Day/Time/Room
June 17, 2026 | 1:15 a.m. to 2:15 p.m. | HUB 250
Title: Constructive Conversations with Authors
Presenters:
- Angela Watters (she/her), Digital Publishing Specialist, Illinois Open Publishing Network, University Library, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
- Corinne Guimont (she/her), Director of Virginia Tech Publishing and Press
Description: Working with authors can be a rewarding, complex, and sometimes frustrating process. Expectations can vary, emotions can run high, and communication can be misinterpreted. How can publishing professionals more effectively provide and receive constructive feedback to facilitate meaningful conversations? In 2024, Angela Watters and Corinne Guimont were assigned as peer mentors through the LPC Peer Mentor program and through our conversations we shared our experiences working with complex projects and authors and the strategies we took to navigate these situations.
In this workshop, we plan to share some of our strategies within the framework from the books Crucial Conversations and Thanks for the Feedback. We will examine the three types of feedback (appreciation, coaching, and evaluation) and how to both give and receive feedback especially when the stakes are high, opinions vary, and emotions are strong (as is often the case when working with an author who is sharing work they have been committed to for several years). We will share the general frameworks and ideas presented by the two books and then provide publishing specific scenarios for attendees to discuss in small groups and then share back to the larger group. We will also provide time for attendees to share their own experiences and strategies for navigating complex, yet constructive, conversations with authors.