This post was written by Assistant Editor Matthew Pardue
I want to take a moment to discuss some of the things that the University Press is doing to help new (or, rather, largely unpublished) writers, especially students. Other news updates have mentioned these opportunities individually, but I’d like to group them together so that everyone can see how we can help you get your foot in the publishing door.
Starting with the most limited option, we’re usually looking for good interns. This is a teaching press, after all. Interning for the Press will let students see how a publishing company operates, obviously, and we’re currently small enough to let interns try a variety of jobs rather than shoving you into one department or making you the Official Coffee Brewer. In addition to the work experience, interns can also start building publishing contacts. You’ll meet authors, printers, book sellers, cover artists (speaking of which, we’re actually in the market for an intern with art skills), etc., even without getting into the conferences and workshops that the Press regularly attends, when we aren’t hosting them ourselves. Interning is full of great networking opportunities. And if you like it here, you could try to turn the internship into actual employment after you graduate; that’s what I did. Like I said, though, this is the most limited of our opportunities, since you have to be a student at NGCSU. For everyone else, we’ve still got other ways you can step into publishing.
Undergrads, or some recent graduate students (check the submission guidelines to see if you qualify), can participate in our new journal, Papers and Pubs. This journal applies to the whole Southeast region and any and all academic subjects. If you’re hoping to build a research portfolio rather than become an author, then the journal is the best way we can help. Even outside of the academic world, most higher-education professionals move ahead in their fields partly by publishing new material, so this is for all the aspiring scientists, historians, philosophers, mathematicians, and so on (along with students of literature, naturally).
We’re still a press, though, so manuscripts are our main emphasis.
I especially recommend keeping an eye out for our yearly Stonepile Anthology, if you’re into poetry, short stories, or creative nonfiction, like memoirs. The Stonepile series is probably our best method for helping writers. We specifically look for people who aren’t widely published, so this is a very rare exception in the publishing industry where being unheard of won’t hurt your chances of being accepted. You don’t need a widespread social network to get a piece or three of your writing in our anthologies. One way to start building that network, though, is to take advantage of this opportunity. You’ll meet other writers, get your name out in the publishing industry, and have a taste of the publishing process.
The only downside to these three offers is that they’ve got strict time limits. We take on interns by the semester (and only have a small number of slots); both Papers and Pubs and the Stonepile Anthologies are printed yearly. Our undergrad journal, in fact, only accepts articles for about another two weeks. The third Stonepile volume probably won’t call for submissions until the summer. If you aren’t watching our website or Facebook page, you might miss something that would’ve been perfect for you.
In spite of that, we do, of course, take manuscript proposals all the time. Our standards are stricter in this area, the publishing process lasts longer than for Papers and Pubs or the Stonepile series, and you’ll have to be willing to help market and sell your book just like with any other publishing house, but if you want to be an author, that’s all going to describe your life until retirement anyway. It’s a lot of work. But for those of you who love to write and dream about publication, it’s more than worth the effort.
So, browse through our website, see our submission guidelines, and watch for updates on what we’re doing from week to week. Maybe something will appeal to you. If not, we always need more readers, so have a look at our books (or, dare I say it, the donation tab at the top of our website). Any kind of support is appreciated, whether you’re creating material for our various publications or enjoying the final product, online or in print.
As always, thanks for reading.