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.
What's in my new book
Published about 1 month ago • 7 min read
The Manuscript Works Newsletter
Essential knowledge on scholarly book publishing that every author should have
Hello Manuscript Workers!
The excitement is ramping up around here, because my new book's official release date is just around the corner. I've heard from some of you that you've already received your copy, and my author copies arrived at my home last week!
Always ask for more free author copies in your contract ;)
In today's newsletter, I'm sharing the annotated table of contents for Make Your Manuscript Work. I hope reading it will help you decide if you want to get a copy of the book for yourself. If you do, and you order by August 5th, you'll be eligible for several preorder incentives I'm giving away, including a free PDF workbook to go with your copy of the book.
To report your preorder and put yourself in the running for the incentives, fill out this quick form. (Note that there's a separate link at the top of that form to download the workbook.)
Preorders are available wherever you buy books, but my suggestion would be to purchase from Princeton UP or from Bookshop.org, where your purchase supports independent bookstores (and me, if you use my affiliate link). If you live in a place where shipping is too costly from these sources, please feel free to order from your local bookseller.
If you don't have the financial means to purchase the book yourself, it would be awesome if you put in a patron request at your local public or institutional library. Submitting a request counts as a preorder in my eyes, so you'll still be eligible to enter for the preorder incentives.
Without further ado, here are the chapter titles and summaries for Make Your Manuscript Work: A Guide to Developmental Editing for Scholarly Writers:
Introduction: How to Develop a Scholarly Manuscript This chapter defines the four pillars of scholarly writing as argument, evidence, structure, and style, and describes the book’s novel framework of the manuscript development cycle. I describe how readers will benefit from using this book and lay out my approach to the editorial process.
Phase I: Clarify Your Mission
Chapter 1: Three Moments for Manuscript Development This chapter walks readers through the writing and revision process in relation to how book manuscripts are reviewed and acquired by scholarly publishers, focusing on three specific points in the process when the manuscript development cycle can be applied. I introduce the categories of preliminary readers and end readers and explain when writers must cater to each group in order to ensure publication success. This chapter includes a questionnaire that readers can use to clarify their mission in developing their manuscript.
Chapter 2: Delineate Your Goals, Timeline, and Capacity This chapter discusses common outcomes that scholarly writers are seeking when they publish books, helping the reader to identify which goals they personally want to prioritize. This chapter also helps readers gain a realistic view of the time and resources they have available to support their manuscript development process. The chapter concludes with the second part of the questionnaire introduced in Chapter 1.
Phase II: Assess Your Text
Chapter 3: Read Your Manuscript Like an Editor This chapter offers a procedure for reading and marking up a manuscript that helps writers stay focused on the argument, evidence, structure, and overall style of their text. I also explain why I use the term “opportunities” instead of “problems” when diagnosing a text’s editorial needs.
Chapter 4: Opportunities to Develop Your Argument This chapter explains why argument is a vital feature of scholarly texts and offers five opportunities for writers to improve their manuscript’s argument. Each section of the chapter explains how to diagnose a specific problem of argument and includes assessment questions that can be applied to the reader’s manuscript.
Chapter 5: Opportunities to Develop Your Evidence This chapter explains how scholarly texts can use evidence and analysis most effectively and offers three opportunities for writers to improve their manuscript’s evidence. Each section of the chapter explains how to diagnose a specific problem of evidence and includes assessment questions that can be applied to the reader’s manuscript.
Chapter 6: Opportunities to Develop Your Structure This chapter explains the importance of structure to a reader’s experience of scholarly texts and offers six opportunities for writers to improve their manuscript’s structure. Each section of the chapter explains how to diagnose a specific problem of structure and includes assessment questions that can be applied to the reader’s manuscript.
Chapter 7: Opportunities to Develop Your Style This chapter defines style as an aspect of manuscript development and offers four opportunities for writers to improve their manuscript’s style. Each section of the chapter explains how to diagnose a specific stylistic problem and includes assessment questions that can be applied to the reader’s manuscript.
A Few Words of Encouragement This brief interlude addresses some of the emotional responses writers may have as they assess and prepare to edit their manuscripts, assuring readers that negative emotions are normal and can be moved past as they continue with the manuscript development process.
Phase III: Plan and Execute Your Edits
Chapter 8: Draft Your Editorial Summary This chapter teaches readers how to apply the professional practice of writing editorial letters to their own manuscript revision process. I explain the value of writing up a comprehensive summary of the edits a writer may plan to make on their text after conducting the developmental assessment in Chapters 3–7 and offer a template that readers can use to produce their own editorial summaries.
Chapter 9: Itemize Your Edits This chapter shows readers how to itemize edits before executing them and explains why this practice is useful. I present readers with five essential tasks that developmental editors undertake when altering a manuscript according to an editorial plan, helping readers envision the work that lies ahead when they edit their manuscript.
Chapter 10: Alter Your Text This chapter offers five practical tips for executing developmental edits. It then provides an overview of the levels of editing that follow developmental editing on the way to producing a finished, publishable manuscript. Levels of editing discussed in this chapter include line editing, copyediting, and proofreading. The chapter ends with a discussion of the production process at scholarly book publishers, giving readers a preview of the final stages they’ll encounter before their book is released to the world.
Conclusion: Let Your Manuscript Do Its Work The brief concluding chapter offers some final words of encouragement to readers.
Appendix A: Checklist of Opportunities and Assessment Questions This appendix compiles all of the opportunities for development and accompanying assessment questions found in Chapters 4 through 7. Opportunities marked with an asterisk are among the top ten most common areas for development I’ve encountered in scholarly book manuscripts as a developmental editor. Opportunities marked with a double asterisk are among the top five.
Appendix B: Sample Editorial Materials The sample editorial materials in this appendix are based on a real scholarly manuscript that I worked on as a developmental editor. These materials are presented for readers to see concrete examples of how various steps in the manuscript development method might be applied to a real manuscript in progress.
Appendix C: Supportive Readers in Manuscript Development This appendix offers advice on seeking feedback from friendly reviewers, beta readers, and professional editors. I discuss some principles for finding and working with freelance developmental editors, including typical timelines and costs.
Appendix D: Using This Book’s Method to Support Other Writers This appendix explains how members of the book’s secondary audience (not writers themselves but those who support them, such as faculty mentors, acquiring editors at scholarly publishers, and peer reviewers, among others) can apply the developmental editing methods in the book to their work with scholarly writers. I share time-tested advice from my own editorial career to ensure successful working relationships between editors and writers.
Thanks for reading, and I hope your interest is piqued!
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.
Use my time-tested curriculum to bring structure and motivation to your book writing process. The Book Proposal Shortcut takes the guesswork out of writing an outstanding pitch for university presses and other academic publishers. Once you register for the Shortcut, you'll be eligible to join my next Book Proposal Sprint from September 8–12, a week of daily online coworking & live Q&A to help you make meaningful progress on getting your first (or next) book published.
Following the Sprint, you'll keep complimentary membership in the Manuscript Works Author Support community, 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.
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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.