The Manuscript Works Newsletter

Essential knowledge on scholarly book publishing that every author should have

Why book work is care work and how I can help

Hello reader,

So many troubling events are demanding our attention and action right now. For some of you reading this, writing your scholarly book will not be your top priority at the moment, and that's perfectly understandable. However, I know that many of you are committed both to standing up to the human rights abuses that are happening and to somehow saving attention for your academic work. My role with this newsletter is to support you in that second piece, if you need it. That's why I will keep sending it each week, even when I feel torn about whether anyone really wants to hear about scholarly book publishing at such a time.

The last time I ran my Book Proposal Accelerator—my 7-week program that guides scholarly authors in writing an outstanding book proposal and pitching it to their dream presses—I was struck by a simple yet profound fact about the participants: these writers care deeply about their books. The scholars in that cohort were personally invested in their subject matter and highly motivated to get their ideas out there so others could benefit from them. I came to see the work these authors were putting into their books as care work.

There’s a whole body of literature informed by feminist theories of care work. I’m not going to get into that here, but I want to share some of the realizations that were unlocked for me when I started thinking about the process of writing and publishing a book as care work:

• Like other forms of care work (which is closely related to emotional labor), this work is often invisible and undervalued. Yes, the commodity product of this labor—the finished, published book—can have value within the academy. But the everyday acts of care needed to get there are often not recognized and may be actively disincentivized by your workplace, even if you’re constantly being told that the book is the thing.
• Care work can be intense. The mental and emotional tax of working for something you care deeply about may not be adequately reflected in a numerical total of hours spent at your desk. You might only be able to find a few minutes to “work on” your book each day, but really you feel like your mind and nervous system are working on your book 24/7.
• Care work can be isolating. Many forms of care work are uncompensated and positioned as “natural” activities for people in certain social roles. You might feel that caring is just something you do as part of who you are, so it should both be its own reward and shouldn’t take any extra effort, let alone be deserving of outside help.
• There are a lot of things competing for our care and thus for our labor and our time. Many of these things are legitimate and deserving of your care and can’t just be ignored because you have a book to write. Other demands on your care, labor, and time may include being there for your family, organizing with coworkers at your workplace, protecting your students from institutional abuse, and participating in political activism in response to local, national, and global events. Very few people will be able to bury themselves in book work alone, especially not at this time of year and at this historical moment.

I think that for your writing and publishing process to be sustainable or even possible, you have to acknowledge that all of these things are true, and then figure out how you can still put in the care work your book needs, despite the obstacles.

I offer the Book Proposal Accelerator as one available tool to support you as you care for your book right now. Here’s why I think this tool works (and maybe why the program has organically attracted the kind of people who seem to really care about their books):

The structure of the program serves as a designated container for the work you need to do. There’s a limited time period set aside for you to say “my book is one of my top priorities right now.” That time period won’t last forever, and the book may need to recede at other times, but this time—May 28th through July 12—is reserved for you and your book.

The program helps you direct your care for your book and its subject matter toward practical tasks that will help you actually move forward toward your goal of publication. The program takes the proposal-writing and pitching process and breaks it up for you into small, manageable tasks with a suggested order of completion to maximize efficiency (and minimize thinking yourself in circles). The lessons tell you how to complete the tasks and show you examples of how others have done them successfully in the past. We do not do vague advice in the Book Proposal Accelerator. We do not do confused guessing. If you have questions about how any of the tips apply to your unique situation, I'm there to answer.

The program is full of other people who are also making caring for their books a priority. While there’s no required group work in the program and you don’t have to interact with other participants if you don’t want to (I get it), you will have instant access to a community of people who are on the same journey, if you do want to form those supportive connections with others in the group.

As the leader of the program, I take a practical, non-judgmental approach to your publishing process. I recognize that while your book is important to you, it’s not the only (or even the most) important thing in your life. The program is not expected to become your full time job. Each week’s lessons will take you less than an hour to view or read. Then there’s an optional one-hour check-in/Q&A each week. If you can spend 2-3 additional hours per week drafting the components of your proposal, you can make very good progress. That’s just 5 hours a week, which leaves you lots of other time for the other things you need to care about during the seven weeks of the program.

Now, the program will likely prompt some deep thinking about your book manuscript itself, which you may want to spend additional time working on each week. If you haven’t fully fleshed out your book manuscript yet, you might need to spend a bit more time figuring certain things out, such as your chapter structure, before you can finalize your proposal draft. The program will help you do that work if you need to do it, but the amount of time you decide to devote is totally up to you. The program materials and recordings will remain available to you indefinitely, so if other things in your life end up taking priority during the program (no judgment here), you will always be able to return to the lessons on your own timeline. (The only thing you can't return to later is the direct feedback on your proposal progress—I'm only available for that during the seven weeks.)

If any of this sounds like what you’ve been looking for as you work toward publishing your book, please do check out the information page for the Book Proposal Accelerator and consider joining the next cohort, which starts on May 28th. Enrollment is now open.

I also want to take a second to say that none of the above about book work as care work should be taken as normative. I have been happy to support scholars who care deeply about their books, but I also think it’s possible to write a book not because you have any profound passion for it but because you need to produce a book in order to achieve other goals (such as career advancement). If that sounds more like you, you are certainly welcome in the Book Proposal Accelerator too. The program is, at heart, designed to be a practical resource for professional development that meets you where you’re at and facilitates you landing a publisher for your book, whatever your reasons may be.

Questions about whether the Book Proposal Accelerator might be a good fit for you? You can always reply to my emails. No question is too small or specific, and I will always answer honestly.

Keep scrolling this newsletter for additional resources to help you on your book publishing journey.

Coming up at Manuscript Works

Free resources

Worksheets for The Book Proposal Book ​Get worksheets and a checklist to support you as you use The Book Proposal Book →​

How to Publish a Book from Your Dissertation ​Get a webinar recording and revision checklist for your book manuscript in progress →​

How to Work with a Developmental Editor ​Get a webinar recording and custom referrals to editors in my network →​

More 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. Find out more →

If you have a friend, colleague, or student who might benefit from reading the Manuscript Works Newsletter, could you forward it to them and let them know that they can subscribe at newsletter.manuscriptworks.com? Thank you for reading and sharing!

See you next week,

Laura Portwood-Stacer ​Manuscript Works​

113 Cherry St #92768, Seattle, WA 98104-2205
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