From Classroom to Textbook:
What Makes Latin Teaching Materials Publishable?

Laurie H. Keenan (Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers)

Every Latin teacher develops his/her own materials for use in the classroom. These materials work well in one classroom—but will they work in others? Are they publishable?

This paper will appeal especially to first-time authors, but also to those who have already published. It will give a look into the acquisitions process at one publishing company in the classics, and describe what an author should expect from submission process through publication.

Specific topics covered will include:

• How to make first contact with a publisher, and what is important to know ahead of time
• How a publisher’s mission or niche affects a submission’s reception
• What an author can do to make a submission more attractive to a publisher
• What red flags a submission may raise before an acquisitions committee, and how to avoid them
• What goes on during the meeting of an acquisitions committee, and how the committee makes its decision
• Pitfalls for submissions in each of the levels of Latin (beginning, intermediate, and advanced)
• Why materials aimed only at teachers may be difficult to get published. How to respond to criticism during the peer review process
• What happens after acceptance for publication, and what an author can expect in the year or so that precedes publication
• What an editor does, and how to work most effectively with him/her
• The presentation will include a handout.