Communication

Darla Henderson

Darla Henderson is a senior acquisitions editor with John Wiley & Sons, Inc. She earned a Ph.D. in bioorganic chemistry from Duke University, and chose a career that allows her to combine both chemistry and business skills.

What you need to succeed in this field

• Excellent writing skills
• Basic set of business skills and understanding (finance, marketing, sales)
• Good interpersonal skills
• Broad background in scientific knowledge
• Sound judgment and objectivity
• Ability to research business topics, then make decisions based on that information
• Detail orientation and ability to stay on task

Darla focuses her efforts on identifying the information needs of chemists, biochemists, and materials scientists, then locating the best authors and editors to create projects that meet those needs. She keeps up on developments in the field by reading the research literature, attending symposia and conventions, and networking. She also manages strategy and the financial aspect of the entire chemistry, biochemistry, and materials product line. This includes planning and budgeting for revenues and anticipated costs, and managing and training other editors and assistants in the editorial program. For collaborations with societies or organizations, she negotiates contracts and agreements.

Career Path

"There is a shortage of scientific
applicants for this field of work.
Scientific literature is becoming
more complicated, making it even
more important to understand the
customers' workflow, and provide
the information they need when
they need it. Protecting the rights
of both authors and publishers,
while enabling access to
information, is a continuing
challenge."

While earning a Ph.D. at Duke University, Darla co-authored a book chapter, and found the publishing process interesting. After graduate school, she looked for a career that would balance her love of chemistry and her business skills. She interviewed with John Wiley & Sons publishers, conducted a trial run at acquiring content, and was then offered a challenging position. She realized this meant leaving the laboratory and most likely never returning, so she considered the options carefully before accepting and becoming an associate editor.

After about nine months, Darla's direct supervisor left the company, and she handled content and acquisitions for both positions. She not only learned the publishing basics quickly, but learned more life skills such as prioritizing, time management, how to make the best decisions quickly, and how to be a good team leader and manager.

In addition to these responsibilities, Darla now works with other divisions to develop online products with enhanced functionality, such as structure, reaction, or property searching. She also works on creating online textbooks, with value-added resources such as online learning tools for students and course management tools for professors.

In 2002, Darla negotiated to work off-site for a few years (and part-time for the first year of that), so she is now part of the "virtual workplace". She has learned how to coordinate travel schedules with her work and personal life, as well as how to manage staff members and direct a team from a distance.