 1274 785201
www.emeraldinsight.com