Hello Manuscript Workers!
This week's newsletter features an author interview with Dr. Rose Casey, whose new book, Aesthetic Impropriety: Property Law & Postcolonial Style, has just come out from Fordham University Press. I first learned about Rose's book project in the spring of 2020, when she was part of the intrepid group of scholars who went through my Book Proposal Accelerator in the midst of the first COVID lockdown. Those were not easy times to be working on a book project (much like the times we find ourselves in now), so I'm very proud to see Rose's book released this month. Read on for some behind-the-scenes perspective from Rose on what it takes to get a first book published while racing against the tenure clock.
Laura Portwood-Stacer: Who do you hope will read this book?
Rose Casey: My book is interdisciplinary, so I'm anticipating readers from three main research fields: law and literature, postcolonial studies, and literary studies. I suspect that the first two fields will bring in most readers, because the book's title expressly indicates that it examines legal questions in a postcolonial context, but I do really hope that literary scholars recognize its significance more broadly. One of the things I do is theorize aesthetics, and particularly the way that literature shapes our worlds. My argument is that literary works contribute to legal change and they do this not through overt activism but because their stylistic composition both registers and produces new ideas. Sometimes, these changes are already evident: the South African writer Zoë Wicomb's novel David's Story proposes a new way of protecting Indigenous women's creative work, and it does this twenty years before the postapartheid government agreed to new (and innovative!) law protecting Indigenous knowledge. I also look at different forms of property in other anglophone regions across the global south to think about environmental harms in Nigeria, the patriarchal structure of inheritance and divorce law in India, and the potential for changes to the doctrine of legal personality to address the legacies of chattel slavery in the Americas.
LPS: What are you doing or planning to do to promote the book when it’s released?
RC: I'm obviously hosting a book launch party—so many years of work have gone into this book and that should be celebrated! I'm also planning various events that are expressly designed to provoke engagement with my book's ideas: a podcast episode with Arnab Roy of the New Books Network; a roundtable discussion of my book at next year's Law, Culture, and the Humanities conference; a keywords article for the Global South Studies, run out of the University of Virginia by Anne Garland Mahler and Magalí Armillas-Tiseyra; and a book forum with Global South Studies. I'm also keeping my eye on relevant new literary publications and current events that tie in with my book and that might be of interest, even tangentially, for a broader public audience; I know from experience that writing public-facing articles brings new readers to one's academic work.
LPS: What has been the most surprising thing about writing and/or publishing this book so far?
RC: Writing this book has taken a long time, and it's my first book, so there have been many surprises! In terms of the publishing process, and despite preparation from going through the Book Proposal Accelerator and talking with colleagues, I was a little surprised at quite how busy I'd continue to be after finishing the book! I'd thought that I'd get some much needed downtime (and rest!) after submitting my completed manuscript in July 2024, but the next 9 months were busy with many tasks: sourcing a cover image (a brilliant work by British-Guyanese artist Hew Locke); coordinating permissions, which included negotiating with one organization for usage and another for copyright; discussing cover design with my editor; reading and responding to copyedits; checking proofs; and doing my index. I was also surprised at how much I enjoyed the process of indexing! I did it because I didn't have funds to pay anyone, but as it happens, I found it so satisfying that I'm now working as a freelance indexer alongside my professor job.
LPS: What aspect of publishing this book has brought you the most satisfaction so far?
RC: I'm really proud of my book's argument and scope. I know that I'm doing something new, exciting, and worthwhile. It was risky to write a book about five different countries, five jurisdictions, five literary works, three literary genres, and four types of property law, especially as my definition of "property," which builds on work by scholars in Black Studies and Indigenous Studies, is more expansive than it is under the law. The risk was twofold: I might not have finished in time to get tenure and I might have found that the scope was too big to make a convincing argument based on appropriately detailed research. As it is, I avoided both of these risks, albeit not without stress, especially about meeting my tenure deadline!
LPS: What do you think you might do differently the next time you publish a book (or what do you wish you had done differently this time around)?
RC: Overall, I'm fairly happy with how things went. For my next book, on inheritance law, racial dispossession, and narrative technique in South African literature, I've sketched out my entire project, including chapters and the book's overarching arc, before beginning writing, which is different than with my first book. I'm also going to approach publishers earlier, within the next year; with my first book, I had a full draft of the four main chapters before I reached out to my ideal publishers. Waiting worked better for my first book, but with more confidence and a more substantial profile, it will be much easier to approach publishers earlier the next time around.
LPS: What were the most helpful sources of support you received in the process of writing and publishing this book?
RC: I owe thanks to so many people! Broadly, I can group them into three categories: professional workshops; professional networks; and individual people. Your Book Proposal Accelerator was invaluable; I can't recommend it highly enough. I was able to pay for it using a small award from my department for a 2018 publication on Nigerian land law, oil extraction, and a Ben Okri short story. In terms of networks, academic Twitter was both intellectually engaging and supportive; it massively expanded my network of readers and friends, and people gave so generously: for instance, dozens of people shared their first book proposals with me just before I took the Book Proposal Accelerator in spring/summer 2020. I've since left Twitter/X and remain hopeful that BlueSky will continue to grow into a similar environment.
LPS: Is there anything else you want to share that you think aspiring book authors should know?
RC: Build your network, even if it doesn't feel like something that comes naturally to you. Publishing an academic book requires you to know unfamiliar genres and norms, and while many books are very helpful on the subject, having people you can ask and learn from is also extremely helpful. Get lots of readers from different fields; knowing that people from at least five different fields in literary studies and in law had vetted my book gave me confidence that what I was arguing was correct. And finally, write with other people, even if only virtually. I cannot thank my Zoom writing group enough, especially Brian, Anne, and Johanna; together, we kept the process fun, shared writing strategies, and affirmed the value of each other's work.
If you’d like to get a copy of Aesthetic Impropriety by Rose Casey, you can order directly from Fordham University Press.
Keep scrolling this newsletter for more new book announcements and other resources for scholarly writers.
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This newsletter is coming to you from Laura Portwood-Stacer, PhD, professional developmental editor and publishing consultant. I help scholarly writers navigate the book publishing process with more ease and agency.
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