Happy 2025, Reader!
I've never been more ready to say goodbye to a year. 2024 was already a rough one for me, and then on Monday I had an accident at home and ended up in the ER with a partially torn ligament in my foot and a big old bruise on my tailbone. Fortunately, I should be able to heal up with just rest and some prescription strength ibuprofen, and I'm still on schedule for all my 2025 plans.
On the brighter side, I had the pleasure of totaling up your donations in response to my last newsletter ($777.32) and making a matching donation of my own to TransLifeline, resulting in a sum of $1554.64. Thank you so much to everyone who gave, and I'll be contacting the winners of the drawing shortly.
Now for what's coming up at Manuscript Works in the new year!
First up...
Registration is now open for the next cohort of my Book Proposal Accelerator, which starts on January 21st. The Accelerator is a six-week, structured program that provides expert guidance, personalized support, and group camaraderie (optional) to help you craft an outstanding proposal for your next scholarly book project.
Alums of the program have landed contracts with presses like Princeton, Chicago, Duke, California, Minnesota, MIT, and many others. The Accelerator is the most hands-on way to work with me on your book proposal and I only offer it twice a year, so please do sign up if you'd like to work together to get your book project launched for real!
A new free monthly workshop series for 2025
I'm also excited to announce the debut of Publishing Unpacked, a free monthly workshop series I'll be hosting throughout 2025.
These workshops will address the most common questions I've received from scholarly authors in ten years of working as a professional developmental editor and publishing consultant. The sessions will offer practical tips for navigating peer review, clarifying your book goals, pitching an interdisciplinary project, publishing a book from your dissertation, communicating with editors, and much more. I'll share more details as each workshop approaches, but for now you can preview the dates and topics here.
The first installment of the Publishing Unpacked series is happening next week (January 8th) and it will cover everything you need to do to land a book contract with a scholarly press. First-time authors are welcome of course, but I also recommend this workshop for anyone who has already been through the scholarly book publishing process and wants a greater sense of agency the next time around. I guarantee that you'll learn something new and helpful, no matter how experienced you are.
In the past I've offered similar workshops for a fee, but this year I'm committed to sharing my expertise as widely and accessibly as possible, so please do take advantage of this opportunity to get some free professional development and achieve your publishing goals in 2025!
Keep scrolling for more resources for scholarly authors...
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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.
I hope you'll stick around for practical tips on writing and publishing your scholarly book, but if you'd like to adjust your subscription settings, you can do that at the bottom of this message.
More about Laura and Manuscript Works →
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Coming up at Manuscript Works
Course
Book Proposal Shortcut for Busy Scholars
A self-paced course to help you write an outstanding book proposal for scholarly publishers
Register →
Course
Developmental Editing for Academics
A self-study course for professional and aspiring freelance editors, in-house editors, and scholars who edit others' writing. Learn how to work with scholarly authors, assess manuscripts, create revision plans, and build a sustainable editing business.
More info→
Course
Book Proposal Accelerator
A live 6-week program in which you'll write your book proposal, receive expert feedback, and plan your submission strategy. Tentative dates for the next cohort are January 21 through February 28.
More info →
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More free resources for academic authors
Personalized support
Manuscript Works Author Support is a private hub for ongoing support in your scholarly book publishing journey. Inside this community you'll get honest advice about publishers, peer review, offers and contracts, as well as join live Q&A sessions with Laura Portwood-Stacer and your fellow Manuscript Works authors.
This community is open to alums of the Manuscript Works Book Proposal Accelerator and Book Proposal Shortcut for Busy Scholars.
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See you soon,