May Yao of Intellect Books describes her love of helping authors “to disseminate their ideas”
May Yao
May Yao is an Associate Publisher and director at Intellect Books, an independent academic publisher in the fields of creative practice and popular culture, publishing scholarly books and journals. The publishing company has offices in England and North America. May tells us about her search for academic authors presenting new ideas in new ways.
How did you come to work for Intellect Books?
I’ve always been interested in the process of communicating and disseminating ideas. After completing a degree in Art History and Economics at the University of Toronto, I decided to take a Postgraduate Publishing course at the University of Plymouth in England.
Internships were a part of the course, and one of mine was at Intellect. I enjoyed it so much that I decided to stay on, and luckily they liked me enough to offer me a full time position.
What is your role with the company?
I am Associate Publisher and a Director at Intellect. At the moment, I’m based in Toronto, Canada, and am responsible for Intellect activities in North America. My role is very diverse, and includes everything from project management to acquisition, marketing to managing people.
Did you receive any formal training?
The Postgraduate Publishing course really helped to give me a good overview of the publishing industry, and was a solid base on which to build my experience.
Publishing is a constantly evolving industry - especially in the current climate of increasingly rapid technological innovation, and there are always exciting opportunities and new developments, which make it a great challenge!
What makes Intellect Books different to other publishing houses?
Our strategy is to publish authors who have new ideas, new ways of expressing their ideas, or cover new topics not established within academia. These ideas may not be appreciated by mainstream academic publishers whose focus is on established topics along university departmental boundaries and textbooks for specific courses. Although we may give an author editorial guidance, we don’t commission authors to write books for us.
Overall, we have very little editorial intervention in comparison to other publishers. We represent the author rather than the reader in the editorial process, which means that the author’s message is authentically articulated.
However, because our books are not catered to the reader, they probably will not be as widely read. Our role is to support the author by making each book as strong and as professional as possible, while staying true to the author’s voice.
What kind of books does Intellect Books publish?
We aim to publish books that exemplify our mission as publishers of original thinking. We like to work with authors who can clearly identify with their book and are motivated to support it through all its stages of development. We have found that there is a real demand from authors and editors to get their original material published and to get their ideas heard.
The focus of our publishing programme covers topics related to creative media: art, film, television, design and international culture. Books that are multidisciplinary within our range of topics are preferred.
What happens to a submission once it reaches your office?
We assess proposals based on the following criteria: is it original? Will it have academic value? Is it within our subject areas?
How can a new author get past the slush pile?
We don’t have a slush pile - we assess every proposal based on the criteria mentioned above.
Once you have accepted a manuscript for publication, how do you prepare it for publication?
The main production stages are peer review, copyediting and typesetting. The cover design, images and index must also be negotiated during the production process. As we are an academic publisher, all our books are peer-reviewed.
This process is intended to ensure a level of academic quality as well as providing feedback to the author on how the book might be improved. We try to involve the author in every stage of the production process, from copyediting through to cover design.
What do you look for in a submission?
The best way to submit a proposal to us is by completing our author questionnaire as thoroughly as possible. The questionnaire requests information about the content and structure of the proposed book, as well as marketing information and biographic information about the author. Potential authors should bear in mind that we do not publish Ph.D. theses, although such research can, of course, be an excellent starting point for a book.
We publish original material, so surveys or collections of previously published material are not for us. In essence, we are looking for authors presenting new ideas that don’t yet have an established market or readership and are keen to get their ideas heard!
What is your favourite part of this process?
I love the variety of work that publishing offers, as well as the satisfaction of seeing a finished book. I also enjoy working with authors, and helping them to disseminate their ideas.
What is the most challenging part of it?
Working with authors! The most challenging, and the most enjoyable.
Whose writing has excited you recently?
We have a book coming out in the spring, called The Film Paintings of David Lynch. It delves into the relationship between commercial film, avant-garde art, and cultural theory. It’s written by Allister Mactaggart, who is a film and art history scholar at Leeds Metropolitan University. Should be an interesting read…
What would you say the main challenges are for an aspiring author?
Finding the right publisher, and then promoting yourself, as well as your book.
What advice would you offer an aspiring writer?
Before submitting proposals, spend some time researching publishers to find the right one for your work.
For further information please visit www.intellectbooks.com
Other publishing houses and imprints interviewed for this series include Parthian Books,Tonto Books, Dedalus Books, Alcemi Books, Gomer Press, Trapdoor Books, Seren Books,The Friday Project, Chicken House, Wild Wolf Publishing, Anderson Press, Biscuit Publishing, Tangent Books and Libros Libertad
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