Friday, April 11, 2014

Vetting Venues for Memoirs

1. Venue Research and Reading Report
In preparation for submitting to a/b: Auto/Biography Studies, I read "Crossing Boundaries: Authority, Knowledge, and Experience in the Autobiography Vida y sucesos de la monja alférez" by Sonia Pérez Villanueva and "Auto/biographical Ethics: The Case of The Shoebox" by Janet Elizabeth Marles. Both of these articles appeared in the Winter 2013 issue, Volume 20, Number 2.

2. Venue Title and Sponsoring Organization
The title of the journal is a/b: Auto/Biography Studies. It is published by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with support from the University of West Georgia, the University of Puerto Rico at Mayazuex, and the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.

3. Call for Papers and Dates
This is the link to their page detailing their submissions process. They accept submissions all year, but because they utilize a vigorous peer-review process, it can take them anywhere from 6 to 8 months to respond to the author, which is a pretty long time. They publish two issues per year, one in the summer and one in the winter. I think my paper would be a good candidate for the winter issue.

4. Topic
My paper will be a good candidate for this journal because they look for scholarly essays regarding autobiography and biography studies, and memoir is a facet of autobiography. They said that they especially like papers that cross genres, and I think my paper does this to an extent. Essays also need to have theoretical framework, which, thanks to the awe component, my paper has. There self-description is that they are "a journal of scholarship dedicated to expanding the discourse on life narrative in all its diverse forms," which I think fits with my paper pretty well.

5. Length
The suggested length for essays is between 7,500 and 12,000 words, including all notes and Works Cited pages.

6. Formatting
All essays must follow the MLA format, as well as adhere to the complete a/b: Auto/Biography Studies style guide. I also must remove any identifying information from my essay so the peer review can be completely blind.The essay must also be submitted with a cover letter and a brief abstract. The process is pretty intense, I hope I'm academic enough for it!

7. Tone and Rhetorical Approach
The tone of the journal definitely seems to be academic, obviously, but there is also an element of human interest given the subject matter. Because the journal is basically studying writing about life itself, there is definitely a more human and personal feel to the journal and the publications than there is in other academic journals of its type.

8. Social Media
I found this site about the managing editor of the journal, who is also apparently a PhD candidate for English at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Also, here is a link to the Facebook page for the journal, which I liked on my own Facebook page.

9. Mentors
I liked the Facebook page, but I haven't been able to find anything about them on Twitter. And the Facebook page is pretty limited in its information. I'll keep looking into it though.

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