Survival Mode

I’m writing this in the last week of August, which I’m aware is probably the single most hectic time of year for most of the people who read this newsletter—and more so this year than any other—so today’s edition will be a light collection of links & announcements. Check ‘em out now, or come back later when things have calmed down a little.

• Princeton University Press just officially launched its Skills for Scholars book series, which includes many practical resources including my own book about scholarly book proposals (which will be coming out in 2021). I will talk about the title we finally landed on for my book in a future newsletter post, but it’s in the series announcement so click thru if you’re so curious that you can’t wait. If you have an idea for a book for the series, I can vouch for editor Peter Dougherty as being a great champion of his authors and these projects. He’s very approachable, so feel free to reach out to him with your pitches.

• I wrote a post last year on making the career shift from an academic teaching position to running my own business as an academic editor. I thought I’d share it again as people may be seriously thinking about alternative plans these days. Will there be a market for freelance academic editors if academia fully implodes and all the jobs go away? I don’t know about that, but I do know that having learned how to run my own business and teach courses independently of any institution, I can see so many other paths before me that I wouldn’t have imagined when I was first making my exit from the professor track years ago.

• If you’re considering a similar career shift (or have already begun it), there’s still time to sign up for my training course on academic developmental editing, which I’m offering through the Editorial Freelancers Association starting September 16, 2020. The class filled up before the start date last year, so do go ahead and enroll if you want to make sure to get a spot. (I’m hoping to offer it again in the future, so don’t stress if the timing’s not right for you this time around.)

• Manuscript Works headquarters is moving from Long Island to Los Angeles this fall. I’ll be a little lighter on working directly with clients during the transition, but I’ll let you know here when I’m fully back open for Quick Proposal Evals and other stuff.

• I’ll be offering my Book Proposal Accelerator online again in January–February of 2021 (and then again in June–July most likely). Enrollment will open in October, so watch this space for further announcements.

That’s all for now. Be kind to yourself and remember the the bar is (or should be) on the floor when it comes to professional accomplishments during a pandemic/climate crisis/election year/uprising for racial justice. I’m here to assist with what I can, which may simply be to help you decide that now’s not the right time to work on your book or book proposal. Let’s all just try to survive September for starters!