KB Dennis Meade

Project Background

After completing her PhD in religion at Princeton University, KB Dennis Meade obtained a tenure-track position as an assistant professor of religious studies and Black studies at Northwestern University. Her teaching schedule, administrative responsibilities, and exploration of a new campus left little room for reconceptualizing her dissertation project into a book.

I chose to work with Flatpage because of the flexibility of services and having experienced the spark in my initial conversations with [Flatpage Chief Editor] Cara and my editor. I knew I needed a conversation partner and task master to support me at that stage of the writing process. And I wanted to collaborate with an editor who would be willing to collaborate on a more personalized approach.

KB Dennis Meade

With her first book project, the author wanted to harness her dissertation research for a new argument but was unsure of the approach she should take. She needed a coach who could familiarize themselves with her PhD project and the threads of her new material in order to help her determine the best path forward.

The Collaboration

Although the author had a draft to work from in the form of her dissertation, she recognized that the manuscript needed to be completely transformed in order to be published as the book she wanted to write. Therefore, rather than engaging a developmental editor to work directly from the dissertation, she chose to work with a coach who could help her strategize new content.

The author met with a Flatpage coach for an initial session to ensure that they were a good fit. During this brief conversation, they discussed her goals for the project and the main obstacles she was facing as a writer. In order to better prepare for their collaboration, the coach spent several hours reading the dissertation and other newly written material.

Using funding from her department, the author worked 1:1 with the coach over the course of one semester. The author was invited to join our project management platform, where she could communicate directly with the coach, including for scheduling and exchanging files.

The best part of working with Flatpage has been their willingness to provide a personalized plan based on my specific writing and editing needs.

Their sessions took place twice per month and, in between, the author sent the coach small pieces of writing and ideas for their next session. Following each session, the coach sent a brief written report summarizing what they’d discussed and tasks for the author to complete before their following meeting.

The Outcome

The author still had work to do on her manuscript following her coaching sessions and is now in the process of revising her chapters. Work completed with Flatpage has resulted in a research residency, a conference paper, and an article. She has received enthusiastic responses from potential publishers on the revised book proposal.

The Flatpage team helped move my project from a tangle of ideas to tangible results. I could not have made the progress I did with a one-size-fits-all approach. I benefitted from my editor’s honesty and willingness to teach me about the editing process as I went along. The transparency with fees, project management on Basecamp, and ongoing support made Flatpage a good choice for me.