Academic Legal Writing - Eugene Volokh [148]
c. including the URL at which the article can be found (likely on SSRN, if you've uploaded it there).
No need to say that you'd like them to link to you—they'll understand that this is your goal, and they may be annoyed by the explicit request. Also, don't bug them to ask whether they're going to link to it: They aren't obligated to link to new articles, and many link to only a small fraction of the items that people pitch to them. But there's a decent chance that they will link to it, and will bring you readers as a result.
F. Publicizing the Published Article
1. Reprints
Once your piece is published, you want people to read it, or at least to know that it exists. Ideas that are actively promoted are more likely to be adopted. People who actively (but tastefully) promote themselves are more likely to get jobs, either immediately or down the road.
Order at least 100 reprints, though more is better. Reprints tend to run about 50 cents to one dollar for each extra copy beyond a minimum number, so splurge. Don't just make your own photocopies, unless you have to; nicely bound reprints are generally easier to read and store on a shelf for further reference, and look more professional.
Distribute the reprints, with a brief descriptive cover letter, to:
a. All professors at your school whose work is connected, even remotely, to your area.
b. All professors and lawyers who have helped you. (Did you thank them in your author's note?)
c. All professors and lawyers whom you cite in your footnotes. Mention in your cover letters the precise place that you cite them. We all like to see our names in print, so we're much more likely to look at the article when we know it cites us.
Don't be shy about sending reprints to people whose work you disagree with. If you're worried that the person might be offended, soften the blow with a nice note, saying something like “I found your viewpoint very provocative, and while I ended up disagreeing with it, it was very useful in helping me sharpen my own point of view.” (Thanks to Hazel Glenn Beh for suggesting this wording.)
d. All lawyers you know who work in the field, including those you met while working as a law clerk, summer associate, or intern.
e. All law teachers who write treatises and casebooks in the field. Their addresses are in the AALS Directory of Law Teachers, which you can find in your law library, and which you can search online in Westlaw's WLD-AALS database.
f. The offices of any legislators, lobbyists, or ideological groups that are interested in any legislation to which your article is relevant.
g. Anyone else who might be in a position to help you spread your ideas.
h. Anyone else whom you want to impress.
It also helps to personalize the cover letter as much as possible. When you're sending something to law professors, try to connect it (if possible) to each professor's scholarship. When you're sending it to lawyers, stress how your piece can be practically useful to each of them. See Appendix III.B–C (pp. 374–376) for some examples.
2. Distributing the article electronically
When the article is ready to be published, you should get the file containing the final version. Then put it up on SSRN (see Part XXIII.E.1) instead of the original draft version that you posted.
Some law reviews may be reluctant to let you post the final version on SSRN, because such posting competes with their own distribution of the article on their sites, or because it is supposedly inconsistent with their agreements with Westlaw, Lexis, or HeinOnline. I don't endorse this reluctance; I think law reviews should be eager to help their authors distribute their articles. That way the articles can better help the profession and the academy, and can get more citations, which every law review wants.
But if the law review insists on not letting you post the final version on SSRN, offer a compromise: Ask the law review for a version without the final pagination, for instance with the pages starting at p. 1 rather than the proper page number within