Writing a book: the reviewers’ revisions step

This week is the spring equinox. Here in Virginia the temperatures have risen appropriately. At times it’s warm enough that breezes are welcome, rather than chilling. Some first flowers are daring to blossom.

Meanwhile, I received reviews on my next book’s manuscript and thought this might be another good time to explain a bit about the scholarly publishing process from an author’s point of view. It’s one author’s perspective, of course, an n of one, so be sure to bear in mind other stories as well as your own situation.

A few months ago I turned the manuscript for Universities on Fire over to my publisher, Johns Hopkins University Press. That was a single Google Doc with about 69,000 words and a small stack of embedded images. (I say “about 69,000 words” because I hadn’t formatted the end notes properly. When that’s done it’ll add to the total.)

It’s a weird, almost dizzying feeling to do this. I’ve done it four times before, not counting my dissertation, and each time there’s a big swoop of tangled-up emotions. Pride, at having written such a chunk of text. Dread at what people might think of it. Nervous energy, once I think of errors to correct and stuff to add. And some relief at having reached this stage of the publication process.