The Culture of English-Language Academic Book Publishing: A Roundtable with Editors and Publishers

Session Submission Type: Roundtable Proposal Application

Abstract

The Japanese government and MEXT continue their efforts to expand the number of Japanese universities ranked in the top 100 institutions globally, with the goal of more than doubling that number by the year 2020. Like many universities elsewhere in Asia, an important strategy for achieving that objective is dramatically increasing the number of Japanese authors whose work is widely known in the English-speaking world. This roundtable brings together leading editors and book publishers to examine the different cultures of publishing in Japan and abroad to help Japanese scholars more successfully navigate the process of publishing with English-language academic presses.

The roundtable will help potential authors to better understand the difference between a Western scholarly publisher and a major Japanese publisher, will discuss the differing characteristics of a scholarly “monograph” in contrast with the anthologized volume of essays so popular among Japanese academics, and will help authors to restructure their argument for an English-reading academic audience.

Other topics to be discussed will include: researching and approaching academic publishers, submitting a book prospectus, understanding the editorial process and publication timeline. Discussion will especially focus on the different relationships between an editor and author in Japan and among English-language publishers.

Speakers will also address how an author can evaluate potential translators and determine what level of translation assistance is needed for the work they propose. The roundtable will also introduce the new website Publishing in English a bilingual resource for Japanese scholars (developed by the NCC). The roundtable will be equally useful to any non-native English-speaking authors.

Area of Study

• Northeast Asia

Session Organizer

• Victoria Bestor, NCC

Discussants

• Yoko Hayami, Kyoto University

• Michael Duckworth, University of Hawai'i Press

• Kensuke Goto, University of Tokyo Press