Faculty Workshop Focuses on Book Contracts

Photo Submitted

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – University of Arkansas faculty who are interested in learning about securing a book contract are invited to a workshop on the topic to be hosted next month by the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences.

“How to Get a Book Contract: Learn the Secrets of Publishing Monographs, Novels and Edited Volumes” will be held from 3-5 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 12, in Room 523 in Old Main.

Sharon Gaber, provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs, will introduce the session, which is designed to benefit faculty across the campus at every level, from recent graduates to advanced researchers. 

Seating is limited to 40. To register, contact Debbie Power at dlpower@uark.edu or call 479-575-3684 by 4:30 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 5.

The workshop will focus on tips and strategies for communicating with editors of presses, preparing book proposals, moving a book through the publication process and promoting the book once it appears. 

Lynda Coon, associate dean of Fulbright College, said that the topic of the session is motivated by the college’s new research initiative, which is centered on publishing books and articles in prestigious venues as well as garnering external funding. 

“What is unique here is this workshop's focus on the rising associate rank,” Coon said. “Most research workshops highlight the honors accrued by the senior faculty. ‘How to Get a Book Contract’ will be inspirational to assistant professors throughout the University of Arkansas.”

Three assistant professors in Fulbright College with published books – James Gigantino, Angie Maxwell and Padma Viswanathan – will speak about their experiences at the workshop.

Gigantino is an assistant professor of history and author of The Ragged Road to Abolition: Slavery and Freedom in New Jersey, 1775-1865 (University of Pennsylvania Press, October 2014).

Maxwell, an assistant professor of political science and the Diane D. Blair Professor of Southern Studies, wrote The Indicted South: Public Criticism, Southern Inferiority, and the Politics of Whiteness ( University of North Carolina Press, April 2014).

Viswanathan, an assistant professor of creative writing, has written two novels, including The Ever After of Ashwin Rao (Random House of Canada, March 2014), a finalist for The Scotiabank Giller Prize.

For more information on “How to Get a Book Contract,” email Coon at llcoon@uark.edu.