6 Writing and Publishing Your Book
As a graduate student, I wrote about a community of professional archae-
ologists and hobbyists collecting fossils and human artifacts in the Midwest
during the 1930s.1 I gathered letters, photographs, field journals, scientific
reports, and newspaper clippings. And I could chart social networks, map
expeditions, and trace federal and state funding. I had, I thought, a fascinat-
ing narrative, set in an austere landscape and populated with eccentric char-
acters. But in addition to an entertaining story, I’d unearthed the culture of
fieldwork. Associating fieldwork with a robust masculinity, professionals and
hobbyists alike took pleasure in living off the land as they emulated 19th-
century explorers or envisioned themselves as trophy hunters in pursuit of
prehistoric animals. Indeed, the parallels with exploration and big-game
hunting proved illuminating.
After I finished my dissertation—literally the day after I submitted it to my
defense committee—I started working at Johns Hopkins University Press.
Within a few weeks, I realized just how far my dissertation had to go in order
to become a book. I had compelling evidence that I could analyze using sev-
eral diff erent methods, and I had situated my study in a context larger than
that Midwestern community in the 1930s. But the scope was too limited. If
another author submitted that manuscript to the press, I’d reject it.
With a full-time office job, I lacked the institutional support to complete
the research for a book. I also lacked incentive. By that time, I’d decided to
pursue a career in publishing and write books for young people. And so, I
published one scholarly article; then, inspired by a collection of letters I’d
found in the archives, I spun an historical novel for middle-school readers.2
The decision not to invest more time and energy in the dissertation was the
right one for me. Moreover, since that time I’ve had the privilege of assisting
hundreds of talented experts with their books. Now I want to share what I’ve
learned from that experience with you.
NOTES
1. Melody Herr, “Communities of American Archaeology” (PhD diss.,
Johns Hopkins University, 2000).
2. Melody Herr, “Frontier Stories: Reading and Writing Plains Archaeol-
ogy,” American Studies 44 (Fall 2003): 77–98; Melody Herr, Summer of
Discovery (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2006).
