Thread by @lportwoodstacer

Waiting on peer reviews might be the most torturous part of publishing a scholarly book. Here are a few things you should know about them to prepare yourself if you’re waiting for yours to come in right now:

Your editor may or may not frame the reviews for you. Sometimes they do, sometimes they just send them. If at all possible, try to have a phone convo with your ed abt the reviews so you can get real talk on what they think of them and what they think is most impt to address

Remember that the reviewers don’t have the final say on anything. They make recommendations, not decisions. Your response—explaining how you’ll address criticisms if there are any—goes a long way in the publication decision (which, again, is not made by the reviewers)

Your response doesn’t need to show that the reviewers’ criticisms are invalid. You need to show that you will produce a publishable book. That means explaining how you will *use* the reviews to plot your revisions

You don’t have to do everything the reviewers suggest. But don’t dwell on why their suggestion is bad. Focus your response on the spirit of the review and how you will move forward.

You also don’t have to address every single thing in the reviews when you respond. Focus on big picture stuff or things they were really emphatic about.

Keep in mind that your “response to the peer reviews” is not a response directly to the peer reviewERS. It’s for your editor, other staff at your publisher, and the editorial board, who are the actual people who will decide if your project is a good bet for publication

One last thing: tone matters. You might feel affronted by the reviews but that won’t get you anywhere w/ the decision-makers. I’m not saying you can’t be mad at Reviewer 2, but use your response to create a positive feeling about your future book, not to settle a score

If the reviews are so bad that you feel they’re disrespectful or even offensive, bring it up to your editor. Hopefully they’ll let you vent and see where you’re coming from. You can still make the response a positive, productive exercise, even if you’re mad

Want to save this advice for when you need it? Here you go: newsletter.manuscriptworks.com/p/responding-t…

And here's a template for your response if you have no idea how to structure it (editors, feel free to share with your authors)
newsletter.manuscriptworks.com/p/a-template-f…

Oh AND this will be covered in Chapter 12 of THE BOOK PROPOSAL BOOK plus there will be a sample response letter (written by one of my awesome clients) for you to use as a model if you need one

press.princeton.edu/books/paperbac…