Essential knowledge about scholarly book publishing that every author should have. Get weekly tips on writing and publishing your scholarly book from developmental editor and publishing consultant Laura Portwood-Stacer, PhD.
Behind the scenes of a second book
Published 21 days ago • 10 min read
The Manuscript Works Newsletter
Essential knowledge on scholarly book publishing that every author should have
Hello Manuscript Workers!
Every month in this newsletter, I share newly published books by Manuscript Works readers and clients, along with a more in-depth conversation with a scholarly author to get a glimpse behind the scenes of the book publishing and promotion process.
This month, I'm pleased to bring you my interview with Dr. Dan DiPiero, author of Big Feelings: Queer and Feminist Indie Rock after Riot Grrrl, coming out this month from the University of Michigan Press. This is Dan's second book, so I asked him if he would share some insights he's gained from the second time through this experience of publishing and promoting a scholarly book.
Here's a description of the book from the publisher's website:
In the past decade, a distinctive resurgence of indie music has seen young, queer, and feminist artists reformulating the genre with strategic reappropriations of ’90s grunge and 2000s-era pop. Big Feelings offers a nuanced analysis of these musicians and the socio-political crises informing their sounds. Dan DiPiero situates this new wave of indie music within the context of the emotional sensibilities and social orientations of a young generation flattened by an endless stream of everyday traumas. Listening closely to Soccer Mommy, Indigo De Souza, Jay Som, SASAMI, The Ophelias, Vagabon, boygenius, and more, Big Feelings traces points of resonance and connection that help fans perceive politics where it might first appear absent.
By bringing listeners’ experiences into the analysis, DiPiero shows how indie rock feminisms have shifted since the 1990s, rejecting overt political messages in favor of sonic catharsis, and reflecting the complex, ambivalent feeling of being young while the world burns. In reprising the sounds of an alt-rock associated in public consciousness with white male pain, Big Feelings music doubles down on the stereotypical association between femininity and emotionality to perform whole spectrums of feeling in varied states of overwhelm. In doing so, these artists draw attention to overlooked histories of women and queer musicians who have been forging indie rock all along, while also remaking how the music matters in the present.
And now, here's what Dr. DiPiero had to say about the process of publishing and promoting his book...
Laura Portwood-Stacer: Thank you for sharing your author experience with Manuscript Works' readers! Who do you hope will read this book?
Dan DiPiero: Primarily, I hope to reach both scholars and fans of popular music. This has been an exciting but tricky project because unlike many of the more esoteric subjects in our fields, there is a massive and pre-existing culture of indie rock fandom well outside of, yet overlapping with, academia. This is to say that while I of course hope to contribute to and be recognized within my primary academic field, there’s also potential for this book to be of interest to general music fans as well. Engaging those folks is also super important for the book because their perspectives—represented by the interviews I include—are so integral to the project. Getting it right by those listeners, and representing their concerns and viewpoints in a way that would be not only accurate but also compelling to read about—that’s the highest ambition for this project.
Beyond those firmly embedded in popular music, I also hope that scholars working in gender and sexuality studies, queer and feminist theory, and interdisciplinary spaces like American studies will find value in this project, particularly in the ways that it engages affect theory with music and subculture studies.
LPS: What are you doing or planning to do to promote the book when it’s released?
Whether it’s a podcast, magazine, or social media, I think the best strategy for promotion that I’ve heard about is to keep track of the life of a book you’d like to emulate: Find an author who’s written something you admire, something that’s directly relevant to your project, and make a list of venues where that book has been promoted or discussed. This is the kind of thing you can do a year out, so that by the time you have blurbs and stuff you’re ready to go with a flyer and a pitch—and you have a built in angle for that pitch itself (i.e. “if you liked X, you might be interested in my thing”).
[Note from LPS: Dan has a great post in his own newsletter where he offers a lot more behind-the-scenes details of his promotion efforts, so check those out if you need ideas!]
LPS: What has been the most surprising thing about the process of writing and/or publishing this book so far?
DD: I’ve been super lucky in the sense that everything publishing related has gone exceptionally well with this project, and I credit that to the folks at Michigan, particularly my acquiring editor Sara Cohen. The selected peer reviewers were pitch perfect for this book, and they offered incredibly detailed feedback that was both generative and generous. Their reviews had a material impact on the book, in one case even changing its structure substantially by suggesting and motivating a chapter that I hadn’t planned to write. So this is also an endorsement of the advance contract path, where you get feedback on your proposal and sample chapters that you can incorporate into the book before you actually finish it. I love the increased level of collaboration and dialogue that undergoing two rounds of peer review engenders—provided the reviewers are a good fit. This again drives home the importance of discretion and judgment on the part of the editor, the importance of having a mutual understanding and investment in your book’s goals.
On the back end, the copyeditor (Matthew Somoroff) and the indexer (Amaranth Tupelo) Michigan hired on my behalf were each unbelievably perfect for my book. The former had an advanced degree in music of some kind (I can’t remember exactly what) and even suggested edits to some of my music terminology, as well as the symbols I used. The latter, was an avid indie rock fan with an investment in many of the artists I wrote about. Both brought a level of care and attention to detail to my book that sort of floored me, and made it exceedingly easy to trust them with my sensitive and personal project. While I know that this kind of exact pairing is partly lucky and can’t be replicated for everyone, it indicates to me the thoughtfulness and intentionality that went into decision-making processes behind the scenes at Michigan.
LPS: We love a press that really "gets it" and goes above and beyond to support authors! Is there anything you might do differently the next time you publish a book (or what do you wish you had done differently this time around)?
DD: Next time, I’m going to really try to thread the needle between an academic book and one written for a trade audience. With Big Feelings, I also tried to write in a way that would be compelling to both audiences; but it’s an academic book that reaches outward. Next time, I want to do the reverse by writing a book that reads more like a trade publication, which reaches towards academics from that side of the fence. I think of Francesca Royster’s Black Country Music as an ideal in terms of form, a kind of experiment that’s been cultivated by the American Music Series at the University of Texas Press, and advanced by other wonderful examples like Sasha Geffen’s Glitter up the Dark and Eric Harvey’s Who’s Got the Camera?. On the level of language itself, Hanif Abdurraqib’s Go Ahead in the Rain might be my favorite book on music period, and I’d love to be able to more fully explore a kind of writing that engages academic concerns while dispensing with its writerly conventions, to chase after the feeling that Abdurraqib is able to conjure, however impossible that may prove.
Recognizing that this question is more concerned with publishing matters, I mention all of this because I wish that I knew more about the worlds of crossover and trade publishing. I’ve spent the last five years learning everything I could about publishing with university presses, which was critical for my career and always will be. At the same time, to realize that almost none of this insight applies to trade presses has been sobering and a little frustrating, particularly as it becomes increasingly common for academics to want to publish both kinds of books. I’m encouraged by efforts like the American Music Series, which house trade-oriented projects at a university press, and therefore not only acknowledge shifting trends, but also provide some structure for authors to latch onto as they experiment with new projects.
[Note from LPS: I have a free webinar recording for scholarly writers on publishing trade and crossover books if this interests you!]
LPS: What were the most helpful sources of support you received in the process of writing and publishing this book?
DD: I do want to say upfront how critical all the Manuscript Works materials have been for me. I’ve been to a bunch of webinars, and I followed the worksheets from The Book Proposal Book extremely closely when preparing my materials. I mention this in part because when I was offered my advance contract, Sara shared that “One of our editors noted that your book proposal is one of the best she's ever read and said that you should teach a class on writing book proposals.” But my proposal came straight out of the models and homework laid out in The Book Proposal Book! I’m happy to report that this work evidently paid off.
Get the free worksheets when you purchase a copy of The Book Proposal Book
I also want to take a minute to acknowledge here the ambiguous but absolutely concrete idea of community. When I wrote my first book (which was based on my dissertation) so much of the process felt like it was taking place in isolation, just me struggling through my own mental loops and feeling bad for asking my (wonderful, incomparable) advisor to read yet another draft. By the time this second idea really formed, I had found a home in popular music studies and had made connections with a group of likeminded scholars. I didn’t necessarily ask all these folks to read drafts, but whenever I needed something—from peer reviews to advice to conference Q&A to just an ear on a spinning idea—they were there for me. I say this because it can be so easy to lose oneself in the often myopic process of writing, especially for someone like me (a Scorpio with social anxiety). But every single aspect of publishing this second book has been more fulfilling, affirming, and enjoyable thanks to the friends I’ve made in the past few years. I know everyone is struggling with low salaries and impossible workloads; but if you can afford to invest time and energy into a scholarly community, my experience has been that it returns redoubled.
LPS: Is there anything else you want to share that you think aspiring book authors should know?
DD: I’m super happy to talk about my publishing experience with anyone, so I’d just share that folks should feel free to get in touch with me at dan.dipiero@gmail.com if they want to chat about any of this further!
If you’d like to get a copy of Big Feelings by Dan DiPiero, it's now available on the University of Michigan Press website (save 30% with code UMWEB30) or wherever you buy books!
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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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Essential knowledge about scholarly book publishing that every author should have. Get weekly tips on writing and publishing your scholarly book from developmental editor and publishing consultant Laura Portwood-Stacer, PhD.