Newsletter No. 439

10 No. 439, 4.6.2014 葉敏磊 Ye Minlei 中文大學出版社組稿編輯 Acquisition Editor, The Chinese University Press 組稿編輯的工作是甚麽？ 組稿編輯是出版社書稿質量的「把關人」。一方面，要負責 書稿的篩選和評審；另一方面，必須熟悉學術和出版界的 發展動向，積極獲取符合本社精神的優秀書稿。 是甚麼機緣讓你擔上這個職位？ 2012年在多倫多舉行的亞洲研究學會年會上，我遇上中 文大學出版社（中大社）編輯部主任林穎。當時我正在找 教職，又感到學者不一定是最適合自己的工作。林穎的經 歷對我有很大啓發。她拿到華盛頓大學政治學博士後在 香港科技大學任教，其間為中大社做「義工」，然後決定轉 行到「幹活更多、掙錢更少」的出版業。她告訴我從事出版 行業使她的能力在多個向度迅速發展；學術上，做編輯也 未必比做學者成就感低，因為在學術高度專業化的今天， 學者往往只能專精一隅，而編輯職業則使人看到更闊的 全景。 也是在那次會議上，我見到中大社社長甘琦。當時她們正 不分晝夜譯校傅高義的《鄧小平時代》：林穎帶領編輯部 同事對照原文逐字校訂譯稿；社長也親自動手潤飾全書文 字。在這情形下，我立即參與了十三至十五章的校對工作。 這個經驗使我對編輯工作有了實感，更切身感受到中大社 這個團隊的活力、理想和學術水準。當時我就熱切希望成 為其中一員！ 人際網絡對物色出版項目和作者重要嗎？ 從事出版行業，人際網絡當然重要。作為大學出版社，我們 很希望和中大師生及各類教研機構保持穩定的互動。我們 計劃在今秋籌辦一系列工作坊，和中大師生一起討論如何 出版期刊論文和學術專著。 中大出版社如何在眾多投稿中披沙揀金？ 我們每年收到約五百份新書稿。編輯部會初步篩選，有潛 力的書稿則至少請兩位專家進行匿名評審，最後由學術委 員會裁定是否具有出版價值。其實好的書稿非常多，可惜 限於編輯資源或不符本社宗旨和風格，只能割愛或推薦給 同行。 組稿成功與否可以用銷量來衡量嗎？ 不能。比如我們做的雙語版《墨子全譯》，可能全世界只 有幾百個讀者會仔細閱讀這千頁巨製，但作為第一個《墨 子》全譯本，其學術和文化價值是無法用銷量來衡量的。 此書出版後被著名的「企鵝經典」買下英文版權，在英語 世界得到更廣泛傳播。 現階段有哪個項目可以透露？ 明年初我們會推出一套新的英文書系叫 Calligrams ，精 選中文文學作品和以中國為題材的經典論著，主編是紐 約著名作家、評論家、曾獲美國國家圖書獎的大編輯Eliot Weinberger。該書系的合作夥伴是以品味著稱的紐約書 評出版社，並通過世界最大的書商蘭登書屋發行。頭三 本包括以白蓮教起義為背景的西方第一本現代主義小說 《王倫三躍》、《文心雕龍》英文版，以及哥倫比亞大學著 名翻譯家Burton Watson的《中國韻文》。 What does an acquisition editor do? Acquisition editors are gatekeepers of the quality of books produced by a publishing house. As an acquisition editor, I review book proposals and assist with the review of manuscripts. I also strive to keep myself updated on the new developments in the academic and publishing worlds, in order to look for the best manuscripts. What experiences led you to this post? In the 2012 Annual Conference of the Asian Studies Association in Toronto, I met Ms. Lin Ying, the managing editor of the Chinese University Press (CUP). Her life story inspired me. Having obtained her PhD degree from the University of Washington, she taught as an assistant professor in the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. During that time, she volunteered to work for the CUP, which eventually changed her career path. Having found her true passion in publishing, Lin Ying decided to work as an editor, an occupation that makes far less money with much longer hours than teaching positions. I was told that editors do not necessarily make less academic contributions than scholars; in this era of over-specialization, scholars often become experts familiar with particular areas of a field. Good editors, in contrast, are required to focus on the big picture. I also got to see director Gan Qi in the same conference. The whole editorial team was then working day and night on the Chinese translation of Deng Xiaoping and the Transformation of China by Ezra Vogel. While Lin Ying and other editors were checking the translation word by word, the director took on the task of touching up the writing. I was immediately recruited to proofread Chapters 13 to 15. This experience not only enabled me to become familiar with the work of editors, but also showed me a team that was passionate about their cultural mission and pursuit of intellectual excellence. I truly wished to become one of them! What part does networking play in discovering authors and new titles? Networking is extremely important for the publishing industry. As a university press, we expect to receive continuous support from the faculty members and various departments of CUHK. We plan to run a few workshops this autumn on how to publish journal articles and academic books. All are welcome to attend. How to select manuscripts from the slush pile? We have about 500 new submissions every year. All book manuscripts will go through initial screening by our editorial division. High-quality manuscripts are peer- reviewed by at least two experts. Based on external review, our publishing sub-committee will decide whether the manuscripts are publishable. In fact, many proposals that are turned down are very good. Due to limited resources, we simply have to focus on projects that fit our mission and style. Do you measure each acquisition in terms of sales? No. One example is The Mozi: A Complete Translation . It is a bilingual edition of over 1,000 pages. We knew its readership would be small, but we also saw the immense value this book as the first complete translation contains. The English edition was selected by Penguin Classics and is now distributed widely in the English-speaking world. Can you tell us about one forthcoming project? A new English series called Calligrams is coming out in January 2015. It is a selection of published and unpublished Chinese literary works and classical works on Chinese culture. The editor of this series is Eliot Weinberger, a famous writer, critic, editor, and winner of the American National Book Critics Circle Award. Our co-publisher is New York Review Books and the distributor in America is Random House, the largest trade publisher in the world. The first three titles in the Calligrams series are The Three Leaps of Wang Lun , The Literary Mind and the Carving of Dragons , and Chinese Rhyme-Prose .