Authors submitting to humanities journals tend to imagine the editors of those journals as gray-haired hosts and guardians in the publishing marketplace, but in fact many journal editors are young(ish) and fresh to their roles. Editors have to start sometime, and there is much to learn about the multilayered work that goes into producing a journal—most of it typically acquired, in the current patterns of our profession, through experience on the job and through interaction with other editors. In the interest of fostering the latter, the Council of Editors of Learned Journals (CELJ), an allied organization of MLA and the major professional forum for humanities journal editors, is teaming up with the MLA Ad Hoc Committee on the Structure of the Convention to offer a workshop for new and aspiring journal editors. The session, "Inside the Editorial Office: A Workshop for New Journal Editors" (no. 615), will take place in the Hyatt Regency, Horner room, on Saturday, December 29, 7:15-8:30 pm. Michael Cornett (Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies, Duke Univ.) is presiding, and speakers include Nicholas Birns (Antipodes, New School Univ.); Craig Howes (Biography, Univ. of Hawai'i, Manoa); Zoran Kuzmanovich (Nabokov Studies, Davidson Coll.); William Thesing (James Dickey Newsletter, Univ. of South Carolina, Columbia); and Batya Weinbaum (Femspec, Cleveland Heights, Ohio). The following topics will be covered: developing a journal identity and mission statement, distributing labor in the editorial office, keeping records, vetting submissions, navigating issues common to acceptance/rejection decisions, establishing good relations with publishers and sponsoring organizations, and managing finances.
If you are a new or aspiring editor, please join our conversation and bring all your burning questions; if you are a seasoned editor, come contribute to the pool of knowledge and experience. To all interested parties: we intend this interactive session as a springboard for future workshops at MLA—please watch conference news in 2008.
