Audiences and Publishing Venues

And here is a stretching cat.
Photo credit play4smee

I decided to evaluate my audience in three different ways: the potential readers I could attract, the publication venues I could realistically pursue, and the publication venues that would be a stretch for me.

Potential Audiences

Well, everybody, of course! But seriously, it's been hard for me to think of specific audiences the way Kara did so beautifully. I'll write at least what I have thought about:

Blind people looking for relatable literature. Much of my paper discusses harmful blind stereotypes and ways to read King Lear so that these stereotypes are assuaged. Maybe that discussion will open up King Lear a little more to the blind looking for fair representations in literature. I feel like I may be really presumptuous in aiming for this audience, though.

Undergraduate students new to disability studies. I'm hoping that talking about disability studies in a book that so many people have read will serve as a good introduction for students stumbling across the theory as I did.

Other theorists of blindness in literature. Some scholars have posed the question of how to interpret older texts that show blindness in stereotypical ways, and I'm hoping that my paper can offer some commentary of how to start this process.

"Realistic Goals" for Publication

Since my topic isn't one that most Shakespeare blogs really focus on, it seems like I should pursue more traditional scholarly routes. That said, I did reference a Shakespeare blog in my bibliography, so maybe I could submit my paper as a response to that post. My other options include the following:

BYU's English Symposium, but I want to go far beyond this venue if at all possible. The venue seems really insulated, and that's not really what I want.

BYU's Criterion. Criterion is a respectable publication and is starting to gain some traction as a nationwide undergraduate journal for literary criticism. From what I can tell, they tend to like diverse approaches to literature, so I think I would have a decent chance of publishing with them.

Susquehanna University's Literature and Creative Writing Conference. This is a relatively new literature conference, and its typical presenter is from a college in or around Pennsylvania. I could add some diversity to their lineup through both my topic and my university.

National Undergraduate Literary Conference. Though this is a national conference, its location in Ogden makes it seem accessible to someone like me without a whole lot of conference experience. It feels like a good fit.

"Stretch Goals" for Publication

National Undergraduate Research Conference. I kind of see this as one step up from the National Undergraduate Literary Conference because it caters to students of all disciplines and is held on the East Coast instead of in Utah and therefore might have more diversity among the educational background of the students. I think my paper could appeal here because it's a topic that not a lot of people are writing about, and that would set me apart.

Columbia Journal of Literary Criticism. I break into a nervous sweat just thinking about publishing with as prestigious an institution as Columbia, but I don't think I should sell myself short. I've been putting a lot of good research and thinking into this paper, and it's a fascinating topic, so I may have a chance.

Journal of Literary and Cultural Disability Studies. This is really a stretch goal because this journal is not reserved for undergraduate publications. It would mean submitting a real abstract to be published alongside PhDs and professors. I don't know if I'm ready for this, but I might still give it a shot.