At Publishing in Context we help experts think through what they know, and we assist them in sharing their thinking with people who can benefit from their knowledge. I have a great deal of experience in helping organizations and individuals improve their publishing. My goal is to help both develop fundamental capacities and strategies to publish effectively.

With organizations, I specialize in program building and advising on a publication strategy that is in line with overall strategy.

With individuals, I specialize in editorial coaching–helping people develop a strategy for disseminating their knowledge and implementing the strategy–and substantive editing–taking people through the conceptualization process for creating publications or overhauling existing but ineffective manuscripts. That latter often involves writing assistance.

Current Work

Publication Consultant at Publishing in Context

April 2009 – Present

Currently I am the Development Editor for Consulting Psychology Journal, the publication of the Society of Consulting Psychology (division 13 of the American Psychological Association).

Additionally, I am assisting clients with leadership or management consultancies, scholars working on academic papers, and authors working on trade book manuscripts.

Past projects include adapting previously compiled information into three guidebooks for the Center for Creative Leadership. I also worked with an international consulting firm on a book detailing their rationale, processes, and expected outcomes when working with their clients. For more information on my work, see my site on LinkedIn (Martin Wilcox / Publication Consultant).

Experience

Director of Publications at Center for Creative Leadership

November 1989 – March 2009

CCL is an international, nonprofit, educational institution with the mission to advance the understanding, practice, and development of leadership for the benefit of society worldwide. Starting as CCL’s sole editor, I built a publication program comprised of eight people that released 139 monographs, 96 issues of the periodical “Leadership in Action,” and 25 books through an alliance with a major U.S. publisher–making use of various outlets and multiple hard-copy and digital formats. In my 9 years as director of publications, the program generated 9 million dollars in revenue. I originated publication strategy and policy; recruited, selected, and managed staff; oversaw all publication activities, from acquisitions and development, through production, to promotion and dissemination; and conceived and drove the implementation of several major initiatives, including the establishment of the CCL Press, the negotiation and management of a publishing alliance with Jossey-Bass/Wiley, and the creation of a guidebook series that thus far includes 44 titles and which has distributed more than a million copies.

Director of Publications at American Schools of Oriental Research

March 1983 – June 1989

As the senior staff member responsible for the publication program of a scholarly society devoted to the archaeological study of the ancient Near East, I was responsible for a program that included both books and periodicals. With offices at Duke University, it also had elements at other locations in the United States and abroad. My duties required me to act primarily in two areas: editorial–as the executive editor of “Biblical Archaeologist,” a quarterly illustrated magazine for the layperson interested in Near Eastern archaeology, and as chief editor of ASOR’s book publishing–and administrative–as the executive head of the society’s publication office.

Editorial Associate at Society for Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists

January 1981 – February 1983

SEPM, a professional association for geologists, had a journal office housed at Duke University. I administered the system that evaluated scientific manuscripts for the quarterly “Journal of Sedimentary Petrology,” prepared manuscripts for the printer, and coordinated associated production activities. In my two years we published more than 280 papers. During this time I also consulted with Duke University Press on the creation of a series of books that would evaluate, state by state, the livability of barrier islands from the South Shore of Long Island to Texas.

Free-lance editor and writer at my own company

December 1976 – January 1981

During this period I worked on several projects, including:

• researching and writing reports on training programs conducted by the North Carolina Department of Labor;
• consulting with the North Carolina Academy of Science when it took over the responsibility for publishing the “Journal of the Elisha Mitchell Scientific Society;”
• planning the layout and preparing the mechanical copy for the journal “Southeastern Geology;”
• served as Editorial Assistant at the Department of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (In this position I administered the receipt, review, and revision of manuscripts for the “Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders”; prepared manuscripts for the printer; proofread each issue; and coordinated other publication activities. In addition, I did the initial evaluation of original and revised papers, assisted the book review editor, and produced reports. I also provided editorial assistance to authors where appropriate.);
• completed several assignments during this period for Duke University Press; and
• completed projects for Carolina Academic Press.

Deputy Director at Technical Information Service, part of the Carolina Population Center at UNC–Chapel Hill

October 1972 – June 1977 

At TIS, which was a part of CPC at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, I was responsible or a publication program that produced, among other things, an international directory of population information resources (in three editions), a training manual for information specialists, a magazine for population librarians entitled “Overview,” a thesaurus of population/family planning terminology, and a technical bibliography series. In addition, as program officer for TIS projects–which included several kinds of traineeships, many conferences and seminars, research into information-handling techniques, technical assistance to institutions in developing countries, and a research library with one of the first computerized catalogs–I was responsible for writing reports and grant proposals, and I administered the planning, evaluation, implementation, and budgeting of all projects.