Beeson Podcast, Episode #600 Anna Mosley Gissing May 3, 2022 >>Announcer: Welcome to the Beeson podcast, coming to you from Beeson Divinity School on the campus of Samford University. Now your hosts, Doug Sweeney and Kristen Padilla. >>Doug Sweeney: Welcome to the Beeson Podcast. I’m your host, Doug Sweeney, here with my co-host, Kristen Padilla. Today we’ll be talking with a good friend of ours and an alumna of Beeson who is an expert in the field of Christian publishing. Kristen, who is this good friend? >>Kristen Padilla: Thanks, Doug. Hello, everyone. We have on the show Anna Mosley Gissing. She is Senior Acquisitions Editor at Baker Academic. I’m most proud to say she is on the Advisory Board for the Center for Women in Ministry at Beeson. As you’ve already said, she is a Beeson alumna. As is her husband, Jeff Gissing. Both are graduates of our school. They have two children. Welcome, Anna, to the Beeson Podcast. >>Anna: Thank you for having me. Very glad to be with you today. >>Kristen Padilla: Well, you were on the show several years ago now when Timothy George was host. And you were with your friend, Dave Nelson, who we interviewed and played his interview just the previous week before yours for this two week series. So, I would love for you to introduce yourself to our listeners who perhaps didn’t hear that episode, especially, and tell us where you are from ... Anything about your family and what you’re up to these days. >>Anna: Sure. I am originally from Mobile, Alabama. I grew up there and spent my years there until I graduated from high school. And have moved around quite a bit as an adult. My family has lived in Alabama, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and now Illinois. And I did meet my husband, Jeff, when we were both students at Beeson in the early 2000s. Where we overlapped with Dave Nelson. That was an added bonus of going to Beeson – meeting my husband there. And yes, we have two children, Nathan and Eliza. They’re both in middle school right down the street from us. We have been in Wheaton, Illinois for about five years. As you said, I am working for Baker Academic as a Senior Acquisitions Editor. That’s what I’m up to these days. >>Doug Sweeney: Sounds great to us. Anna, Kristen has mentioned this already but we’re in a little series here on alums of Beeson who are involved in the world of publishing. And so the next question for you is how did you get involved in the world of publishing? Not many people who go to seminary think, “I’m going to be a publisher.” But somehow that happened for you. How did it happen for you? >>Anna: Well, you’re right. Many people in publishing didn’t plan to go into publishing. That is true for me as well. After I graduated from Beeson, Jeff and I were both on staff with Intervarsity Christian Fellowship, working with grad students and faculty on campuses and then he was supervising ministry. So, we were not in the publishing orbit. I started taking some classes at Gordon-Conwell. And then I was later asked to serve as a writing instructor for their entering students. So, I started out by working with entering seminary students on theological research and writing, helping them think through the scope of an argument, thesis statement, how to cite sources – and I was really appreciating that work. And then a friend hired me to do some freelance editing for a curriculum company. And then I transitioned in ministry work with Intervarsity away from direct campus ministry to a division that was serving women in the academy. So, part of my work there was editing and online publication. So, through all of those opportunities that overlapped I realized that God was drawing together all of these threads of interest and experiences that I’ve had and passions to make me a good fit for editorial work. So, then I applied to go into full time editing with IVP and that was when I transitioned to book publishing. >>Kristen Padilla: And then I mentioned at the top of the show that you are now at Baker Academic in this new position. Tell us what led you to Baker? And then what does a Senior Acquisitions Editor do? What are you doing in this new role? And for those listeners who are not familiar with Baker Academic, if you could also tell us a little bit about this publishing company? >>Anna: Sure. Baker Academic is a family company. It’s one division of a broader publishing company based out of Grand Rapids. It started with a couple of brothers opening a bookstore. And grew from there over many years. Baker Academic is a leading publisher of academic books, particularly in theology, biblical studies, ministry, missiology ... We publish a broad range of resources for students from entering college students to seminary students to scholars, commentaries, textbooks, standalone books ... things like that. I came to Baker partly because of the way the Senior Acquisitions role is envisioned there. So, I’ll tell you a little bit about what I do. Some of it is very similar to what I did most recently at IVP. But I focus on the part of the process where you start talking with someone about a book idea and work with them to develop a proposal, to eventually get that idea contracted as a book that’s actually going to come out, and then work with authors to get that first draft developed, and revised. Then I hand off that revised draft to a project editor who works with the author through the rest of the process. So, that’s basically what I do at Baker. At IVP I was both acquisitions and project editor. So, one of the reasons for the switch was to give me more time for that more relational part of the journey that I really enjoy and find fascinating and fulfilling. >>Doug Sweeney: Anna, Kristen and I know a lot about Baker and we’re big fans, but for those who don’t, what are some of the titles that you have acquired that you’re the most excited about? What kind of titles are you trying to acquire these days? Anything particularly exciting about the prospects of acquisitions work at Baker that you could share with us? >>Anna: I am working on quite a few books that are already contracted and in all different disciplines. So, that’s one of the things that’s really fun about being an editor is reading in a lot of different areas. I just finished working on a draft on Augustinian Apologetics. And thinking through what Augustine might have to say today about how we talk about the gospel and win over folks in our current context. Which I found really interesting. And then there’s another one that I’m working on that’s about writing and how you develop your own writing as part of a conversation and a way to help students to think of it as something less intimidating. We all know how to have conversations and what to do next sort of intuitively with practice. And so this author is talking about how to build some of those skills with our writing so that it doesn’t seem so stilted or rule oriented. So, those are a couple that I’m really looking forward to. >>Kristen Padilla: Well, our listeners should know that you have edited quite a number of books already in your previous role at IVP, including some award winning books. The one that comes to mind is, “Reading While Black,” by Esau McCaulley. I know that you were working on a project at IVP that my husband was a part of and he sang your praises and was so sad to lose you as an editor. But I’m curious, Anna, what you look for in an author? So, when someone approaches you with a book idea, or even perhaps what you’re looking for in a proposal ... What is it you wish authors or potential authors knew that even would perhaps help them in the whole pitching a book and the editorial process? >>Anna: Sure. I think probably two different answers for pitching and then the editorial process. I think it’s helpful for potential authors to remember that editors are people, too. And they can just treat us as if we’re human beings, because we are. And it doesn’t have to be an intimidating conversation. It’s just a way for an author to express what they’re passionate about, what their interests are, why their message needs to get to readers. That being said, it’s helpful to try to reign in that passion to a shorter statement about what you’re writing about so that it’s really important to practice getting down the gist of your argument to a few minutes. Five or less. If you can’t, then that’s not a good sign you’ll be able to reach an audience with your work. So, practice that part. I would say it’s also important to just do some research about different publishers, look and see what they’re publishing, look at their catalogues, look at their websites, look at the spines on the books that you have at your home so that you can get a sense of what might be a fit for which publisher. Because we don’t all publish the same types of books. So, the more background work you can do in advance the more we appreciate that. So, that’s a little bit about pitching. And then the editorial process, I would say two things. Editors are for you. They are your advocates. Our desire is always for the strongest book to reach the readers that you have in mind. So, it’s easy to kind of be sensitive to suggestions for editorial changes. But I think if you can keep in mind that we’re on the same side, we’re partners together for this common goal of getting your book out to readers that’s helpful. And also it tends to take a while. I think that it always takes longer from the draft in to the book on a shelf than people remember. And so it’s good to keep in mind that there are a lot of different steps to the process and especially today when we have a paper shortage and we have shipping issues. It can add on to that timeframe. So, developing patience is good. It’s a fruit of the Spirit. So, (laughs) you’ve got to work on that. God will sanctify you through that waiting process. In terms of what I look for in an author ... I don’t really have a specific answer for that. I love getting to know potential authors and thinking of that relationship as a long term one, not just about a specific project. So, that’s really a joy for me to figure out who people are, what makes them tick, what audiences are they the most suited to writing for, how might their research and their expertise overlap with something that we need? So, even if a particular project won’t work for Baker Academic, I don’t think that’s a waste of time because you’re developing a relationship that perhaps will work for the next project. >>Doug Sweeney: Anna, when we get the privilege of having alumni on the program we like to ask them about their Beeson memories. I wonder if I could ask you a retrospective question. Kind of looking back on the last 20 years or so of your life and work and ministry. Can you see in retrospect ways in which your studies at Beeson prepared you for the work, for the ministry you’re doing now? And beyond that, any favorite memories at Beeson you might want to share with our listeners? >>Anna: So, Beeson prepared me in a way that I just would never have expected. I think about when I first started in acquisitions in biblical studies. The very first people that I reached out to were friends that I had at Beeson who are now professors all over the United States and some in the UK. And that’s where I started my networks, with my friends that I had kept up with from Beeson. Quite a few people that I was around with are now professors and that’s where I started. And that’s key for acquisitions is knowing people that are authors of your books. I also developed a lifelong interest in New Testament studies when I was at Beeson. I took some advanced Greek with Dr. Thielman and have kept up that interest going through the years. I really can see looking back how what I thought was just developing friendships at Beeson has really helped me in this profession of mine that I found myself in. >>Kristen Padilla: Anna, I mentioned that you’re on the Advisory Board of the Center for Women in Ministry. You and I had conversations about it before it ever was a thing. And you are someone who has a ministry beyond publishing – writing, speaking, teaching, preaching in the Church. I know you, too, are passionate about training women for ministry. I wonder if you can take a few minutes just to share with our listeners some of that passion that you and I have talked about and why you are involved in the work that we’re doing with the Center? >>Anna: Yeah. I mean, I came to Beeson not really knowing what kind of ministry God was calling me to. And so my time at Beeson involved lots of wrestling with vocation and ministry, especially as it relates to being a woman. And I had some hard conversations and hard things happen in the Church and with other people. And I think that shaped me and formed in me a passion to help mentor women to help them think through what God might be calling them to do. And so that kind of went with me as I started in campus ministry working with men and women and then later with women in the academy. Just try to think through what are some of the challenges or obstacles that women in particular run into when they are living out God’s call – whether that’s in the academy and the Church, some other kind of job, mostly at home – all the different ways that you can think about vocation. I think that passion for women and for the challenges that they face has stayed with me. And so when I moved to publishing I think that one of my great joys has been to pursue women scholars as authors to try to help connect their books with more readers. And yes, we talked about the Center before it existed and I’ve been so excited to see how much God has been doing through the Center to really serve women and help them to flourish as students and after they finish their time at Beeson. So, I feel like it’s just really a core passion of mine that has been since probably before Beeson, but my time at Beeson certainly shaped that. And I’m very excited to be a part of the Center. >>Doug Sweeney: We like to end our interviews, Anna, by asking our guests what God has been doing in their lives recently? What God has been teaching them recently? That we might conclude with as a way of edifying our listeners. So, we ask you – What has the Lord been doing in your life recently? What have you been learning? >>Anna: This is a life lesson that I am continuing to learn. But it is just that even though this profession, editing and publishing, is a gift – it’s a great gift – as I have tried to talk about. It is not where my identity comes from. The Lord has taken care of me and has given me grace and has a life for me that is more than my work. And I think especially in vocational ministry, those two things can get confusing. Identity can be really tied up in what you’re doing for the Lord. So, I think God is continually teaching me that rest is a gift. That I am not in charge of the universe. (laughs) I am a creature. I am not God. I trust that I will continue to grow in learning that and receiving that rest as a gift. And enjoying the work that he has given me to do without placing all of my identity in it. >>Doug Sweeney: A great way to conclude. You have been listening to Anna Mosley Gissing. She is the Senior Acquisitions Editor for Baker Academic in Grand Rapids, Michigan. We’re proud to say she is an alumna of Beeson Divinity School. Anna, thank you very much for being with us today. Listeners, we thank you for tuning in. We love you and we say goodbye for now. >>Kristen Padilla: You’ve been listening to the Beeson podcast. Our theme music is written and performed by Advent Birmingham of the Cathedral Church of the Advent in Birmingham, Alabama. Our engineer is Rob Willis. Our announcer is Mike Pasquarello. Our co-hosts are Doug Sweeney and, myself, Kristen Padilla. Please subscribe to the Beeson podcast at www.BeesonDivinity.com/podcast or on iTunes.