Getting into Print: The Decision-Making Process in Scholarly Publishing

Abstract

Based on extensive fieldwork at two well-known commercial publishers of scholarly books, Walter W. Powell details different ways in which both internal politics and external networks influence decisions about what should be published. Powell focuses on work of acquisitions editors: how they decide which few manuscripts, out of hundreds, to sponsor for publication; how editorial autonomy is shaped, but never fully curbed, by unobtrusive controls; and how search process fits into social structure of academy. Powell's observations and many candid remarks of publishers and their staffs recreate workaday world of publishing. Throughout, sociology of organizations and of culture serves as Powell's interpretive framework. Powell shows how scholarly publishers help define what is good social science research and how history and tradition of a publishing house contribute to development of an organizational identity. Powell's review of actual correspondence, from outside letters proposing projects to internal kill letters of rejection, suggests that editors and authors at times form their own quasi-organization with external allegiances and bonds beyond those of publishing house. This is a welcome addition to literature on life of organizations that produce our science and our culture. Powell's intimate look at two scholarly publishing companies has an insider's appreciation of book business and an outsider's eye for questions editors are not asking themselves. Michael Schudson, University of California at San Diego Getting Into Print will long be the book about how academic editors choose titles they sponsor. Even experienced editors and authors will find new insights here and revealing comparisons with decision-making in other kinds of organizations. Edward Tenner, Los Angeles Times Book Review Getting Into Print is an unusually outstanding ethnographic study in that it reflects evocative richness of detail associated with ethnographic approach while simultaneously maintaining a clear-headed, analytical distance from subject that allows for a meaningful theoretical contribution. Powell is an astute ethnographer who presents a vital and compelling 'insider's view' of decision-making process in scholarly publishing, making this book fascinating reading for all those involved in 'publish-or-perish' syndrome. Barbara Levitt, American Journal of Sociology