Career Advice Reminder | The Good Enough Manuscript Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good enough when it comes to sending your manuscript to a publisher, Laura Portwood-Stacer writes. https://bit.ly/4pZoHvV #EDUSky #AcademicSky #HigherEd

Hoping to publish a book in 2026? I've got a series of free webinar recordings to help you get in the right mindset and avoid the most common sticking points for scholarly authors. All the recordings are free to access, but registration is closing on December 31st. Thread (with links):

I was ultimately able to donate $350 to @trevorproject.bsky.social today thanks to your registrations 🙏 Registration is still open (and the discount for unfunded scholars remains)

There's free shipping today from @bookshop.org so here's a reminder that I have a curated list of my favorite books on writing and publishing that also functions as a great gift guide for the scholarly writer in your life (including yourself) bookshop.org/lists/recomm...

Got a question about writing & publishing your scholarly book? A specific situation that you can’t find advice for on the Internet? Come to my AMA on Dec 3rd! I’ll can also talk abt editing & running an academic/editorial business if anyone has questions courses.manuscriptworks.com/courses/ama2...

Donating $200 so far! (Will keep tallying until tomorrow night)

I’m holding a new book proposal workshop on January 9th! I’m donating 50% of all registration fees today to @trevorproject.bsky.social There’s also a 25% discount for unfunded scholars Save your spot today & write an outstanding book proposal in 2026! courses.manuscriptworks.com/courses/outs...

I’ve used both books and they are excellent. Together they can guide a scholarly writer from the early stage of refining a book ✨ idea ✨ all the way to refining a book manuscript 📕.

About to email the promo team at @princetonupress.bsky.social and see if we can get “Painful but effective” added to the Praise tab on The Book Proposal Book homepage 😍

The Book Proposal Book ebook is 30% off right now at @princetonupress.bsky.social and so is Make Your Manuscript Work! Use code PUP30 at checkout Tell your friends & nemeses! press.princeton.edu/our-authors/...

Today @katelynknox.bsky.social reviews @lportwoodstacer.bsky.social's Make Your Manuscript Work for #FeedingTheElephant, stating that chief among the many merits of the book are "naming and demystifying a crucial step in the lifecycle of any academic publication: developing a manuscript."

I needed to know this. (from Make Your Manuscript Work, by @lportwoodstacer.bsky.social)

I loved this interview because I, too, took 15 years from starting a project to publishing the book from it. We are the many 🤗

“For anyone out there struggling to write because you’re distracted, or tired, or sick, or scared—I’ve been there. Take care of yourself and your communities…. your book will be there when you get back.” Thx to @nickcav.bsky.social for the wise advice newsletter.manuscriptworks.com/posts/a-book...

For anyone out there almost done with a book, I wanted to recommend this newsletter from @lportwoodstacer.bsky.social about the final stages of publication! It happened to reach me just as I was moving into this phase w/ @ucpress.bsky.social newsletter.manuscriptworks.com/posts/after-...

Starting in 10 minutes! You can still sign up (and if you miss it live you’ll get the recording link tomorrow)

Free webinar today! How to give better feedback on scholarly writing (with less stress & more impact). All faculty, acquiring editors, series editors, journal editors, volume editors, special issue editors, peer reviewers, and freelance editors welcome! courses.manuscriptworks.com/courses/feed...

Reporting back that I got $274 in donations and sent $548 over to the LA Regional Food Bank this morning. Thanks everyone! Winners of the drawing will be contacted this week

I’m raising funds for the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank today. You Venmo me any amount, I’ll match it and send over the total to LARFB tomorrow! Any amount puts you in a drawing for a free ebook of The Book Proposal Book (giving away 5 copies so you’ve got a good shot) venmo.com/u/Laura-Port...

In this helpful blog post, Laura Portwood Stacer provides some constructive advice to go along with the “don’t do this” warnings with six types of book proposals that don't work. Read on here: manuscriptworks.com/blog/6-book-...

"I'll just have AI index my book." Please don't. Whether you'll be working with a professional indexer or hoping to index your own book, this looks like a great free webinar on the 101s of Indexing! tinyurl.com/ync23enc

A sincere THANK YOU to all who have taken this survey or shared it, you're tempting me to add a "if this gets X responses I will get a tattoo" incentive or something! It is so important to me to center the voices/experiences of a wide array of fans in this project, I appreciate the signal boosts.

I was listening to the @academiclife.bsky.social podcast episode with the inimitable @lportwoodstacer.bsky.social on my way home today, and lo! what was waiting in my mailbox 🤩 Make Your Manuscript Work finally made it from UK warehouse to my house!

MANGA'S FIRST CENTURY gets a shout-out in today's issue of the newsletter! Laura's newsletter was a huge help to me in getting it published, including contract negotiations.

Out today: my behind-the-scenes interview with @dandipiero.bsky.social, author of the new book BIG FEELINGS, just released by @uofmpress.bsky.social Read for some perspective on the ins and outs of publishing and promoting a second book newsletter.manuscriptworks.com/posts/big-fe...

Authors, you can now search an official database to see if your books are part of the Anthropic settlement. My book is in there, and I just filed my claim. 💸 Search here: secure.anthropiccopyrightsettlement.com/lookup

I thought The Book Proposal Book by @lportwoodstacer.bsky.social is amazing and I recommend it to everyone.

I’m giving a free workshop *today* on how to connect with editors at scholarly publishers. Let’s take some anxiety out of this first step so you don’t let fear or confusion about norms keep you from moving forward with publishing your book courses.manuscriptworks.com/courses/conn...

Invaluable perspective here for academic authors on how to think about how your book fits with a given UP list, & how editors think about what they're looking for. #writing #publishing 🗃️ newsletter.manuscriptworks.com/posts/alyssa...

I am very fortunate to work with some extraordinary colleagues at @columbiaup.bsky.social. Here's an excellent interview w/ one of them. Alyssa Napier talks about her work as an editor and university press solidarity w/ faculty in higher ed. tinyurl.com/5cr43j73 @lportwoodstacer.bsky.social

Please check out this excellent interview with my fabulous @columbiaup.bsky.social colleague Alyssa Napier about her new list in sociology and black studies and the challenges of being a university press worker in our current climate

I’ve been lucky enough to work alongside Alyssa (& hope to resume doing so post sabbatical) and she’s wonderful. Quick, clear, and a real lover of authors and books. I hope you’ll reach out and share your sociology book project ideas with her!!

"I want to encourage a sense of solidarity in my relationships with my authors, and in the ways that we recognize all sorts of disruptions are happening for people right now and how we have to accommodate the work that we do to account for that." newsletter.manuscriptworks.com/posts/alyssa...

Congratulations to @bilgeyesil.bsky.social on this well-deserved award for her book! 👏🎉🙌

Everything in here, by @lportwoodstacer.bsky.social, is completely accurate. Bottom line for academic authors (and, for that matter, peer reviewers): don't ghost your editors! Let us know what's up! newsletter.manuscriptworks.com/posts/extens...

Happening in 30 minutes ⬇️ There will be a recording if you can’t make it live (but I do give away freebies if you’re there in real time)

Early-career researchers and authors: this FREE workshop is today! (I've definitely used the "we don't publish dissertations" line so go forth learn how to convince me otherwise 😉)

Free workshop tomorrow!

If you’ve ever wondered what it might look like to do paid developmental editing for academic authors (& whether you already have the skills needed) come to my webinar w/ @efafreelancers.bsky.social this Thursday! Academics & in-house publishing staff welcome community.the-efa.org/events/Event...

If you’ve ever wondered what it might look like to do paid developmental editing for academic authors (& whether you already have the skills needed) come to my webinar w/ @efafreelancers.bsky.social this Thursday! Academics & in-house publishing staff welcome community.the-efa.org/events/Event...

My free one-hour workshop, How to Publish a Book from Your Dissertation, is coming up on September 3. Learn what academic presses are looking for when they acquire a new book project and how to avoid the dreaded “we don’t publish dissertations” rejection courses.manuscriptworks.com/courses/diss...

Thank you to @llassabe.bsky.social for having me on her American Campus Podcast to talk about how scholarly writers can benefit from applying developmental editing skills to their own texts! This is a quick listen & a great intro to the topic if you're new to it www.buzzsprout.com/2396665/epis...

I’m about 85% done with my manuscript but reading Laura’s new book still gave me useful advice. I went back to improve some chapter titles after she convinced me of their importance to the reader/browser.

You can now read the entire introduction to MAKE YOUR MANUSCRIPT WORK on the @princetonupress.bsky.social website ⬇️

If you’ve ever been curious about what’s involved in being a professional developmental editor for academic writers, I’ve got a webinar coming up on Sept 4 through @efafreelancers.bsky.social where I’ll be giving a comprehensive overview community.the-efa.org/events/Event...

My free one-hour workshop, How to Publish a Book from Your Dissertation, is coming up on September 3. Learn what academic presses are looking for when they acquire a new book project and how to avoid the dreaded “we don’t publish dissertations” rejection courses.manuscriptworks.com/courses/diss...

Look what came in the mail today! Excited to dig in! @lportwoodstacer.bsky.social

Finished @lportwoodstacer.bsky.social's Make Your Manuscript Work. Accessible, clear guide to editing your scholarly book manuscript to be more forceful, persuasive, and effective.

Who is doing work on early modern (pre-1800) Black queer history? Nothing against Sweet (and passing mentions in Saunders) but I’d love to include some other voices in my syllabi! Feel free to shamelessly self-promote!

Congrats to @lportwoodstacer.bsky.social on new 📘 Make Your Manuscript Work, out with @princetonupress.bsky.social !! Whenever early career scholars ask me for advice about publishing books, I always send 'em right to Laura's wellspring of excellent resources press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...