2020 Writing Log, Part Two
Jan. 27th, 2020 12:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rynlingI spent most of the past two weeks preparing for and then beginning the spring semester, but I managed to get a few other things taken care of in the meantime.
- I finalized all the images for my book! There’s no need to go into the details of what this entailed, but it was a lot of work. This was the last thing that needed to be done before the manuscript enters production, so the press was finally able to make the cover public and post a promotional flyer.
- I submitted a review of Rachael Hutchinson’s monograph Japanese Culture Through Videogames to an academic journal called Pacific Affairs. It’s an amazing book. I read it twice (and certain chapters three times), and I have to admit that I teared up in places because it’s so brilliantly written. As an aside, I was honored to introduce Rachael to the work ofauronlu, who’s cited frequently in the chapters about Final Fantasy. Rachael is at the top of her game, and it’s so cool to see fan scholarship acknowledged by such a respected and influential academic.
- I wrote support letters for the visa applications of Naotaro Moriyama and White Out Tokyo, who are going to be performing at the opening ceremony of the National Cherry Blossom Festival. I’m usually such a “please do not make generalizations about Japan” sort of person, but these letters required “an expert” to comment on “the cultural uniqueness” of the visa applicants, and I had a lot of fun leaning into that sort of discourse. There were ancient artistic traditions and cherry blossoms everywhere, it was kind of incredible. I wrote both letters in collaboration with a friendly acquaintance at the Japan Foundation, and I learned a lot from working with him.
- I presented my paper on Hiromi Kawakami’s short story “Summer Break” at the Association for Japanese Literary Studies conference. I ended up almost completely rewriting certain sections of the paper on the night before my presentation, but I think it turned out okay. The AJLS is consistently excellent, and this year was no exception. Ironically, I think I’ve finally gotten to the point in my career where I can actually appreciate and enjoy academic conferences without feeling like an imposter and a nervous wreck, and I got a lot out of this conference in particular.
- I met Peter Balestrieri, a librarian at the University of Iowa, at the Fan Studies Network conference in Chicago last fall. He gave a talk about the university’s collection of fanzines and other fandom-related materials; and, when I got a chance to talk to him one-on-one, he mentioned that the University of Iowa library is accepting donations. After getting in touch with Peter again, I sent him two huge boxes of fanzines. This is material that I compiled for my own research, and it would make me happy if it were accessible to other people.
- I was invited to participate in a panel about religion in the Legend of Zelda series at PAX East. I’ve already got a full schedule of travel and speaking engagements planned for the next few months, so I had to turn down the invitation, but I got to have a nice conversation on Twitter with the person organizing the panel. I hope I can make it to Boston next year!
- I finalized all the images for my book! There’s no need to go into the details of what this entailed, but it was a lot of work. This was the last thing that needed to be done before the manuscript enters production, so the press was finally able to make the cover public and post a promotional flyer.
- I submitted a review of Rachael Hutchinson’s monograph Japanese Culture Through Videogames to an academic journal called Pacific Affairs. It’s an amazing book. I read it twice (and certain chapters three times), and I have to admit that I teared up in places because it’s so brilliantly written. As an aside, I was honored to introduce Rachael to the work of
auronlu, who’s cited frequently in the chapters about Final Fantasy. Rachael is at the top of her game, and it’s so cool to see fan scholarship acknowledged by such a respected and influential academic. - I wrote support letters for the visa applications of Naotaro Moriyama and White Out Tokyo, who are going to be performing at the opening ceremony of the National Cherry Blossom Festival. I’m usually such a “please do not make generalizations about Japan” sort of person, but these letters required “an expert” to comment on “the cultural uniqueness” of the visa applicants, and I had a lot of fun leaning into that sort of discourse. There were ancient artistic traditions and cherry blossoms everywhere, it was kind of incredible. I wrote both letters in collaboration with a friendly acquaintance at the Japan Foundation, and I learned a lot from working with him.
- I presented my paper on Hiromi Kawakami’s short story “Summer Break” at the Association for Japanese Literary Studies conference. I ended up almost completely rewriting certain sections of the paper on the night before my presentation, but I think it turned out okay. The AJLS is consistently excellent, and this year was no exception. Ironically, I think I’ve finally gotten to the point in my career where I can actually appreciate and enjoy academic conferences without feeling like an imposter and a nervous wreck, and I got a lot out of this conference in particular.
- I met Peter Balestrieri, a librarian at the University of Iowa, at the Fan Studies Network conference in Chicago last fall. He gave a talk about the university’s collection of fanzines and other fandom-related materials; and, when I got a chance to talk to him one-on-one, he mentioned that the University of Iowa library is accepting donations. After getting in touch with Peter again, I sent him two huge boxes of fanzines. This is material that I compiled for my own research, and it would make me happy if it were accessible to other people.
- I was invited to participate in a panel about religion in the Legend of Zelda series at PAX East. I’ve already got a full schedule of travel and speaking engagements planned for the next few months, so I had to turn down the invitation, but I got to have a nice conversation on Twitter with the person organizing the panel. I hope I can make it to Boston next year!
no subject
Date: 2020-01-27 06:19 pm (UTC)OH MY FUCKING GOD CAN WE FINALLY MEET UP AND-
I’ve already got a full schedule of travel and speaking engagements planned for the next few months, so I had to turn down the invitation
Awwwwwwwwwww D:
Totally understandable! Every time I read your writing logs, I'm always floored by the amount you're juggling. You balance with whatever is on your plate! And when you do eventually visit for PAX East, let me know so I can finally hug you or do something of equivalent sentiment 💕
no subject
Date: 2020-01-27 11:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-02-02 07:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-02-03 08:23 pm (UTC)Give me a week and I can send you a link to a PDF, if that's all right.
no subject
Date: 2020-02-05 03:17 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-02-05 02:21 pm (UTC)Although a small number academic publishers (generally university presses supported by enormous private and federal grants) release affordable paperback editions, the vast majority of academic monographs are printed in hardcover editions of less than 500 copies (250 copies is common) and priced to be sold to university libraries. That is the case with this book:
If you were to spend $144.87 on an academic monograph that the press has made no effort to render accessible to a wider audience (note the lack of an appropriate cover illustration, for example), the author would receive no royalties or other compensation of any kind.
The authors of these books are paid a flat fee on submission of the manuscript (usually between $500 and $900), which is meant to help compensate them for what they paid for the service of a professional copy editor, whom they will have had to find themselves. In addition, the author will receive between one and five copies of the actual book, which they can then send to academic journals to be reviewed. Because the print run is so limited, there are no royalties.
Professors publish books because their tenure promotion depends on the publication of a book. If they can't publish a book, they will not be promoted (and might even be fired). Academic publishers know this, so they often force the author to bear the financial burden of publication by requiring that the author provide what are called "subvention grants" of $2000 or more. The professor's university will sometimes help with this, but it's far from guaranteed. Routledge is especially bad about requiring subvention grants despite (or perhaps because of?) being one of the largest and most well-respected academic publishers.
This is not the case with every academic book, obviously, but it's what's going on with this one in particular.
I'm all about supporting authors, but no one will benefit from you spending a ridiculous amount of money on this book except for what is an extremely predatory press and the terrible industry practices that enable it.
no subject
Date: 2020-02-06 03:53 am (UTC)Thank you for the explanation. I really appreciate it.