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.
Celebrating three book anniversaries
Published about 7 hours ago • 5 min read
The Manuscript Works Newsletter
Essential knowledge on scholarly book publishing that every author should have
Hello Manuscript Workers!
What's in this edition of the newsletter:
Three book anniversaries and a hint at what's next
As always, if you have a question or suggestion for a future newsletter, you can reply directly to this message. Thanks for reading!
This newsletter is coming to you from Laura Portwood-Stacer, PhD, professional developmental editor and publishing advisor. 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.
This week I’m celebrating five years of The Book Proposal Book being out in the world. I had no inkling of the reach this book would have when I first pitched it in 2019. To date it’s sold many thousands of copies and my press calls it a bestseller. Numerous factors coincided to bring about this success, some of which were under my control but more of which weren’t. All I can do is express my gratitude that the book has resonated with so many of you.
Make Your Manuscript Work, my other book for scholarly writers, also turns one year old next month. While The Book Proposal Book felt like a runaway hit right away, I expect Make Your Manuscript Work to have more of a slow burn. I have no idea how many copies it has sold in the first year, and I will be waiting until I receive my first royalty statement to find out. (I could ask my editor, but if it’s bad news I’d rather find out from an impersonal accounting document, to be honest.) Again, I’d say most of the factors that will have made a difference in the book’s reach to date were largely out of my control.
Thanks to Nicole Solano of Rutgers UP for snapping this photo of me with my book during the AUPresses happy hour at Elliott Bay Books in Seattle last month
While both books solve a major problem for a well-defined reader, the problem solved by The Book Proposal Book is easier to name. The Book Proposal Book is thus fairly easy to discover by those who search for a tool to solve their problem. The problem solved by Make Your Manuscript Work is a bit more amorphous and the solution it offers isn’t one that people already know they should be looking for.
The premise of Make Your Manuscript Work is that many of the reasons why a manuscript isn’t getting the results you want with publishers or having the impact you want it to have with readers can be addressed by applying the techniques of developmental editing to your text. The book breaks down what those developmental editing techniques are and shows you a comprehensive method for applying them to your own work.
Because the problem it solves is bigger and thornier, Make Your Manuscript Work was a much harder book to write—and perhaps to promote. While The Book Proposal Book can be brought up immediately with a simple search ("how do I write an academic book proposal?"), Make Your Manuscript Work relies more on word of mouth for people to find out about it. Because scholarly writers often don’t know how to articulate the problems they’re facing when their manuscripts aren’t working, they may need a friend or mentor or editor to say “hey, here’s what I think is going on and this book can help.” Because of this, I’m all the more grateful to those of you who have been spreading the word about Make Your Manuscript Work over the past year and who continue to do so. This book literally wouldn’t work without you! (If you'd like to help, an online review is always appreciated.)
My takeaway for anyone else out there who wants to write prescriptive nonfiction, a.k.a. how-to books: know exactly what problem you solve and exactly who you’re solving the problem for. Then do your best to write a book that provides a clear and effective solution. If you nail it (easier said than done), the book will seem to sell itself.
Coincidentally, next month is also the publishing anniversary of my first book (the one I published from my dissertation), which came out in August of 2013. In some ways that book didn’t “work” because it didn’t help me achieve my main goal at the time, which was to become a tenure-track professor. The book was modestly successful with readers: it garnered a couple reviews in scholarly journals, sold about 600 copies, and racked up a couple hundred citations according to Google Scholar. If I were writing and publishing it today, there’s a lot I’d do differently, but it is what it is and that’s ok. (For a rundown of what you should do if you want to publish a book from your dissertation, come to my free webinar next month.)
Thirteen years on from its publication, I can say that my first book did so much more important work than what can be detected on paper. The experience of publishing it—with all its challenges and anxieties—drove me to the career I have now. I don’t think I would have understood just how hard and confusing book publishing can be for scholarly authors if I hadn’t been through it myself. Knowing how much of the process remains opaque and uncomfortable—even for authors who have already been through it once or twice—is what motivates me to keep doing what I do. If I can help other scholars find more joy and satisfaction in getting their books published, it’s all worth it.
Will I ever write another book? Maybe. Maybe there will be a trilogy of Skills for Scholars books, and I’ll write one that solves yet another problem for academic authors. I’ve got a couple concepts in mind but haven’t decided if I want to commit to them yet. So let me ask you: if you could make me write another book to solve a problem you have as a scholarly writer, what would that problem be? I can’t promise I’ll be able to pull it off, but I’m open to ideas! You can reply directly to this email.
I would also love to hear from you if you are thinking of writing a how-to book for scholarly readers and interested in working with me on your proposal or manuscript. I am thinking of expanding my services in this specific area and would genuinely like to know what kind of support you'd benefit from. Hit me up at laura@manuscriptworks.com!
As always, thank you for reading this newsletter and for being on this journey with me. Cheers to your future book publishing anniversaries (and maybe another one of mine someday)!
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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.