Smith’s book, The Seductions Of Emily Dickinson, was published by the University of Alabama Press in 1996 and received the Elizabeth Agee Prize and a Choice Outstanding Academic Book Award. In 2003, he co-edited with Ellen Weinauer the collection American Culture, Canons and The Case of Elizabeth Stoddard. 

His essays have appeared in numerous journals and anthologies, including Contemporary Literature, Narrative, Journal of Narrative Technique, Arizona Quarterly, American Transcendental Quarterly and ESQ.