Writing It!

We’re speaking with Princeton University Press publisher, Fred Appel about what distinguishes Princeton University Press and what he and his colleagues look for in the book proposals they receive. We talk about the editor-author relationship, how an academic book can land in the trade/crossover section of a university press; the problem with proposing that your book is for the “general reader”; wo...

We’re speaking with University of Chicago Behavioral Science Professor Ayelet Fishbach about lessons from her book, Get It Done: Surprising Lessons from the Science of Motivation for academics. We speak about setting the right kinds of goals, finding our motivations, dealing with negative feedback, organizing our days, and collaborating effectively with others. Don't forget to rate and review our...

We’re speaking with UNC press editor, Cate Hodorowicz about what she’s looking for; how she knows if a book will work as trade; how to set yourself up for a good book exhibit hall conversation with an editor; how to show you have a robust author platform even if you’re not active on social media; what kinds of honest conversations you can have with a press editor about expectations for the book; a...

Speaking with Jenna Weissman Joselit, the Charles E. Smith Professor of Judaic Studies and Professor of History at George Washington University, and the author of several books, including the recent Yale Jewish Lives book, Mordecai M. Kaplan: Restless Soul about turning to biography; researching a subject who lived over a century and who has many living relatives; writing for popular audience; kee...

On this episode, Writing It! host Rachel Gordan is in conversation with Sarah Bunin Benor, one of the co-hosts of the podcast, Peer Review: Creativity and Fulfillment in Academia (along with Professor Mira Sucharov) about what we’ve learned from our guests about writing and finding meaning in academia. We share some of our guests’ best tips, our own challenges,, and what we’ve managed to change in...

We’re speaking with Temple University assistant professor of English, Laura McGrath about literary agents and academics. McGrath’s extensive knowledge about literary agents is the result of her research for her new book: Middlemen: Literary Agents and the Making of Contemporary American Literature, (Princeton University Press), and her own unexpected path to working with an agent. We talk about th...

We talk with Max Perry Mueller, associate professor of religious studies in the Department of Classics & Religious Studies at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln about why he made the move from academic press, for this first book, to a trade press for his second book, and what that involved. We talk about finding an agent, the agent-author relationship, writing a trade press book proposal, crea...

We talk with Yale Professor in the Practice in the department of English and Francis Writer in Residence, Anne Fadiman about essay writing, being a monogamous writer, teaching writing, how students keep us open to new ideas, creating a team spirit in the classroom, providing feedback, being the child of accomplished writers, sharing our writing with people we trust, and when procrastination stops....

We’re speaking with Megan Marshall, Pulitzer Prize-winner and Professor Emerita at Emerson College, she is the author of biographies of Margaret Fuller, the Peabody Sisters, and Elizabeth Bishop, among other books. We speak about working on writing projects that take many years, writing about her former teacher (poet Elizabeth Bishop), unexpected turns in a writing project (including changing edit...

In this episode, we talk with Yale University Press Executive Editor Adina Popescu about what makes her interested in a book manuscript and in an academic author. Our topics include: What the query letter should include; how to approach the conference "book exhibit hall conversation with an editor; what occurs at the mysterious university press "boards" and who is present at those meetings; why an...

Yale professor Elli Stern talks with us about figuring out what kind of writing we want to do after tenure—and the importance of building a team of friends and colleagues who can read drafts and provide valuable feedback. Don't forget to rate and review our show and follow us on all social media platforms here: https://linktr.ee/writingitpodcast Contact us with questions, possible future topics/gu...

We’re talking with Alia Hanna Habib of the Gernert literary agency about how academics can successfully find agents; what’s the best way to write a cold-call query letter to agents; how an academic author can include her own intellectual history in the book proposal; avoiding the “voice from nowhere” style of writing; how much money is reasonable to expect as a first-time trade press author; and w...

We’re speaking with Richard Breitman, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of history at American University about his 45+ year career, and his 12 books. We talked about how research on FDR and the Holocaust spawned many research projects; how convenience and cost affects archival projects; how an agent can helpfully shape a writing project; how journalists can play a useful role in disseminating acad...

We’re talking with Helen Sword, emeritus professor at the University of Auckland, and founder of the writing community, the WriteSPACE. She is also the author of several books about academic writing, including Writing With Pleasure (Princeton, 2023); Air & Light & Time & Space: How Successful Academics Write (Harvard, 2017), The Writers Diet: A Guide to Fit Prose (Chicago, 2016), and S...

We’re talking with film historian Noah Isenberg, the Charles Sapp Centennial Professor and former Chair of the Department of Radio-Television-Film at The University of Texas at Austin. Isenberg is the author of the Los Angeles Times bestseller, We’ll Always Have Casablanca: The Legend and Afterlife of Hollywood’s most Beloved Movie, and several other books about film. We talk about why and when we...

We’re speaking with founding and current editors of In Geveb: A Journal of Yiddish Studies, about what it means to establish a new journal. Founded in 2015, In Geveb partook in the decade's ethos of disruption in technology by seeking to reimagine the academic journal. Aspiring to be the “N+1 of Yiddish studies, the journal is completely online, and contains sections on pedagogy and translation, a...

With the support of the University of Florida Center for the Humanities and the Public Sphere, we’re talking with history professor, we’re talking with history professor Raphael Folsom (Oklahoma), who wrote the book, How to Get Grant Money in the Humanities and Social Sciences (Yale University Press) about why it’s important to think big for grant writing; recommendation-letter writing; being enco...

We’re speaking with novelist and academic Elizabeth Graver about writing about her Sephardic family’s history as fiction, even as she incorporated facts and archival finds. Graver also talks about maintaining a creative process, alongside her academic position, and about moving between fiction and non-fiction genres. Don't forget to rate and review our show and follow us on all social media platfo...

We’re speaking with UConn Associate Professor of History Andy Horowitz, who also serves as the Connecticut State Historian. We talk about Andy’s first book, Katrina: A History, 1915-2015 (Harvard University Press, 2020) which won a 2021 Bancroft Prize in American History, and was named the 2021 Humanities Book of the Year by the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, and a 2020 Best Nonfiction Bo...

We’re speaking with Jim Loeffler, Felix Posen Professorship in Modern Jewish History at Johns Hopkins University about how our public persona affects the stories we tell and pitch to editors. We talk about Loeffler’s publishing experience with academic presses, academic-trade, and why moving to trade press has been so different. We talk about some of the challenges involved in Loeffler's forthcomi...

We’re talking with Emory Professor Miriam Udel about lessons from a career full of writing highs and challenges, beginning with the realization that the dissertation will not become the first book. We talk about learning how to understand the gradations of rejection letters; the value of pitching editors in person; why spending time on works of translations may be highly worthwhile even when they...

We’re talking with Distinguished Professor of Art History at Cleveland State University about building a scholarly foundation for future historians of art through writing and then moving in a new direction with more popular writing. We talked about writing for Smithsonian Magazine; writing about artists who are still alive; how to surmount the challenges of getting your editor to include images in...

We’re talking with Dr. Claire Sufrin, editor of Sources: A Journal of Jewish Ideas and Senior Editor at the Shalom Hartman Institute of North America about writing choices and how they affect our academic lives. We talk about choosing to leave a traditional academic position and how that affects our writing; writing about personal matters; deciding not to turn the dissertation into a book; and abo...

We’re speaking with Dr. Elizabeth Arleo, Professor of Radiology at Weill Cornell Medical College (WCMC), an Attending Radiologist at the New York-Presbyterian Hospital (NYPH), and Editor-in-Chief of the radiology journal Clinical Imaging about writing the books we feel called to write. For Liz, this meant writing self-help and children’s books. We talk about using National Novel Writing Month (Nov...

We’re talking with Mark Oppenheimer, author, professor, podcaster, and editor of the online journal Arc: Religion, Politics, Et Cetera, about a varied writing career defined by openness to the next interesting project (one of those current projects is writing Judy Blume’s biography). We talk about writing a great sentence; how academics can best position their research and ideas for the popular pr...