www.asattaed.org

photo © 2007 Aleksandar Cocek | more info (via: Wylio)The earlier you publish the better. So once you start your academic career, look out for opportunities to do so. Ask professors, older graduate students, subscribe to listservs on H-Net and simply be ready to take every opportunity you can get. And be ready to start at the bottom. Intern at a publishing company over the summer, try to get an assistantship with a journal or an academic press at your institution, and offer your services to the countless journals devoted to promoting graduate students. You could also gather your fellow grad students and start your own journal. Impossible? Well, since 1999, the e-journal “49th Parallel” is published at the University of Birmingham, run almost exclusively by graduate students and almost certainly waiting for YOUR contribution: http://www.49thparallel.bham.ac.uk/

Of course, there is more. And one of the purposes of this blog is to make you aware of these opportunities. One of the advantages of studying in the U.S. is the fact that Americans tend to be much more open to questions and willing to give feedback. Just like the professors who usually take time to sit down and talk to you for hours on end, professionals working at publishing houses and journals might take the time to give you some advice – even if they don’t hire you right away. Oh, and by the way: For those of us not necessarily sure whether we want to stay in academia, the publishing industry might be a nice way out once we are done with the Masters or the PhD!

For more, you might also enjoy this article from the Chronicle: http://chronicle.com/article/Breaking-Into-Publishing/44646/