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ProfessorEvans.net

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review | EDITING | workshops

The Practice of Academic Publishing

  • Individual manuscript review and developmental editing (online) 
  • 1 Hour group lecture (online)
  • 2 Hour manuscript review panel (online)
  • 2 Hour group workshop (online or in person)
  • 4 Hour group workshop - 1 day (online or in person)
  • 8 Hour group workshop - 2 days (online or in person)



For individual consultation or group workshops, email 

professorsevans [at] gmail.com 

MANUSCRIPT EVALUATION & DEVELOPMENTAL EDITING

MANUSCRIPT EVALUATION

I offer general manuscript evaluation for book-length academic projects. To support collegiate faculty, I read and review scholars' unpublished manuscripts and prepare a 2-page written report about the work. In my general assessment, I address concerns relevant to each author's needs and offer recommendations for preparing the piece for submission to a university or trade press. I also offer manuscript evaluation for select projects in creative nonfiction and memoir. 

DEVELOPMENTAL EDITING

I have written four books and co-edited five...all published by university presses. Using the five areas of practice outlined in my book, Black Feminist Writing: A Practical Guide to Publishing Academic Books (2024), I work with faculty in the humanities, social sciences, education, and STEM, particularly in areas of race and gender studies. For developmental editing projects, I make chapter-level comments as well as provide a 4-5 page comprehensive analysis of the book's content, structure, sources, and scholarly contribution. My reader report includes a detailed list of recommendations to help the author polish a final draft for submission to a university or trade press. If desired, the report can also include tips for marketing and community building after the book is published.  

EDITORIAL FREELANCE ASSOCIATION (EFA) | MEMBER PROFILE

My editorial journey began when I became a graduate faculty member in 2003 and when I started mentoring junior faculty in my role as department chair in 2010. After two decades of formal reviews for academic journals, I decided to independently review books in 2020 to put my favorite books and authors in conversation. I am excited to share my expertise in support of the next generation of scholars and with senior scholars who are ready to take the next step in their publishing journey. I have reviewed dozens of manuscripts for university presses and advised numerous scholars on practice of publishing. I joined EFA in 2025 after an insightful review of Black Feminist Writing and committed to this work during a fruitful discussion with the professional editorial communities in the U.S. and Canada. For my full EFA profile, visit https://www.the-efa.org/memberinfo/stephanie-evans-41470/

Manuscript Review, Developmental Editing, & Group Workshops

Review and Editing: HOURLY RATE

Review and Editing: HOURLY RATE

Review and Editing: HOURLY RATE

Written assessments and online meetings are billed hourly and range from a general review (2-8 hours) to an in-depth editorial evaluation (10-30 hours). 


Schedule a 15 minute consultation to see if my expertise can help with your academic book project.   

LECTURE: 1 HOUR

Review and Editing: HOURLY RATE

Review and Editing: HOURLY RATE

Thirty minute lecture on academic book publishing followed by 30 minute Q & A.  

 (ONLINE ONLY)

REVIEW PANEL: 2 HOURS

Review and Editing: HOURLY RATE

REVIEW PANEL: 2 HOURS

Panel participation, hosted by university centers for faculty fellows. Discussion with 2-3 other senior faculty to offer detailed feedback about completed book draft.

 (ONLINE ONLY)

WORKSHOP: 2 HOURS

WORKSHOP: 2 HOURS

REVIEW PANEL: 2 HOURS

 One-hour lecture on academic book publishing, followed by one-hour Q & A.  

 (ONLINE OR IN PERSON)

HALF-DAY WORKSHOP

WORKSHOP: 2 HOURS

HALF-DAY WORKSHOP

4 HOURS 

(1 day)

One-hour lecture on academic writing and book publishing. 

One-hour Q & A.

Two-hour discussion about publishing work plans. (Limit 10 people)

FULL WORKSHOP

WORKSHOP: 2 HOURS

HALF-DAY WORKSHOP

 8 HOURS 

(2 DAYS @ 4 HOURS EACH) 

Day one: one-hour lecture on academic book publishing followed by two-hour Q & A. One-hour discussion about publishing work plans.

Day two: one-hour discussion about follow up questions. Three-hour round robin discussion about individual publishing work plans. (Limit 10 people) 

FREE WEBINAR: WRITING BOOKS IN CONVERSATION

Black Feminist Writing & The Book Proposal Books

Black Feminist Writing & The Book Proposal Books

Black Feminist Writing & The Book Proposal Books

This 60-minute webinar recording is for scholars who want to learn how to write in ways that center mental health and wellness. Stephanie Evans, author of Black Feminist Writing and Laura Portwood-Stacer of Manuscript Works share insights about academic writing and publishing. Professor Evans speaks from the perspective of an experienced author and university press series editor.



Laura Portwood-Stacer & Stephanie Y. Evans

Black Feminist Writing & The Book Proposal Books

Black Feminist Writing & The Book Proposal Books

This discussion highlights how best to use resources like Black Feminist Writing and Portwood-Stacer’s Book Proposal Book to write in ways that build critical community.


Recorded Webinar YouTube

Manuscript Works Resources manuscriptworks.com 

A GUIDE FOR AUTHORS & EDITORS

Your Editor's Editor

I am in conversation with professional academic editors, including members of the Editorial Freelancers Association (EFA). In February 2025 the academic editing book club, run by the Academic Editing Special Interest Group, a collaboration of Editors Canada and the EFA, hosted a 60-minute Q&A about Black Feminist Writing.  

Publishing History

In addition to publishing books with University Press of Florida, SUNY Press, and Wayne State University Press, I have reviewed books and served on faculty review panels for more than a dozen university and trade presses.

Academic Press Expertise

I have served as a volume editor and series editor and I remain in conversation with several editors who are members of the Association of University Presses. My work with various types of editors (acquisitions, copy, publishing, journal, and developmental) allows me to offer insight into the various stages of writing. Publishing with a range of institutions has shown me the type of support authors need at each stage to develop a complete, clear, and clean manuscript.

Praise for Black Feminist Writing

"Black Feminist Writing: A Practical Guide to Publishing Academic Books encourages scholars to write books that will change the world — while also prioritizing joy, wellness and rigor in the writing process. ... Combining portraits from Evans’ research in Black women’s intellectual history with lessons drawn from her experiences as a faculty member, department chair and academic author, each chapter meditates on a different facet of academic writing practice."   


~ Kate Vacek, Editorial Freelancers Association (EFA), Academic Editing Book Club

Full Review

book reviews

Merze Tate: The Global Odyssey of a Black Woman Scholar

 Barbara Savage, Merze Tate: The Global Odyssey of a Black Woman Scholar. The American Historical Review. (March 2025) 

READ REVIEW

WRITING, EDITING, PUBLISHING, & REVIEW

BOOK & MANUSCRIPT REVIEWS

University Works-in-Progress Book Workshops & Webinars

University of Notre Dame. Works-in-Progress Manuscript Review. Panelist. May 2022.

Georgia State University. Humanities Research Center Faculty Fellows. Participant. May 2022-2023.

Vanderbilt University. Callie House Works-in-Progress Manuscript Retreat. Participant. July 2022.

Manuscript Works, Developmental Editing Webinar. Attendee (recorded). December 2022.

Pennsylvania State University. Works-in-Progress Manuscript Review. Panelist. January 2023.

Syracuse University. Works-in-Progress Manuscript Review panelist. July 2023.


Manuscript Reviews for Presses & Published Reviews

Yale University Press. December 2024.

New York University Press. February 2023.

University of Rochester Press. February 2023.

University Press of Florida. Ongoing. Black Women’s Wellness book series editor. February 2019.

University of Mississippi Press. August 2022.

University Press of Florida. February 2022. 

University of Illinois Press. September 2021.

Palimpsest: A Journal on Women, Gender, and the Black International. June 2020.

Hypatia: A Journal of Feminist Philosophy. November 2015.

University of Illinois Press. January 2011.

SAGE Press. March 2009.

Alta Mira Press. June 2008.

Signs Journal. June 2008.

Review of Educational Research Journal. June 2008.

Oxford University Press. December 2007

Praeger Press. November 2007.

Black Women, Gender and Families. July 2007.

American Educational Review. June 2007.

Florida Historical Quarterly. October 2006.

Historical Higher Education in the South, Press of Florida. August 2006. 

Association of Black Women Historians (ABWH) Leticia Woods Book or Article Prize Committee. 2004-06.

American Historical Association Wesley-Logan Book Prize, Committee member. 2004-05.

Florida Humanities Council Grant Program Evaluation. "Hidden Sagas: Stories of Florida's African American Experiences." Tallahassee, FL. March 26, 2005.

Reviewed one article for Sex Roles: A Journal of Research 2004.

Reviewed one special edition of the Journal of Social Issues: A Journal of The Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues. 2001.

book publishing workshops for faculty at all stages

 Learn how to write in ways that center mental health and wellness.

Learn about academic publishing from an experienced author and university press (UP) series editor. 

ABOUT THE WORKSHOPS

THE FINE PRINT

I am a writing consultant specializing in one-on-one developmental editing and one-time workshops for academic faculty who are interested in publishing books for scholarly presses. I do not work with individual graduate students (outside of my own) for developmental editing, but do offer one-time group workshops for doctoral students who form small dissertation writing groups (4-10 people). I am also available for consultation with authors writing memoir or autobiography. 


I do not do individual coaching, ghost writing, copy editing, or fiction. For these and other professional services, visit my resource website: https://blackfeministwriting.net/resources

ORIGIN: FACULTY PEER REVIEW

BLACK FEMINIST WRITING WORK


Sankofa means carrying a tradition forward. I started this regenerative writing and workshop project as the result of a series of dialogues with colleagues in race and gender studies. Within one year, between February 2022 and 2023, a dozen universities and university presses invited me to review twelve book drafts in Black women's studies. Topics ranged from intellectual and educational history to biography and wellness traditions—all within the scope of my research. In addition to reviewing this large body of new research, I worked as a thesis and dissertation advisor, provided informal periodic mentoring for a few new faculty authors, reviewed several full professor tenure and promotion dossiers, and assessed multiple submissions in my role as a series editor for SUNY Press. 


During this time, I was invited by three faculty fellowship writing programs to serve on book manuscript review panels (University of Notre Dame, Pennsylvania State University, and Syracuse University) in addition to a request from Spain to sit on a dissertation committee (which I could not accommodate due to scheduling).


After two decades of writing, publishing, and reviewing, I hoped that my intensive year of peer review and developmental editing with authors eased their pathway to publication in some small way. That hope was the motivation for me to write the book BLACK FEMINIST WRITING: A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO PUBLSIHING ACADEMIC BOOKS.

COMMUNITY BUILDING

Book manuscript workshops are ideal for university writing centers, offices for research or faculty development, faculty retreats, book prize or fellowship programs, archive/research centers, staff at scholarly presses, and foundation programs. Writing/publishing workshops or lectures can be tailored for informal faculty writing groups as well as centers, departments, or colleges that host events for faculty development.   


Workshops can be tailored for specific groups, including:

· Faculty in race & gender studies

· Humanities, social sciences, STEM or other disciplinary areas

· Colleges of arts & sciences, college of the arts or other divisions

· Department chairs, deans, and other administrators

· Non-tenure track faculty

· New faculty (dissertation to book projects)

· Tenured faculty working on promotion to full professor 

· Fellowship awardees

PRACTICE

Completing a book project requires that you set goals, clearly outline tasks, and set realistic deadlines. In Black Feminist Writing, I share how writing is an everyday practice to reach your writing goals. 

  • PERSONAL PRACTICE. VOICE: Academic writing is a way to share your unique and personal message with the world. 
  • PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE. ARGUMENT: Academic writing requires that you reference existing scholarship to demonstrate how you are in discussion with scholars and adding to your field. 
  • PUBLISHING PRACTICE. EDITING: Academic writing involves critical peer review by professionals in your field. Partnering with an editor at a university or scholarly trade press ensures your work is vetted before being released to the public. 
  • PUBLIC PRACITCE. COMMUNITY. Academic writing in the Black feminist tradition means moving beyond an "audience" for your work and instead engaging community in the development, dissemination, and application of your research in ways that benefit more than just yourself. 
  • POLITICAL PRACTICE. INSTITUTION. Scholars in race and gender studies are constantly subjected to academic hypocrisy and extraordinary scrutiny. Writing and publishing in Black women's studies is a way to institutionalize progressive ideas and center human rights work despite long traditions of dehumanization in the academy.

FOCUS

In writing workshops I highlight lessons learned from authoring four books and co-editing five. I focus on ways to RISE above stress:

  • REST. WELLNESS & BALANCE: identify areas where faculty must manage stress in the writing and publishing process
  • IMMERSE. CAREER CONTEXT: offer perspective of a long-time department chair about how to centralize bookwork in your career (before and after promotion)
  • STUDY. DEVELOPMENTAL FEEDBACK: provide general, high-level review of book proposals or manuscripts from the perspective of a series editor at a university press
  • ENGAGE. TIPS & RESOURCES: identify guides and strategies to demystify the publishing world and help you build relationships with communities and networks 

ABOUT REGENERATIVE WRITING

About Dr. Evans

About Dr. Cooper

About Dr. Cooper

Regenerative writing means to LEARN, CREATE, AND TEACH writing in ways that center mental health and wellness. 


I first began talking about Black women's writing as regenerative in 2013 and have published about regenerative writing in Black Passports (2014) and Black Women's Mental Health (2017). I have sustained a research interest in Black women's intellectual history for over two decades. My research is rooted in educational history but has evolved to include mental health and wellness as a way to address stress caused by being department chair. I have published four single-authored books and co-edited five books with university presses. In addition to extensive experience as a faculty advisor and manuscript reviewer, I am editor of the Black Women's Wellness book series at SUNY Press.


Sankofa, a Ghanaian term meaning "go back and get it," is a way to connect the past and present to the future. The term "regeneration" is a reference to Anna Julia Cooper that also reflects the principals embedded in Sankofa. Regeneration is the guiding principle that I have centered during my writing processes--a way to change and transform higher education. Thus, Sankofa writing allows us to study intellectual history and apply wisdom learned from elders in ways that benefit  a new generation of scholars. 

About Dr. Cooper

About Dr. Cooper

About Dr. Cooper

Anna Julia Cooper earned her PhD from the Sorbonne in 1925 and was an educator for over 70 years. I credit Dr. Cooper's notion of regeneration as the inspiration that shapes my "Sankofa" conceptualization of academic writing. 


Cooper's essay, “Womanhood: A Vital Element in the Regeneration and Progress of a Race” was published in her book of essays A Voice from the South, By a Black Woman of the South (1892). She argues that those who wish to advance society must look backward for wisdom (retrospection), look inward for strength (introspection), and look forward for hope and faith (prospection). 


Anna Julia Cooper's concept of regeneration places us in a continuum with both ancestors and descendants. Like Sankofa, with regeneration, we go back and get wisdom in order to carry it forward to next generations.

RESEARCH & WRITING FELLOWSHIPS

C.L.R. James Research Fellowship

C.L.R. James Research Fellowship

C.L.R. James Research Fellowship

 The African American Intellectual History Society (AAIHS)  

DETAILS

Pauli Murray Book Fellowship

C.L.R. James Research Fellowship

C.L.R. James Research Fellowship

The Pauli Murray Center

PROUD SHOES First Book Fellowship

DETAILS

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