Guidelines for Contributors
Updated Spring 2005
As of 2008, the Western Writers Series will change its format from booklets of literary criticism to paperback books of 100-150 pages. Nearly every aspect of our operations – including mission, selection and review process, and publication format – is changing. Please prepare your manuscript proposal in accordance with these new guidelines.
Mission
The Western Writers Series publishes guidebooks to the North
American literary west. Each title provides a history of its
subject, a synthesis of significant criticism, and resources for
further study.
Subjects
Subjects included in the Series include authors, books, literary
institutions, and ideas that have taken inspiration from western
lives and spaces and in turn help to define the west or western
experience. Thus, subjects may include concepts such as
“the western sublime” or “wilderness”;
institutions such as western publishers or theater groups; or
groups of related writers who illuminate some aspect of western
literature, such as cowboy poets. Also of interest are subjects
with an international dimension –i.e., literatures of
Sonora, the Rocky Mountains, the Arctic; or overseas institutions
that define and circulate North American western literature for
an extraregional audience. Studies of individual authors or texts
will focus only on prominent or widely influential subjects, such
as an in-print author or book appearing frequently on course
syllabi.
Whereas the first phase of the Western Writers Series (1972-2006) focused on introducing authors and, to a lesser degree, well-known western books, the second phase of the Series provides readers’ guides to all aspects of western literature and literary culture – authors and works, as well as institutions and ideas, located both in and out of the North American west, but always influenced by western spaces and influencing, in turn, the way those spaces are understood and experienced.
Titles
Since all our publications are guidebooks to a subject, all
titles will be followed by the subtitle “:A Reader’s
Guide” (i.e., Sandra Cisneros: A Reader’s Guide, The
Western Sublime: A Reader’s Guide, Western Tribal
Newspapers: A Reader’s Guide, etc.).
Scope, Content, Organization
Aimed at a general audience, especially teachers and students,
all studies will include:
- Table of Contents in four parts: Introduction, History, Criticism and Contexts, Resources. Individual studies will provide their own chapter headings within this broad framework of sections.
- Introduction (Placing the subject in a context of western literature; providing rationale for the study; identifying the status of the subject today in western literary history or contemporary reading);
- History of the subject (i.e., biography, history of an institution or idea, chronology of publications with brief summaries, variant editions or performances, etc.);
- Synthesis of existing secondary sources on the topic; analysis of critical contexts for understanding the subject and its significance (i.e., reviews, scholarship on the topic, close reading of the subject based on relevant critical contexts). One critical context/approach will always be a consideration of the subject’s contribution to western literature (or some aspect of western literature), based on contemporary western literary scholarship;
- Resources: Works Cited (MLA form); Additional References (Annotated bibliography of other useful or recommended primary and secondary sources, with a brief explanation of why the source is recommended); optional additional materials (i.e., reprints of relevant primary sources, with permission; timeline; appendices; photos; syllabi; other materials for teachers; etc).
Contributors should organize proposals and manuscripts to work as readers’ guides for nonspecialists, not as monographs supporting a thesis, nor as extended summaries.
Editorial Process
Contributors submit a detailed proposal first, which is reviewed
in two phases. Informed by the Advisory Board, the Editor first
evaluates the appropriateness of the proposal for the Series.
Proposals that pass this first stage are sent to two readers with
knowledge of the subject. Informed by specialist readers, the
Editor will make an assignment, request a revised proposal, or
reject the proposal. Assignments are often accompanied with
suggestions from specialist readers and the Editor. Review of
proposals usually takes 3-4 months.
The manuscript due date is established at the time of the assignment. Authors submit three printed copies and an electronic copy (preferably an MS Word file on a disk or in an email attachment). The manuscript is evaluated by the Editor and two scholars familiar with the subject. Informed by the specialists, the Editor will accept, reject, or request revisions to the manuscript. Review of manuscripts usually takes 3-4 months.
Once a manuscript is accepted, it is placed on a schedule for copyediting, proofreading, and publication. Undergraduate editorial assistants at Boise State University will assist with fact-checking and editing most manuscripts. The author is chiefly responsible for verifying facts. When possible, copyedited manuscripts and proofs will be exchanged via email, using MS Word editing features for copyediting and .pdf files for proofs.
Artwork: Authors are invited to submit copies of appropriate photographs for cover art with completed manuscripts. If additional space is requested inside the book for artwork or photographs, this should be noted in the proposal. Authors are responsible for appropriate permissions, fees, and acknowledgments.
The Proposal
Before submitting a proposal, check our website to see if we have
already covered your topic in the Series. We favor topics not
previously covered in the Series, although we will consider
proposals that provide a rationale for an updated treatment of a
subject previously covered.
We prefer to receive proposals as MS Word (Windows) attachments via email. We also accept proposals by mail (3 hard copies).
Proposals should address or include the following:
- title of manuscript ([Subject]: A Reader’s Guide)
- your name, title, affiliation, contact information, and current c.v.; reference to other work you have done that prepares you to write this study, including related publications, research activity, etc.
- a description of the study you propose (a reader’s guide to what person[s], idea, institution, work[s], or event in western literature?)
- rationale for including your study in the Western Writers Series
- brief review of existing criticism on your subject and location of your study in that review
- intended audience: who will buy this book? What courses might include this book as a main text or a supplement? Which universities or colleges teach those courses, to your knowledge?
- Outline the manuscript in some detail. Provide preliminary chapter titles that fit within our 4-part structure (Introduction, History, Criticism and Contexts, Resources); include chapter descriptions of at least a paragraph. Clarify which chapters synthesize existing work, and which advance a new way of reading the subject. Which primary and secondary sources will be most important to your chapters? What critical contexts will you introduce? What ideas, claims, or contexts for understanding the subject do you plan to feature most prominently? How and where will you address the significance of your subject to North American western literature?
- Describe any illustrative or graphic elements you propose, as well as what those elements will do for the manuscript. (Are any of them essential to illustrate the text? Which are in print elsewhere, or nowhere?) If illustrations are accepted, you will need to provide clear photographs or high-resolution digital images ready for reproduction, as well as appropriate permissions.
- Estimate the delivery date and length of your manuscript (total word count inclusive of bibliography, plus additional pages requested for illustrations)
- Please suggest 3-4 possible reviewers for your proposal, including contact information (address, phone, and email), affiliation, and brief information about the reviewer’s expertise on the topic.
- If you plan to apply for grants or funding for your project, please indicate the grant and term.
Send proposals to:
Prof. Tom Hillard
Editor, Western Writers Series
English Department - MS 1525
Boise State University
1910 University Drive
Boise, ID 83725-1525
thomashillard@boisestate.edu
