Where does your interest in publishing lie? Do you want to shape the prose of fresh voices as an editor? Would you like to represent writers as a literary agent? Are you enthused by the potential of online publications and new media formats? Perhaps you see yourself publishing your own niche magazine. Emerson’s unique Publishing and Writing program helps you learn the professional skills and earn the experience to succeed in the ever-vital, ever-changing publishing industry.

Readers continue to flock to the page (printed and virtual) in larger numbers than ever before. The words that inspire, inform, provoke, and amaze may begin in the fertile mind of a writer, but it is the publishing professional who cultivates them, shapes them for the marketplace, and delivers their power to the world. As an editor, publicist, agent, or publisher, your career path is enlivened by art and shaped by business.

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The Program Master of Arts in Publishing and Writing

The Art and Business of Writing

While other programs focus exclusively on the business and editorial sides of writing, they often do not delve into literature and writing the way that Emerson’s program does. Our integration of publishing, literature, and writing cultivates your ability to respond to creativity with creativity.We offer a curriculum where publishing and writing meet. While you will concentrate your studies in book, magazine, or electronic publishing, the program blends together an overview of the publishing industry from writing and editing through design, production, and distribution. You will be exposed to developmental, line, and copy editing; acquisitions skills; publicity and marketing; book and magazine design and production; web design and publishing software; and professional ethics. Students may also elect to take literature courses and writing workshops.

Whom Are We Looking for?

If you are committed to being a professional and leader in the publishing world and want to use your skills to help shape the industry and define its future, you will find Emerson’s Publishing and Writing program to be a perfect fit. Our students are dedicated to doing work that reflects a high level of editorial quality. Many are liberal arts graduates with backgrounds in literature, writing, science, and social science. Many others have professional experience in areas including publishing, education, professional writing, journalism, and advertising. Regardless of their background, Publishing and Writing students are driven by the integrity that underlies how and where they choose to do their work.

Located in a Literary Epicenter

Home to major book publishers, including Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Beacon Press, Da Capo Press, MIT Press, Addison-Wesley, David R. Godine, Bedford/St. Martin’s, Allyn and Bacon, and Pearson, and with Boston magazine, Ploughshares, and Cook’s Illustrated also based here, Boston is an ideal place for launching your publishing career. Emerson’s campus is only blocks away from many of these industry giants. Our city is synonymous with writing as both an artistic pursuit and a business endeavor, and our students are immersed in this dynamic literary community.

Program Structure Publishing Courses

Workshops

• 40 credit hours • Fall admission • Full- or part-time enrollment. Full-time enrollment is typically 8 or 12 credits per semester. • Full-time students usually complete the degree in two years; part-time students usually complete the degree in two-and-a-half to three years.Degree Requirements • Six publishing courses (including Magazine Publishing Overview, Book Publishing Overview, and the option to do a Master’s Project) • Two literature courses (may be waived if the student has a bachelor’s degree in English) • Two departmental or related electives • Optional internship (may fulfill up to 8 credits)

• Construction of Taste • Literary Theory and Criticism • Poetry and Poetics • Seminar in Nonfiction • Seminar in Short Fiction • Seminar in the Novel • Theory of the Novel • Topics in Drama • Topics in Fiction • Topics in Multiple Genres and Hybrid Forms • Topics in Nonfiction • Topics in Poetry

• Fiction Workshop • Advanced Fiction Workshop • Novel Workshop • Playwriting Workshop • Poetry Workshop • Form in Poetry • Nonfiction Workshop • Screenwriting Workshop • Writing the Nonfiction Book

• Directed Study • Internship • Teaching College Composition • Additional workshops and literature or publishing courses

Literature Courses

• Book Design and Production • Book Editing • Book Publishing Overview • Column Writing • Copyediting • Applications for Print Publishing • The Editor/Writer Relationship • Electronic Publishing Overview • Magazine Design and Production • Magazine Editing • Magazine Publishing Overview • Professional Ethics in Magazine Publishing • Topics in Writing and Publishing

Electives

Teaching College Composition

Each year a selected number of MFA and MA students learn to teach writing at the undergraduate level. Teaching College Composition is a 4-credit, one-semester course that prepares students to teach at Emerson during their master’s program and then at other institutions after graduation. Although taking the course does not guarantee a part-time teaching position at Emerson, students who have completed the course are interviewed by faculty and are often offered appointments. Many students find that this foundation in teaching is a valuable tool in pursuing jobs after graduation.

Master’s Project

For many students, the Publishing and Writing program culminates with a project that demonstrates a professional level of accomplishment in at least two areas of publishing and writing. Past projects have included:

• A new magazine on alternative music poster art; • A memoir of life in London’s publishing business; and • An editorial style guide researched and written for MIT Press.

A Faculty of Savvy Professionals and Expert Scholars

Our faculty is made up of accomplished publishing and writing professionals. They are editors, writers, designers, publishers, and consultants currently working in the field. They come from major industry sources such as Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Addison-Wesley, Globe Pequot Press, Nation Books, Viking Penguin, Da Capo Press, Newsweek, Inc., Men’s Journal, Boston magazine, and The Atlantic Monthly. Their expertise gives you a solid foundation in traditional publishing, as well as exposure to current market trends, including innovations in electronic publishing. Visit emerson.edu/academics/departments/writing-literature-publishing/faculty to learn more about our Writing, Literature and Publishing faculty members.

Office of Graduate Admission 120 Boylston Street Boston, MA 02116

617-824-8610gradapp@emerson.edu

A Vast Alumni Network in Boston and Beyond

When you graduate, you join an expansive network of Emerson alumni who work across the country and around the globe. Publishing and Writing alumni have gone on to become leaders in the publishing industry, working as literary agents and critics, editorial consultants, book and magazine editors, magazine writers, publicists, marketers, and print production specialists. They help produce many well-respected local and national literary journals and magazines. With the range of skills developed at Emerson, our graduates find that they are able to comfortably make the transition from one role in the publishing process to another, as well as advance quickly into senior positions.

Recent Internships and Employers

Addison-WesleyAppalachian Mountain Club BooksArt New EnglandThe Atlantic MonthlyBeacon PressBedford/St. Martin’sBody + Soul magazineBoston Book ReviewBoston MagazineCandlewick PressChronicle BooksCook’s IllustratedDa Capo PressDavid R. Godine, Inc.DoubledayE! OnlineFast CompanyForbesHarperCollinsHarvard Business PublishingHarvard Common PressHarvard University PressThe Horn Book magazineHoughton Mifflin HarcourtHyperionInc.Little, Brown and Company McGraw-HillThe MIT PressMFA PublicationsOxford University PressPearson EducationPenguin GroupPerseus Books GroupThe Pohly Company Random HouseShambhala PublicationsUniversity of Chicago PressWilliam MorrowW.W. Norton & CompanyYankee Publishing Inc.

Writing, Literature and Publishing Lab

The WLP Lab is an innovative and technologically advanced workspace created specifically for students in the Writing, Literature and Publishing Department. It is used for small writing workshops, publishing overviews, and design and production courses. The room is equipped with 20 Mac workstations, a multimedia projection system, 5 scanners with transparency capabilities, a black-and-white laser printer, and a color tabloid laser printer that is able to accommodate larger-sized publishing projects. Additionally, you will have access to the Adobe Type Library, which allows you to use all typefaces released by Adobe.