HOW TO EDIT AN ASAO VOLUME

Guidelines originally prepared in 1985 by Margaret Rodman,revised in 1999 by Andrew Strathern and Pamela J. Stewart, in 2002 by Michèle Dominy, and in 2004 by Jeannette Mageo and the monograph series editorial board.

Phase 1: The Session

The qualities that make a good ASAO session pave the way for a successful volume. As you organize your session you should be thinking ahead to the volume, if that is your goal; pay attention to (1) the breadth and depth with which you cover the relevant ethnographic material (2) comparability of chapters around a set of clearly defined theoretical and ethnographic questions, (3) originality and scholarly significance, and (4) the consistency with which varying contributions address a set of common theoretical and ethnography questions. The final session and the later volume should be strong theoretically and ethnographically. Being an ASAO volume, it should also be rich in cross-talk: contributors should speak directly and indirectly to the introduction and one another’s work.

Try to attract at least 10-12 contributors so that you can be selective in inviting participants to contribute to a volume. After the session, consider eliminating the weakest and/or least appropriate papers. Encourage each contributor to make comments on each paper. These should be written, but verbal comments at the meetings can also be very helpful. As organizers and potential editors, you should comment extensively on each paper. The more rigorous you are in suggesting revisions before and after the symposium, the fewer changes you are likely to be asked to have your contributors make later on. Seven chapters plus an introduction and conclusion makes a good-sized volume. The longer the book, the more work it will be for you to edit and the longer it is likely to take to appear in print (because of the number of people involved). The University of Pennsylvania Press limits our volume submissions to 125,000 words. Length determines the production cost and selling price of our books. This favors a shorter volume. In a longer volume, you must be certain that every chapter is equally strong and that the quality is as consistent as it would be in a shorter book.

Every volume must have an introduction and a conclusion. The session organizer(s)/volume editor(s) generally write(s) the introduction as well as a brief preface. Edited collections need either an interesting, innovative topic or a fresh perspective on an important older topic. The introduction should clarify what the volume attempts in this regard; this project should also be discussed in cross-talk between chapters. In other words, we expect the volume's integrity to be created and carried not simply by its introduction and/or conclusion but also by the manner in which the chapters engage one another The introduction should also situate the volume clearly in the ethnography of the Pacific and within anthropological theory, as well as in relation to other recently published works. Be sure to include the potential author of the conclusions in your ASAO session. It may not work well to invite someone to write conclusions who has not attended your session, although there can be no hard and fast rule about this.

Phase 2. Preparation of Copy for Submission to Series Editor

Discuss your plans for a volume with the Series Editor and Editorial Board members at the annual meeting. Then keep the Editor informed of your progress. When your volume is close to completion but prior to submission, please send a prospectus to the series editor via e-mail.

The prospectus should consist in a two or three page overview of the volume followed by chapter abstracts. The overview should clarify the volume's unifying theoretical and ethnographic questions. The overview should also suggest the volume's contribution to one or more literatures: how does it compare to other recent works and what is its special contribution? Be sure to highlight cross-talk between the chapters on common questions and themes. Chapter abstracts should be written by the chapter authors, not by the editor, and should clarify the chapter's relation to the volume's unifying theoretical and ethnographic questions, its special contribution to the volume as a whole and its cross-talk and intersections with other chapters. On the basis of the prospectus the Monograph Series Editorial Board will invite submission of the full manuscript.

If you are invited to submit you manuscript for review, give an approximate date for submission. Confirm this about 6 weeks before the manuscript is ready so that reviewers can make the time to read the manuscript promptly. You should try to submit clean (but not photo-ready) copy, paginated throughout, with all its parts: tables of contents, list of figures/tables/maps, preface, introduction, all other chapters, conclusions, notes, bibliography. Accurate maps, tables, and figures should be included with the manuscript. You should wait until later to submit biographical notes on each chapter author so that these will be up to date when the book appears. You should also wait until later to make an index for the book. A prospectus with chapter abstracts should accompany the manuscript. The manuscript should be sent to the series editor in hard copies and as attachments. The completed volume should be all in one font with standardized margins and saved in one file; the pagination should be continuous. Please do not bind manuscripts; they will need to be copied.

Phase 3. Review and Revision

The Series Editor will mail the manuscript at ASAO expense to appropriate qualified reviewers among the three members of the Editorial Advisory Board, or other reviewers if appropriate. The review process should take approximately 90 days.

The manuscript may be recommended to the University of Pennsylvania Press (with or without revisions), rejected, or the volume editor(s) may be requested to revise and resubmit the manuscript for a second round of reviewing. Individual chapters may be rejected or chapter authors may be requested to revise and resubmit. If the ASAO Monograph Board accepts the manuscript with revisions, the revised manuscript should be submitted with a cover letter describing how editors and contributors address editorial comments and suggestions. Please submit the manuscript via email, on a disk and as a hard copy. The email and disk versions should present the manuscript as one document with cover page and table of contents.

The University of Pennsylvania Press reserves the right to seek another level of external review. Manuscripts must be submitted to and accepted by the Faculty Editorial Board of the Press. The volume editor is responsible for costs in revising the manuscript, and must prepare clean copy from which the typesetter can work. You (not the Series Editor) are responsible for reading proof and making all revisions.

Phase 4. Production

Once your volume has been accepted for publication, it will be typeset. The ASAO Monograph Series Fund pays for the composition costs in this phase, but volume editors are encouraged to seek a grant in aid of publication through their universities. The volume editor should prepare an index according to instructions to be provided by the University of Pennsylvania Press. You must also prepare biographical notes on contributors in conjunction with the chapter authors. The volume editor must proof the manuscript until error-free final copy is achieved. Once all is ready, the manuscript is sent to the Press by the Series Editor. It takes up to one year from this point of production to being available for distribution.

Phase 5. Distribution

The Press decides on the size of the print run and the mixture of hard and soft cover books. The Press handles distribution and advertising, including displays at the meetings. The Press provides volume editors with 12 free copies of the book. Each chapter author receives 1 free hardbound and 1 paperback copy of the volume courtesy of the Press and has an option to purchase additional copies at a 40% discount at time of publication. Volume editors are encouraged to provide the press with names and addresses of non-ASAO members who would be likely customers for their books. The Press asks the volume editor to complete an "Author's Questionnaire" at the time of publication. This involves writing a brief description of the book suitable for a press release and listing appropriate journals to which the Press should send complementary review copies.