Thinking about Audiences and Paper Venues

I was up late last night talking to one of my roommates, and she says she and our other roommate know a bit about the Tudors, mostly from the recent HBO show (which I've heard is very lewd). However, she did comment, "Whenever (the other roommate) says, 'You'll never guess what happened on the show!', I'm like, 'How did I not learn this in History class?'" So I'm starting to think maybe I could talk to my roommates about my paper--although they're not home much, and when we are at home we don't talk much. So we'll see.

However, it does demonstrate that a lot of people are familiar with the Tudors. Numerous books, movies, and TV programs have been written about them, and people consume these eagerly. So I think it would be a good idea to direct my paper to an audience familiar with the Tudors and the events that I am discussing in my paper.
It goes without saying that I would also like to direct my paper to Shakespeare enthusiasts. From a scholarly standpoint, my paper is relevant because the Tudor regime had such a huge impact on Shakespeare's writing and that is what I am trying to evaluate. However, a lot of people don't automatically connect Shakespeare with the Tudors, so for people with fewer scholarly inclinations this might offer a new perspective.

From the suggestions of my classmates, I already have a few ideas about venues for my paper. I already promised myself that I would submit to the BYU English symposium before I graduate, and I will especially want to submit this paper if it does turn out to be the best scholarly paper I've ever written, which I hope for. I am also thrilled by the idea that the Utah Shakespeare Festival accepts scholarly articles. That might actually be a very relevant venue because a lot of Shakespeare enthusiasts flock there annually, and they might be interested in what I have to say about certain Shakespeare plays. Some of them, for instance, might remember the most recent production of Richard III back in 2011 that I also went and saw for my 291 class. That production doesn't have any particular bearing on my actual paper, but I do think about it a lot because it was SO AMAZING!

Anyway, just a few thots.

Who cares about Coriolanus?

I am having somewhat of a difficult time finding an audience for my paper on the aspects of nature vs. nurture in Coriolanus. Coriolanus, compared to Shakespeare's other works, is not his most popular and the Nature vs. Nurture "audience" is about as broad as it gets.  After talking with Professor Burton I came to the conclusion that my audience must be composed simply of Shakespeare aficionados.

I spent a fair amount of time looking through the sources Professor Burton provided for finding outlets for our research and came up somewhat empty handed.  I found a few venues that were interested in Shakespeare's Roman play but the deadline for submission was already a year passed.  I did happen to find a venue that is as broad as my topic here.  This site also calls for guest bloggers as well so that could be another potential avenue.

Basically this process has kind of bummed me out on my paper. I need to find a way to spice it up and make it a little more relevant. I'll definitely be hitting the research hard this weekend and hopefully that will help me get a narrower focus. Meanwhile, any and all ideas would be most welcome. 

Peoples I will be writing at

aka my audience

I'm still struggling a bit with figuring out exactly what I will be writing about. But I think for the most part I've decided on not pursuing the high school idea (especially since a lot of people think that although Measure for Measure is one of Shakespeare's greatest, it tends to be too full of "adult content.")

So instead of decided to pursue the idea of using the play to teach mercy and justice (maybe still for younger generations?)

My audience - people. Mainly religious people. I've even thought of being as specific as Mormons but apparently a lot of people think Joseph Smith plagiarized Shakespeare (WHAAA???)

I think as I finalize my thesis I'll have a better idea of who I specifically want to read it. As for places of publication/presentation, I feel like my topic might go over well at BYU's English symposium, we're all religious-ish. I'm also hoping to get in contact with this blogger. They wrote a great piece on Measure for Measure and I hope they'd be interested in hearing my extended piece on their idea.

Honestly - trying to find a place is hard. I would be grateful for any help in this area.

The Crowd Around my Soap Box

I usually assume that my audience is both familiar with my topic but researching scholarly conferences or blog has been a learning moment.  I know BYU's scholarly journal is convenient and available, especially for poor, time robbed undergrads.  There are several undergraduate Shakespeare conferences, University of Akron, the Utah Shakespearean Festival, Medieval and Renaissance Studies, are just some conferences calling for papers this upcoming year.

These particular conferences cater specifically to Shakespeare and the audience will largely be familiar with many of Shakespeare's plays, particularly Othello which I am currently researching and writing about.

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.

A midsummer night's audience

My audience is 

high school teachers

and

people studying to be high school teachers 

(like me).

I hope

this is not 

too much of a cop out. 

(Just, why would I try to look for a deep, complex idea for an audience when this is so obvious?)

(Or is it supposed to be more specific - like "Ninth grade literature teachers" or "Ninth grade literature teachers who don't know which text to teach" or something like that?)

VENUES FOR PUBLICATION:

I don't know. 

David O. McKay School of Education ScholarsArchive. 

This Shakespeare Blog: http://www.nosweatshakespeare.com/guest-blog-post/

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