Are you struggling to get work done during the time you’ve scheduled to write? Do you walk away from a writing session feeling like your time would have been better spent watching water boil? It’s frustrating to protect your time then feel like you have nothing to show for it. In today’s episode, Jane is going to share three strategies for bringing more focus to your writing sessions. With a combination of careful planning and attention to how you think about writing, you’ll be able to leave your writing sessions feeling satisfied with your progress. 

Grab a notebook, because you’ll be able to put these three strategies into action as soon as you’re done listening. 

📝 Ready to turn your dissertation into a publication-worthy scholarly book? Learn how you can join Book Brilliance by visiting rightprose.co/book-brilliance/

💗 Spread the inspiration. Know someone who would benefit from some guidance on their book-writing journey? Share this episode with them!

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If you're writing an academic book in the humanities or social sciences, you might feel like the stakes are high when it comes to nailing your introductory chapter. How do you pique your readers’ interest while laying the foundation for a complex argument? What can you do to make sure you give the reader the appropriate amount of context without inundating them with details?  In this episode of Academic Book Writing Simplified, Jane breaks down the four essential elements your introductory chapter needs to make a strong, confident start. She’ll discuss: 

1. The central research question or problem
   
   
2. Your core argument or intervention
   
   
3. The broader stakes of your project
   
   
4. A clear, inviting roadmap for the rest of the book

Whether you're rewriting your introductory chapter for the umpteenth time or  starting from scratch, this episode offers practical guidance to help you clarify your voice and connect with your readers from the first page.

📝 Ready to turn your dissertation into a publication-worthy scholarly book? Learn how you can join Book Brilliance by visiting rightprose.co/book-brilliance/

💗 Spread the inspiration. Know someone who would benefit from some guidance on their book-writing journey? Share this episode with them!

✉️Want even MORE bookish advice, right in your inbox? Sign up for Shelf Help, the newsletter with actionable tips for scholarly writers. 

In this episode, Jane addresses one of the most commonly asked questions from academic writers who are turning their dissertations into scholarly books: What should I do with the literature review?

As you transition from dissertation to book, it's crucial to rethink how you approach the literature review. While your dissertation’s literature review may have been long and detailed, the introduction chapter of your book requires a much more concise and analytical approach. The goal is not to summarize every source but to critically engage with the existing scholarship in a way that sets up the argument for your own work.

Jane will explore how to condense your literature review by focusing on key themes that align with your book’s argument, rather than simply listing every study you referenced. You'll learn how to shift from a summary of existing research to a thoughtful analysis that shows where your work fits in the broader scholarly conversation.

She’ll also share practical tips for revising your literature review, such as 

💡How to organize your analysis thematically 

🎁How to position your work as a valuable contribution to the field

✂️How to cut unnecessary details 

By the end of the episode, you'll have a clear strategy for integrating a discussion of the literature into the introduction of your scholarly book in a way that is compelling and seamless.

If you're ready to tackle your book’s introduction with confidence, this episode is for you!

📝 Ready to turn your dissertation into a publication-worthy scholarly book? Learn how you can join Book Brilliance by visiting rightprose.co/book-brilliance/

💗 Spread the inspiration. Know someone who would benefit from some guidance on their book-writing journey? Share this episode with them!

✉️ Want even MORE bookish advice, right in your inbox? Sign up for Shelf Help, the newsletter with actionable tips for scholarly writers. 

In this second episode of our series on book introductions, Jane answers the question of timing for book introductions. When is the best time to write the introduction? Should you do it first, or wait until you’ve written the entire book? 

This question covers a few issues: workflow, mindset, and organization. Tune in to today’s episode to learn: 

• The real question you’re asking if you ask when to write your introduction. 
• Three different options for organizing your thoughts in preparation for writing the book. 
• What you should know before writing your introduction.  

📝 Ready to turn your dissertation into a publication-worthy scholarly book? Learn how you can join Book Brilliance by visiting rightprose.co/book-brilliance/

💗 Spread the inspiration. Know someone who would benefit from some guidance on their book-writing journey? Share this episode with them!

 ✉️ Want even MORE bookish advice, right in your inbox? Sign up for Shelf Help, the newsletter with actionable tips for scholarly writers. 

Your academic book’s introduction is your first opportunity to make an impression on your reader. It’s natural that you’d be worried about writing it well. One aspect of the introduction that authors tend to fixate on is length. How long should your introduction be? 

In today’s episode, which is the first of a series on book introductions, Jane will discuss length. If you’re worried that your introduction will be too long or too short, after this episode you’ll know how to make the length just right. 

Here’s what we’ll cover: 

• Why asking how long your introduction should be isn’t the right question, and what you should be asking instead. 
• The value of looking at other books as examples, and how to approach that process strategically. 
• How to understand the length of your introduction in the context of the length of your entire book, rather than treating the introduction as its own project. 

Make sure to have a notebook handy, because you’re going to get a cheatsheet for thinking about how to approach your introduction. 

Books discussed: 

Stephanie E. Jones-Rogers, They Were Her Property: White Women as Slave Owners in the American South

Kellie Carter Jackson, We Refuse: A Forceful History of Black Resistance

Alexandra Freidus. Unequal Lessons: School Diversity and Educational Inequality in New York City

Yuki Kato. Gardens of Hope: Cultivation Food and the Future in a Post-Disaster City

📝 Ready to turn your dissertation into a publication-worthy scholarly book? Learn how you can join Book Brilliance by visiting rightprose.co/book-brilliance/

📲 Let’s Connect! Say hi on BlueSky and share your favorite gem from this episode. I’d love to hear your thoughts!

💗 Spread the inspiration. Know someone who would benefit from some guidance on their book-writing journey? Share this episode with them!

✉️ Want even MORE bookish advice, right in your inbox? Sign up for Shelf Help, the newsletter with actionable tips for scholarly writers. 

As you start writing this summer, you might be feeling pressure to “get it right the first time.” After all, you have a lot to catch up on, right? 

In this replay of our most popular episode, Jane discusses how and why you should treat your writing like a dress rehearsal. Embracing a sense of experimentation and curiosity can help you unlock your creativity.  You’ll also learn how to practice patience for your own unique writing process.  

Grab your headphones and tune in so you can start your summer writing with a sense of excitement for what’s to come. 

📝 Ready to turn your dissertation into a publication-worthy scholarly book? Learn how you can join Book Brilliance by visiting rightprose.co/book-brilliance/

📲 Let’s Connect! Say hi on BlueSky and share your favorite gem from this episode. I’d love to hear your thoughts!

💗 Spread the inspiration. Know someone who would benefit from some guidance on their book-writing journey? Share this episode with them!

✉️ Want even MORE bookish advice, right in your inbox? Sign up for Shelf Help, the newsletter with actionable tips for scholarly writers. 

In today’s episode, Jane talks to Dr. Brittany Fox-Williams, an alum of the Elevate (now known as Book Brilliance) coaching program. Dr. Fox-Williams is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Lehman College, City University of New York. She is also part of the Sociology Doctoral Faculty at the Graduate Center at City University of New York. Her forthcoming book examines the role of trust in student-educator relationships, the salience of trust for student outcomes, and racial differences in trust among youth. 

Tune in to hear: 

• How Brittany used the coaching in Book Brilliance to “hack” academia and figure out her role as a woman of color.
  
  
• The curriculum Brittany used to read strategically and start writing sooner. 
  
  
• Why Brittany joined at the end of her third year on the tenure track, and how that decision aligned with her strategic goals. 
  
  
• Brittany’s advice for applying for grants (as one of three Book Brilliance alums who secured fellowships at the Russell Sage Foundation).

💎Book Brilliance is open for summer enrollment! To learn more about the program and apply to join, click here: rightprose.co/book-brilliance/

 ✉️ Want even MORE bookish advice, right in your inbox? Sign up for Shelf Help, the newsletter with actionable tips for scholarly writers. 

In today’s episode, Jane has a conversation with Dr. Yalidy Matos, an alum of the Elevate book coaching program. Dr. Matos is an Associate Professor of Political Science, a Russell Sage Foundation Fellow,  and the author of Moral and Immoral Whiteness in Immigration Politics. Tune in to hear: 

• The resources from the program that Yalidy returns to again and again
• Why Yalidy thinks the program is a unique space for minoritized faculty. 
• How the curriculum helped Yalidy write and confirm her ideas faster.
• Yalidy’s recommendations for getting creative to find funding to pay for professional development

💎Book Brilliance is open for summer enrollment! To learn more about the program and apply to join, click here: rightprose.co/book-brilliance/

✉️ Want even MORE bookish advice, right in your inbox? Sign up for Shelf Help, the newsletter with actionable tips for scholarly writers. 

Join Jane for a look at the Book Brilliance program. In today’s episode, you will learn exactly what happens in the program, the types of goals you can achieve, and why working with a group is essential to your success. 

We’ll cover: 

• What you can expect in the first two weeks, one month, and sixty days of the program. 
• How our three-pronged approach helps you develop your writing craft, project management skills, and mindset.
• Jane’s counterintuitive approach to planning, and how you’ll learn that approach in Book Brilliance. 
• The ways in which we reject generalized coaching in favor of helping you develop a personalized approach to achieving your goals. 

Further listening: 

Episode 23: Behind the Scenes: How Developmental Editing Works in Book Brilliance

💎Book Brilliance is open for summer enrollment! To learn more about the program and apply to join, click here: rightprose.co/book-brilliance/

✉️ Want even MORE bookish advice, right in your inbox? Sign up for Shelf Help, the newsletter with actionable tips for scholarly writers. 

Elevate has a new name! 

In today’s episode, Jane is joined by Kali Handelman. Kali is the developmental editor for Book Brilliance. She has her eyes on every single piece of writing reviewed in the program, and she’s here to discuss what you can expect when you have your work edited. Jane and Kali discuss: 

• How we define developmental editing
• How developmental editing helps you develop and refine the big ideas in your book
• The most common concerns writers have about their work, and how we address them. 
• The benefits of submitting short passages for developmental editing
• Using developmental editing to establish a writing pace
• Why we deliver feedback in two different ways, and how the methods complement one another. 

If you’ve ever wanted to know what it’s like to be in one of Jane’s book-writing programs, this episode gives you all the details. 

📝 Ready to turn your dissertation into a publication-worthy scholarly book? Learn how you can join Book Brilliance by visiting https://rightprose.co/book-brilliance/

📲 Let’s Connect! Say hi on BlueSky and share your favorite gem from this episode. I’d love to hear your thoughts!

💗 Spread the inspiration. Know someone who would benefit from some guidance on their book-writing journey? Share this episode with them!

 ✉️ Want even MORE bookish advice, right in your inbox? Sign up for Shelf Help, the newsletter with actionable tips for scholarly writers.