It is hard to believe it is the middle of October already. Hopefully you have settled back into a routine; most importantly a writing routine. The posts I’ve gathered for you this week focus on a variety of topics, from journal submission to author branding, to textbook prices and crowdsourced editing. If you are struggling to write daily and need an excuse to set goals, be social, and write, I strongly encourage you to participate in Academic Writing Month (AcWriMo). If this sounds like you and you only have time to read one thing, read the first article on my list. Happy writing!

Announcing Academic Writing Month 2014
If you have yet to participate in AcWriMo I highly recommend you read this article and participate! This article will explain to you what AcWriMo is, how you’ll benefit, and how to participate. It’s a great way to set and achieve writing goals, have support and accountability, and share your successes and tribulations with your peers along the way. I’ll be tweeting encouragements throughout the month of November to help motivate all those participating, just make sure to follow @TextandAcademic on Twitter!

Publishing Academic Work
Granted this was actually published back in January, but I just discovered it so I’m counting it as a post you should read this week. This post by Politics | PhD gives an overview of the journal submission process. It gives broad, yet practical tips. If you are new to the journal submission process this article is a great starting place to learn the basics.

Is Crowdsourced Editing Right for Your Book?
Crowdfunding has become quite popular in the last couple of years and it appears to have moved into the editing world as well. This article will help you understand what crowdsourced editing is and how it could be beneficial to you and your writing.

Write a Book and Become an Employee of Your Former Self
I have to admit I’m a Rachel Toor fan. Toor utilizes her real-life experiences along with a certain finesse to offer practical advice for academics. This piece focuses on, using Toor’s words, “the fairly icky word, [author] branding.” It gives specific examples of content marketing strategies for authors shared with Toor by Niko Pfund, president of Oxford University Press.

A Response to ‘An Open Letter to Journal Editors’
In my post last week (view here), I recommended a post written by Leonard Cassuto An Open Letter to Journal Editors. Cassuto posed this question, “What if you banned publication by graduate students?” This week Dian Squire offers a response to Cassuto’s question, one Squire finds to be “flawed.” Squire’s counter argument is that, “The problem in doctoral education is not students writing scholarly articles; the problem is the dissertation and the publishing process.” Do you agree?

How College Students Battled Textbook Publishers To A Draw, In 3 Graphs
Another follow-up to a post I shared last week (view here), focusing on the rising cost of textbooks. This again shows the relationship between textbooks and student spending, however it gives a possible solution. At least, a solution in the eyes of one textbook executive, and one in which other publishers would likely agree. You’ll just have to read the article or listen to the short (4 minute) podcast to find out what this solution may be.

Reviewers’ comments: the good, the bad, the ugly
I like this post because author, Helen Kara, reminds us that reviews are “gifts” and suggests making a to-do list based on the feedback given. It’s good to have a strategy in place for how you will handle feedback. Do you make a to-list like Kara? Or, do you have a different approach? Share your strategies in the comments below.