Hear me now and believe me later. The moment you sit down to work on "the whole thing," you've already lost. I have been an editor and/or writing teacher for going on 35 years now, so I can say with absolute confidence that countless writers stop … [Read more...] about 52 WIP Hacks: #12 : The Whole Thing Is a Fantasy
Book Proposals and Contracts
Schadenfreude: An Interview with Rebecca Schuman
I'm delighted to feature an interview today with Rebecca Schuman, about her new memoir, Schadenfreude, A Love Story: Me, the Germans, and 20 Years of Attempted Transformations, Unfortunate Miscommunications, and Humiliating Situations That Only They … [Read more...] about Schadenfreude: An Interview with Rebecca Schuman
My Top Five Tips for Turning Your Dissertation Into a Book–A Special Request Post
This is a repost from 2011. Today is another Special Request Post. This one is from Maria, who asks, do I have a template (like my Foolproof Grant Template) for turning a dissertation into a book? No, Maria, I do not. The process of turning the … [Read more...] about My Top Five Tips for Turning Your Dissertation Into a Book–A Special Request Post
A Big Week at The Professor Is In: My Book Comes Out!
The day finally arrived! On Tuesday the book came out and The Professor Is In: The Essential Guide to Turning Your Ph.D. into a Job was officially launched onto the world. 480 pages, half of it newly updated and revised versions of the most … [Read more...] about A Big Week at The Professor Is In: My Book Comes Out!
How To Write A Book Proposal
You all know that the book proposal is the cornerstone to a successful tenure track career in most areas of the humanities and social sciences. Sure, some parts of psychology and economics and other fields are not book-based, but basically, the law … [Read more...] about How To Write A Book Proposal
How To Pitch Your Book to an Editor at a Conference
This week the Daily Nous website has a marvelous post, Answers From Academic Publishers, devoted to advice on publishing an academic monograph solicited from actual editors from Oxford, Cambridge, MIT, Routledge, and other major presses. It has an … [Read more...] about How To Pitch Your Book to an Editor at a Conference
Buy My Book!
Love the blog? Now get it in handy book form--only $11.40! Available for pre-order now--comes out August 4! Buy it at all these places! It also makes a great gift for all those struggling grad students in your life! For bulk orders for use … [Read more...] about Buy My Book!
The Status of the Press Matters, Still!
A debate has simmered on the comment thread to my post, Does the Status of the Press Matter, in recent weeks, on the question: is Palgrave MacMillan a press with high enough status for a US R1 tenure case? My position has always been, based on my … [Read more...] about The Status of the Press Matters, Still!
Grad Student Grandiosity
Grad students tend to veer between two extremes: I know nothing and I know everything. The latter position is an over-compensatory response to fear of the former. As you gain experience you find a middle ground of calm confidence. However, at the … [Read more...] about Grad Student Grandiosity
Writing Your Book While Juggling Teaching and Kids (A Guest Post)
A reader wrote asking for a post on how to write a book while working at a teaching-intensive university. I put out a request for a guest post on the subject on Facebook, and Katherine Vukadin responded with this account of writing a book while … [Read more...] about Writing Your Book While Juggling Teaching and Kids (A Guest Post)