Publishing with Palgrave Macmillan

Dear Friends,

Please forgive the (sort of) circular! I have signed on

as the editor of a new monograph series, "Society,

Culture, and Text in Late Antiquity," published by

Palgrave Macmillan. I am writing to let you know about

the series, and to invite you to consider publishing in

it.

Over the last thirty years Late Antiquity has become a

hot field as opposed to the “What?-field” it used to be.

Medievalists have always welcomed Late Antiques (witness

the burgeoning Late Antique program at Kalamazoo and at

Leeds) and now even the border to the Classical world is

increasingly passable (witness developments at the more

conservative APA). There is a tremendous amount going on

in our area all over the world. But there are still not

enough venues for English language publications in Late

Antiquity and particularly for ones that are not

primarily historical. I am hoping that this new series

may open up new possibilities for our inclusive “Long

Late Antiquity,” running from the 2nd century CE down to

the 7th century CE (100-700 CE).

This series is intended to be variegated in nature and

will address an intended audience of classicists,

medievalists, and some general readers, as well as

specialists on Late Antiquity. The disciplinary purview

will likewise be broad and will include literature,

history, religion, philosophy, material culture

(archaeology and art history), as well as history of

scholarship. Interdisciplinary or multi-disciplinary

approaches will be particularly welcome. Monographs are

likely to predominate, but edited collections will find a

place as well as the occasional translation or hard-toclassify

item.

Manuscripts should be learned, original, lively,

passionate, fresh-voiced, incisive, and, ideally interor

multi-disciplinary. The recondite is by no means ruled

out, but this is not the series for fundamental

contributions to technical scholarship or for the average

revised dissertation. The authors should have an ear for

tradition and for quality as well as something new to

say. Contributions that know how to tell a tale

effectively and make primary sources come alive are

particularly welcome. Books in this series should, as

appropriate, speak to the imagination too. The quirky or

offbeat can be delightful, and, in its place, the

personal. The purely gimmicky, however, is another

matter. Readability is desirable; surfeits of post-modern

jargon not so.

By providing a new and serious venue for cutting-edge

readable research, we hope that this monograph series may

help to shape and expand our field. In addition to the

openness to new scholarship described above, "Society,

Culture, and Text in Late Antiquity" should appeal to

scholars for several other reasons. At a time when many

academic presses are cutting or eliminating their lists

in the humanities, Palgrave Macmillan is unusual in

making a new (and double) major financial and

intellectual commitment to our field. (In addition to

"Society, Culture, and Text in Late Antiquity," it is

also inaugurating a monograph series on "The New

Antiquity," edited by Matthew Santirocco).

Our flier can be downloaded at:

http://mittellatein.univie.ac.at/fileadmin/user_upload/p_

platinumlatin/Society__Culture__and_Text_in_Late_Antiquit

y.pdf

Volumes in the series will be published in hardback

format and will regularly be between 70,000 and 100,000

words in length. Authors with original MSS that fall in

between an article and a monograph in length (25,000-

50,000 words) should consider publishing in Palgrave’s

innovative new venue, Palgrave Pivot under the auspices

of the Late Antique Series:

http://www.palgrave.com/pivot/

In addition, Palgrave's author services are outstanding:

the referee process is expeditious, and, once a

manuscript has been accepted, the time from its delivery

to actual publication is six months. Palgrave still

provides its authors with copyediting, and produces

beautiful volumes, both in terms of design and also the

accuracy of copyediting and proofreading (I speak as a

recent Palgrave contributor). You are very probably

familiar with Palgrave’s “The New Middle Ages,” edited by

Bonnie Wheeler:

http://www.palgrave.com/products/series.aspx?s=NMAG. Our

books will be similarly produced. Finally, as one of the

world's largest and most respected academic publishers,

Palgrave has unparalleled global reach. Thus, books in

this series will be priced competitively, brought out

simultaneously in both print and e-book format, promoted

aggressively online, in print, and at professional

meetings, and marketed effectively around the world.

Once the initial print run is sold out, books will remain

available through print-on-demand and, when warranted,

through second editions. I would be delighted if you

would let me know whether you have a manuscript for which

our series might be appropriate. Please do inform your

colleagues of this publishing opportunity and above all

suggest to me the names of some of them whose work might

find a good home here. I am, of course, also available to

discuss possible projects by email

(danuta.shanzer@univie.ac.at) or Skype (allowing for

time-zones!); please don't hesitate to be in touch with

me directly.

With warm regards,

Danuta