The hunt by publishers for authors with serious credentials to match serious times continues, as we discovered when we talked to some of the prominent editors in the business in our up-front q&a for this issue of Religion Update. Answering four key questions, they tackle the trends, the topics and the challenges of publishing books that are grounded in scholarship yet accessible to intelligent general readers. A young scholar in the field asks the question on her mind and the minds of those like her: "Will writing books for those general readers hurt my chances for tenure and lose me the respect of my colleagues?" Though the concept of the "public scholar" has gained ground in recent years, there may still be fallout for those on the tenure track.
In academic religion as perhaps in no other category, high-performance backlist books play a crucial role, providing the financial foundation for many presses. We asked publishers about their backlist strategies, and they pointed to some of the enduring stars that support their programs. Finally, four authors tell us about the inspiration for their latest books, all of them solid in scholarship and fluently written—just what editors are looking for today.
