Make Your Manuscript Work: A Guide to Developmental Editing for Scholarly Writers

Oct 9, 2025

Dr. Laura Portwood-Stacer, a seasoned developmental editor and founder of Manuscript Works, shares insights from her new guide for academic authors. She discusses the importance of a strong table of contents and how to clarify your mission before revisions. With a focus on defining a scholarly argument, Portwood-Stacer provides practical techniques for finding implicit claims in drafts. She also emphasizes the value of supportive readers and normalizes seeking help, encouraging authors to embrace the developmental editing process as a vital step toward publication.

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ADVICE

Clarify Your Mission Early

Clarify your manuscript’s mission before heavy revision or publisher outreach.
Spend an hour to set a clear North Star that guides decisions and investment in the project.

INSIGHT

First Drafts Aren't Publisher-Ready

First drafts are for the writer, not the reader or publisher.
You must strengthen argument, evidence, structure, and style before submission.

ADVICE

Plan For Peer-Review Revisions

Expect substantive revision after peer review and plan time for it.
Treat reviewer feedback as part of an editorial process to improve reader impact.

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Developmental editing holds the power to make a manuscript connect with publishers and readers, yet few scholarly writers have the training to do it well. Make Your Manuscript Work: A Guide to Developmental Editing for Scholarly Writers (Princeton UP, 2025) offers scholars a practical method for assessing and refining the features of their texts that matter most—argument, evidence, structure, and style. Dr. Laura Portwood-Stacer, a writer, editor, and consultant for academic authors, explains how manuscripts move through the publication process and identifies the key stages for authors to improve their texts. Her guide shows scholarly writers how to identify what’s been holding their writing back and fix it so they can accomplish their publication goals. It includes a checklist of assessment questions, examples from real scholarly manuscripts, tips on seeking additional help, and advice on offering developmental editing assistance to other writers. Written with candor, empathy, and a deep awareness of the challenges faced by academic writers who want to publish, Make Your Manuscript Work is an indispensable how-to guide for scholars at all career stages.

Our guest is: Dr. Laura Portwood-Stacer, who is a developmental editor and founder of Manuscript Works, a consultancy serving academic authors around the world. She is also the author of The Book Proposal Book: A Guide for Scholarly Authors, and Lifestyle Politics and Radical Activism. She previously taught media and cultural studies at NYU and USC.

Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, who is a writing coach and a developmental editor working with scholars in the humanities and social sciences at all stages of their writing journey—from grad student to alt-ac, and from the idea-stage to final draft. She is the executive producer of the Academic Life podcast, and writes the show’s newsletter at christinagessler.substack.com.

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