Hi, I'm Laura Portwood-Stacer.

I'm a publishing advisor, developmental editor, and the author of The Book Proposal Book: A Guide for Scholarly Authors (Princeton University Press, 2021) and Make Your Manuscript Work: A Guide to Developmental Editing for Scholarly Writers (PUP, 2025). My online courses and workshops have guided hundreds of editors and aspiring editors to offer professional-level editorial support to academic writers. Many alums of my courses have gone on to found thriving freelance editorial businesses. Find out more about me and what I do at ManuscriptWorks.com.

What's covered in this webinar?

This 60-minute webinar will:

  • Define developmental editing in the academic writing and publishing context 
  • Give an overview of the academic publishing process for both journal articles and books
  • Explain when academic writers are likely to seek editorial support
  • Outline the Manuscript Development Cycle that professional editors can use to support academic writers, including assessing texts for the four pillars of scholarly writing
  • Introduce key principles for running a sustainable editorial business


There will be a Q&A period after the presentation to address any lingering questions you have.


Who is this webinar for?

This webinar is intended for:

  • academics who want to launch a freelance developmental editing business
  • established freelance editors who want to sharpen their developmental editing skills, serve a new market, or add new services to their slate of offerings
  • those who work for scholarly publishers, such as acquiring editors, series editors, and journal editors who want to better support their authors
  • academics who plan to remain in academia but want to level up their skills for journal editing, book series editing, assembling multi-author volumes, dissertation advising, and mentoring fellow faculty
  • university writing center staff and anyone else who supports scholarly writers in the course of their jobs


Editors who are considering registering for my full course on Professional Developmental Editing for Academics will find this webinar to be a comprehensive preview of the topics covered in the course and will be given a coupon code to apply the cost of the webinar toward course enrollment. There is no obligation to enroll in the course after attending the webinar.


When will the webinar take place?

The webinar will be held live via Zoom on Friday, December 4, 2026, at 10am PT (1pm ET/6pm UTC). Registrants will be provided with a recording and supplementary handouts. You can register even if you aren't able to attend live. You will then get lifetime access to the recording and materials.

Register to attend the webinar and access recordings + supporting materials

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