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.
Will your publisher actually edit your book?
Published about 4 hours ago • 6 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:
One of your common complaints about book publishers
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.
As an independent editor and publishing advisor who works with scholarly authors, I'm always keeping my ear out for what people find dissatisfying about the book publishing process. Because my mission is to help scholarly authors have more satisfying publishing experiences, it helps me to know where the gaps in the process are so I can do my best to fill them in for the writers I work with.
When I asked a few weeks back for newsletter readers to share your gripes about scholarly book publishing, a lack of editorial support inside the publisher was a recurring theme in the responses I received. While most publishers do provide basic copyediting during the production of a book, it's more rare to receive substantive feedback on the actual content of the book from your acquiring editor. I know that when I published my first book (a monograph based on my dissertation) I was surprised by how much was left up to me as the author about the final content of my book.
Author autonomy can be a good thing, but it can also be scary when you feel like no one has really "checked" your work carefully to make sure it's as good as possible before it goes out into the world. As authors we may assume that our acquiring editor will be doing this kind of "checking" (i.e. editing) at some point during the publication process but there are many reasons why they may not do it.
In some instances, acquiring editors don't see themselves as having enough expertise in your subject matter to helpfully comment on the book's content. Editors may therefore rely strongly on peer reviewers to provide editorial feedback to the author (even when peer reviewers are not trained as editors and don't always give sound or consistent revision suggestions).
In other cases, the relevant constraint isn't knowledge, but time. An acquiring editor may be juggling dozens of ongoing book projects and may not have the time or resources to give each manuscript the attention they would like to. Even if your editor is able to give you high-level advice about the direction of your book in terms of argument or structure, they often don't have the bandwidth to read the manuscript paragraph by paragraph and spell out an actionable revision plan for you.
I think most scholarly authors understand the reasons for these limitations on what editors are able to provide in the way of feedback. Of course, that doesn't make it any less frustrating when you know your book manuscript could be improved but aren't getting helpful input on how. It's even more disappointing when you receive feedback that is vague or even contradictory, as when two peer reviewers have different opinions about how your manuscript should be revised and your acquiring editor doesn't give you much guidance on which path to take.
I wanted to write about this common author frustration in today's newsletter for a couple of reasons. First, to let you know that it's normal to feel this way. If you have felt disappointed in the realities of the editorial process for scholarly books, know that you're in good company. You didn't necessarily do anything wrong if you ended up in this kind of situation, and it's reasonable to have wanted more publisher support in developing your manuscript, even if you understand why it wasn't possible.
Second, I wanted to let you know that this shortfall in the book publishing experience is precisely why I came up with a program called the Manuscript Development Workshop. In this month-long workshop, I teach scholarly authors how to evaluate and fix their manuscripts as a professional developmental editor would. If you haven't gotten comprehensive, constructive advice from peer reviewers or your publisher, this course will help you fill in the gaps yourself. And even if you have had helpful comments from external readers, this course shows you how to integrate that feedback into a concrete editorial plan that you can actually implement.
The next session of the Manuscript Development Workshop will be running from July 6th to August 3rd, and enrollment is now open. If you'd like to finish out the summer with a better handle on your current manuscript and a clear path for moving it forward to publication, I'd love to have you join me. (Scholarly writers in the southern hemisphere who are not on summer break are also very welcome to join, of course.)
Purchase Make Your Manuscript Work and The Book Proposal Book on Bookshop to support indie bookstores (and me, by using my affiliate link). You can also request them from your institutional or public library. Once you've got your copies, you can download free worksheets to go with them!
Upcoming events
Learn the skills of developmental editing for scholarly writers, then wrangle your current manuscript into shape so you can finally send it off to publishers! Course runs July 6–August 3.
Want your book featured in a future newsletter? Send your cover image and publisher webpage to support@manuscriptworks.com. Bonus points: tell us which Manuscript Works resources helped you along the way.
Looking for professional support with your book or article manuscript, but not sure who can help? When you fill out my referral request form, you'll be sent a curated list of trusted editors—matched to your specific field and needs—whom you can contact right away.
Keep in mind that experienced developmental editors may book up months in advance, so if you're even starting to contemplate working with someone, now is the time to reach out.
Frequently griped gripe
Another recurring theme in the author gripes I gathered recently was frustration over the book cover design process. This is another area where the practical realities of book publishing sometimes don't align with author hopes and expectations.
While I don't have a foolproof method for getting exactly the book cover you want every time, I do have a couple of posts that provide some insight into the process.
I hope that by reading these posts you will get some ideas as to how you can participate in your cover design process in the most productive way possible to get the most satisfying results.
Do you have a question you'd like to see answered (or a gripe you'd like validated) in a future newsletter? Reply to this message!
If you have a friend, colleague, or student who might enjoy the Manuscript Works Newsletter, could you forward this email to them and encourage them to subscribe at newsletter.manuscriptworks.com? Thank you for reading and sharing!
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.