The first step in finding opportunities to co-publish is to let your faculty mentors know that you are available to help if they ever get such invitations. Faculty sometimes receive unsolicited invitations to write an article or contribute a book chapter. Since faculty often plan long-term writing agendas, they may decline an unexpected invitation. They may be more likely to accept such an invitation if they know they can share the research and writing tasks with a co-author…

The benefit of collaborating is that all parties acquire new experience and skills, and have the creative opportunity to generate and test new ideas.

I was lucky in becoming a coauthor on Working World in that it all kind of just “happened” and I was in the right place at the right time (meaning I wasn’t actively pursuing this or any other specific opportunity to get published at the time). But in looking back, I did want to pursue writing in some form (including getting published) and I did let Sherry know about my writing skills and my desire to write (both in the projects I pursued and excelled at, as well as just by telling her straight up).

So when Sherry came up with the idea to invite me as a coauthor on Working World, it wasn’t a shot in the dark—she already knew that I could write and that I was certain to accept her invitation. If you’re looking to write and get published, whether in academic circles or otherwise, don’t be shy about letting people know, or about getting your stuff out there.