Happy Birthday, Lurker!
Dear Friends,
This picture was taken a year ago when I announced I was under contract with Bristol University Press, and this week my book officially launched and is available around the globe! Over 130 university libraries have a copy and it is available on every continent.
It's been a wonderfully wild month. Here's a bit about what I've been up to and how you can help promote the book (if you are so inclined). Having just written a book about lurking, I am well aware of the irony of now requesting help with promotion and marketing 🤣 (more on that in a bit). In all sincerity, just reading through the newsletter is, in and of itself, a tremendous gift 🙏.
Book Trailer
🚅 Book Tour
🚆 New Books Network selected Just Here For the Comments as their Book of the Day a few weeks ago. The New Books Network reaches 50,000 monthly listeners and I have already started to hear from listeners! Listen here.
Check out their curated daily selections to help find your next good book.
🚆 The Manuscript Works Newsletter written by book whisperer Laura Portwood-Stacer interviewed me about publishing an academic crossover book as a a first generation college graduate and a community college professor - two identifiers that are often tremendous hurdles in the publishing industry. I spill the tea on what it was like "breaking in" to the industry, here.
If you think you might be interested in publishing with a university press, Manuscript Works has a trove of resources to help get you started. I first learned about them while lurking on academic twitter (RIP) and stumbling upon Laura Portwood-Stacer's wildly popular (and hilarious) How To Email Your Professor Without Being Annoying AF (AF = as fuck, for some of my golden readers).
Collin Brooke
🚆 Over on the Commonplace Brooke Substack, Collin Gifford Brooke, Syracuse University Professor and Chair of the Composition and Cultural Rhetoric Dept. gave me a shout out and discussed the academic gift economy. He writes :
🚆 The Transforming Society Podcast brought me 'across the pond' to listeners in the UK and is now available for streaming, here. We discussed lurking and social activism and how to be an ethical lurker.
Just For Fun...
I don't know about you, but I've been watching/re-watching a lot of Bridgerton and it got me thinking about how Lady Whistledown is the ultimate lurker. So I wrote a piece about What Bridgerton Can Teach Us About The Value in Lurking. Please share on social media or wherever folks are talking about #Polin.
🆘 Help? 🆘
If you're still reading this -here are TWO ways that you can help to promote Just Here For the Comments:
Publicly posting usually leaves me in a state of panic, so I completely respect if this is not something you are willing or able to do. Keep scrolling for option 2.
If you're still with me, here are the places where your review would have the most impact:
Goodreads
It doesn't matter whether you purchased a copy or borrowed a library copy, anyone can leave a review on Goodreads.
Amazon
If you have purchased a copy from Amazon, you are allowed to leave a review. Visit my book page and click, leave a review. See below.
This is option is a lurker's dream! You don't have to publicly post anything.
Search "recommend a book" or "recommend a title" and "<insert name> library" for the order form.Ex: for the NY Public Library visit: https://www.nypl.org/collections/nypl-recommendations/recommend-book
This works for university libraries, too! However, you must be a faculty member, student, or alumni to make a request.
Popcorn for the People
Learn more about Popcorn for the People, here.
I'll be back next month with some information about new writing projects.
Thanks for walking beside me!
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