Don’t just rewrite an existing book

Coming to want to author a book is a slow process. There is likely ruminating, rethinking, internal debating, conflicting feelings, competing agendas, to say the least. Rarely, is it a moment of inspiration and then sudden action. Part of the decision process is thinking about what is already available on the market.

Many prospective authors will say, “there is nothing like this on the market. No competition.” This is very rarely true. There is usually some book, or more likely books, that your idea is standing on the shoulders of, wanting to reach higher. Also, the competition for some customer might be to buy nothing at all.

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3 Ways publishers evaluate book proposals and query letters

So, you’ve decided to write a book but are not sure how to acquire the interest of a publisher so that your hard work can be enjoyed by readers in your discipline. You’ve heard that book proposals and query letters are the professional tactics for introducing a new book to a potential publisher, but what exactly are they looking for?

In his recent webinar, publishing consultant John Bond shared his insight on what publishers are looking for as they evaluate your proposal or query letter.

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Finding hidden pockets of time in your grading: when more is less and less is more

This is the third article in this series on finding hidden and unexpected pockets of time to write within your tried-and-true teaching practices. By paying more attention to what we do when we teach, we can spend less time teaching and more time writing without sacrificing quality feedback. Last edition, I wrote about how to streamline student feedback; in this article I will focus on streamlining how you grade student work. In the next and final article of this series, I will explore several ways to enlist student help in meeting your own writing goals while providing a role model as a scholar.

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Most useful textbook and academic posts of the week: March 11, 2022

W. Somerset Maugham once said, “There are three rules for writing a novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.” Some may say this applies to all writing efforts, however this week’s collection of articles from around the web attempts to address some of the common issues you may be facing as an academic author.

With resources on how to start, dealing with self-doubt, writing processes, and peer review, you can garner some helpful advice to move your project forward. Further, resources on women in publishing, open access, open research, and publishing research directions frame some of the trends in academic publishing today.

As you write this week, write your own rules and enjoy the process. Happy writing!

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Tips for anxious writers: Practice and performance

In the previous tip, I argued for the use of exploratory writing—writing whose purpose is to explore ideas, not writing that helps you communicate with other people—and I’m going to follow up on that notion here to focus on the emotional difference between practice and performance—between writing to learn from the process and writing something that other people will see and evaluate. One of the main anxieties that people face is about how their work will be received, and if that can be put aside, even for a time, then writing anxiety can be reduced and writing productivity increased.

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