Michelle Chen
@michellechn.bsky.social
Senior Editor at the Univ Press of Colorado (Utah State UP & U of Alaska Press) acquiring books in composition & rhetoric, folklore, & polar studies. Formerly at OUP (music), Palgrave (politics) & Bloomsbury (33 1/3). Based in Brooklyn. Opinions my own.
There are *some* good things about Texas
November 22, 2025 at 5:47 PM
There are *some* good things about Texas
The way someone agreeing to take on a peer review will be the absolute highlight of my day (why yes I am mentally well why do you ask?)
Acquisitions editors might tell you that the most best part of the job is getting a really awesome proposal, but don't believe them for a second. The best part is getting people to agree to serve as peer reviewers. Saints, angels, heroes all.
November 21, 2025 at 3:30 PM
The way someone agreeing to take on a peer review will be the absolute highlight of my day (why yes I am mentally well why do you ask?)
Friends with kids! Highly recommend this book about the passage of America's first anti-discrimination law. Friends with younger kids: don't feel left out because a picture book of Elizabeth Peratrovich is also ~in the works~
1st person to DM me gets a free copy bc happy #NativeHeritageMonth
1st person to DM me gets a free copy bc happy #NativeHeritageMonth
How much do your kids know about the fight for Native rights in the US? Written for grades 6-12, FIGHTER IN VELVET GLOVES is a must-read biography of civil rights hero Elizabeth Peratrovich. A great gift book this #NativeHeritageMonth for the budding activist in your life 👀
tinyurl.com/4hztcutk
tinyurl.com/4hztcutk
November 19, 2025 at 3:41 PM
Friends with kids! Highly recommend this book about the passage of America's first anti-discrimination law. Friends with younger kids: don't feel left out because a picture book of Elizabeth Peratrovich is also ~in the works~
1st person to DM me gets a free copy bc happy #NativeHeritageMonth
1st person to DM me gets a free copy bc happy #NativeHeritageMonth
For all of us battling our AI demons
November 19, 2025 at 3:05 PM
For all of us battling our AI demons
Really important point from this article. If you're going to argue that the humanities are out of touch and elitist (disagree), then maybe the answer should be MORE equitable access to a humanities education--not less.
November 19, 2025 at 1:00 AM
Really important point from this article. If you're going to argue that the humanities are out of touch and elitist (disagree), then maybe the answer should be MORE equitable access to a humanities education--not less.
Did you know that buying direct from publishers often means more royalties to an author? Don't sleep these University Press holiday sales ya'll!
Hey hey- its time for our Holiday Sale!
All books and formats 40% off with promocode HOLIDAY25
Today shop our latest titles across subjects:
upcolorado.com/new-titles
(sale ends 12/31/2025, gift orders should be placed by 12/12/25)
All books and formats 40% off with promocode HOLIDAY25
Today shop our latest titles across subjects:
upcolorado.com/new-titles
(sale ends 12/31/2025, gift orders should be placed by 12/12/25)
November 18, 2025 at 4:10 PM
Did you know that buying direct from publishers often means more royalties to an author? Don't sleep these University Press holiday sales ya'll!
Reposted by Michelle Chen
This is the importance of buying the books we write and teach from university presses. The same administrations that don’t care about the humanities would be just as happy to have academic publishing handled by these companies. We can save our own publishing ecosystem- but we have to do it.
"academic publishing is dominated by profit-oriented, multinational companies for whom scientific knowledge is a commodity to be sold back to the academic community who created it... The dominant four collectively generated... $12 billion in profits between 2019 and 2024."
November 18, 2025 at 12:52 PM
This is the importance of buying the books we write and teach from university presses. The same administrations that don’t care about the humanities would be just as happy to have academic publishing handled by these companies. We can save our own publishing ecosystem- but we have to do it.
She's a 10 but she has no chill when it comes to treats
November 17, 2025 at 3:19 PM
She's a 10 but she has no chill when it comes to treats
Hey #teamrhetoric & #folklore people: a free book opportunity awaits
BREAKING NEWS: We're having a giveaway!
Just because #UPWeek is over doesn't mean we can't still celebrate. Engage with this post & one random winner will get a free copy of any title from our catalog (we've got books on #history #nativestudies #writingstudies #rhetoric #archaeology & more) #ReadUP
Just because #UPWeek is over doesn't mean we can't still celebrate. Engage with this post & one random winner will get a free copy of any title from our catalog (we've got books on #history #nativestudies #writingstudies #rhetoric #archaeology & more) #ReadUP
November 17, 2025 at 2:12 PM
Hey #teamrhetoric & #folklore people: a free book opportunity awaits
Currently making comments on a book proposal with green glitter gel pen because I am a Very Serious Academic Editor
November 17, 2025 at 1:00 PM
Currently making comments on a book proposal with green glitter gel pen because I am a Very Serious Academic Editor
Top 5 movie genres:
- a beautiful story of female friendship (spoiler alert they're lesbians)
- Wong Kar Wai stomping on your heart
- the 8-hour masterpiece theatre miniseries
- sci-fi where nothing much happens & it's mostly spaceship p0rn
- arty bildungsroman (or, young people being sociopaths)
- a beautiful story of female friendship (spoiler alert they're lesbians)
- Wong Kar Wai stomping on your heart
- the 8-hour masterpiece theatre miniseries
- sci-fi where nothing much happens & it's mostly spaceship p0rn
- arty bildungsroman (or, young people being sociopaths)
top 5 movie genres:
- the foibles of 2 losers in the late 60s or the 70s
- very long takes and painstaking shot composition of almost nothing happening
- elevated horror
- noir, broadly defined
- 1970s US film
- the foibles of 2 losers in the late 60s or the 70s
- very long takes and painstaking shot composition of almost nothing happening
- elevated horror
- noir, broadly defined
- 1970s US film
Top 5 movie genres are:
-nothing happens but it’s devastatingly sad
-dancing
-road trip
-family at the holidays
-is it comedy? is it drama?
-nothing happens but it’s devastatingly sad
-dancing
-road trip
-family at the holidays
-is it comedy? is it drama?
November 17, 2025 at 6:28 AM
Top 5 movie genres:
- a beautiful story of female friendship (spoiler alert they're lesbians)
- Wong Kar Wai stomping on your heart
- the 8-hour masterpiece theatre miniseries
- sci-fi where nothing much happens & it's mostly spaceship p0rn
- arty bildungsroman (or, young people being sociopaths)
- a beautiful story of female friendship (spoiler alert they're lesbians)
- Wong Kar Wai stomping on your heart
- the 8-hour masterpiece theatre miniseries
- sci-fi where nothing much happens & it's mostly spaceship p0rn
- arty bildungsroman (or, young people being sociopaths)
Sometimes it's nice to get out of the city and touch grass #StormKingArtCenter
November 16, 2025 at 11:12 PM
Sometimes it's nice to get out of the city and touch grass #StormKingArtCenter
One day you are young & wild and the next day you are making a playlist of 90s one-hit wonders (taking submissions)
November 16, 2025 at 1:52 AM
One day you are young & wild and the next day you are making a playlist of 90s one-hit wonders (taking submissions)
I rewatched Funny Face last night and couldn't help myself. Happy end of #UPWeek friends! Today is a great day to tell your university libraries about how important it is to support the work of nonprofit university presses. Repeat after me: More UPs; less predatory journal publishers.
November 14, 2025 at 4:25 PM
I rewatched Funny Face last night and couldn't help myself. Happy end of #UPWeek friends! Today is a great day to tell your university libraries about how important it is to support the work of nonprofit university presses. Repeat after me: More UPs; less predatory journal publishers.
Reposted by Michelle Chen
Also, I have some copies—both hardcover and paperback—that I'd be happy to sign. If you're interested in one, DM me! (shipping within US only please)
It's #TransgenderAwarenessWeek. My own awareness of my nonbinary gender identity solidified while I was writing my debut novel ENDPAPERS—about a genderqueer bookbinder struggling to understand herself in post-9/11 NYC, while there was no mainstream language to help her.
November 14, 2025 at 2:07 PM
Also, I have some copies—both hardcover and paperback—that I'd be happy to sign. If you're interested in one, DM me! (shipping within US only please)
THIS! I actually will create a table with two columns to better visualize the discrepancies. And sometimes, if you're struggling to figure out what the chapter/section promises to do, that's telling in and of itself!
When I edit an academic book manuscript, one of the key things I do is ask: "What does this [book, chapter, section] promise to do? And what does it ACTUALLY do?"
These questions may seem simple, but they take a lot of time to answer, and they generate incredibly helpful insights!
#AmEditing
These questions may seem simple, but they take a lot of time to answer, and they generate incredibly helpful insights!
#AmEditing
November 13, 2025 at 6:10 PM
THIS! I actually will create a table with two columns to better visualize the discrepancies. And sometimes, if you're struggling to figure out what the chapter/section promises to do, that's telling in and of itself!
Reposted by Michelle Chen
Hey #booksky we are having a SALE. Use promo code HOLIDAY25 from now until the end of the year for 40% off ALL of our books! tinyurl.com/tetn82en
PSA you are allowed to buy more books if they are intended as gifts, and if you happen to keep them, well...
#ReadUP
PSA you are allowed to buy more books if they are intended as gifts, and if you happen to keep them, well...
#ReadUP
University Press of Colorado - New Titles
You are viewing content tagged with 'New Titles' - The University Press of Colorado, including the Utah State University Press imprint, publishes forty to forty-five new titles each year, with the goa...
tinyurl.com
November 12, 2025 at 5:55 PM
Hey #booksky we are having a SALE. Use promo code HOLIDAY25 from now until the end of the year for 40% off ALL of our books! tinyurl.com/tetn82en
PSA you are allowed to buy more books if they are intended as gifts, and if you happen to keep them, well...
#ReadUP
PSA you are allowed to buy more books if they are intended as gifts, and if you happen to keep them, well...
#ReadUP
"In reality, closing the press will cut relatively little from the university’s overall budget. The press has two full-time employees and an annual budget of roughly $300,000"
For context, Bucknell University reports its annual operating expenses as $288 million.
Make it make sense.
For context, Bucknell University reports its annual operating expenses as $288 million.
Make it make sense.
Under Pressure to Cut Costs, a University Closes Its Press
Bucknell University says it’s closing its storied academic press to focus more resources on undergraduate students. But faculty and other scholars say the press has long been a part of the value proposition at a... https://bit.ly/43UmxVK
Bucknell University says it’s closing its storied academic press to focus more resources on undergraduate students. But faculty and other scholars say the press has long been a part of the value proposition at a... https://bit.ly/43UmxVK
November 12, 2025 at 3:58 PM
"In reality, closing the press will cut relatively little from the university’s overall budget. The press has two full-time employees and an annual budget of roughly $300,000"
For context, Bucknell University reports its annual operating expenses as $288 million.
Make it make sense.
For context, Bucknell University reports its annual operating expenses as $288 million.
Make it make sense.
"The publisher or distributor cannot force an account to carry the book...The truth of the matter is that **most** books don’t get shelf placement."
This is SUCH a great primer on book distribution for authors.
This is SUCH a great primer on book distribution for authors.
In our quest to demystify scholarly publishing, #FeedingTheElephant invited
@leekinginc.bsky.social to explain "Everything You Never Wanted to Know About Book Distribution, but Were Afraid to Ask." How does your book make it onto shelves and into readers' hands?
networks.h-net.org/group/discus...
@leekinginc.bsky.social to explain "Everything You Never Wanted to Know About Book Distribution, but Were Afraid to Ask." How does your book make it onto shelves and into readers' hands?
networks.h-net.org/group/discus...
Everything You Never Wanted to Know About Book Distribution, but Were Afraid to Ask | H-Net
A guest post from
networks.h-net.org
November 12, 2025 at 2:54 PM
"The publisher or distributor cannot force an account to carry the book...The truth of the matter is that **most** books don’t get shelf placement."
This is SUCH a great primer on book distribution for authors.
This is SUCH a great primer on book distribution for authors.
The Left Hand of Darkness.
Reading Ursula Le Guin completely befuddled my young & pretentious ideas about some kind of hard line between "literary fiction" and "genre fiction." Been a proud sci-fi reader ever since.
Reading Ursula Le Guin completely befuddled my young & pretentious ideas about some kind of hard line between "literary fiction" and "genre fiction." Been a proud sci-fi reader ever since.
performative reading, lack of reading skills, nobody's reading anymore -- NO!
tell me about a book that changed you
for me? the *extremely* ahistorical novel, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY which I read at 13 and was like, "Oh, art can be *everything* to a maker, for good and bad"
tell me about a book that changed you
for me? the *extremely* ahistorical novel, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY which I read at 13 and was like, "Oh, art can be *everything* to a maker, for good and bad"
November 12, 2025 at 4:08 AM
The Left Hand of Darkness.
Reading Ursula Le Guin completely befuddled my young & pretentious ideas about some kind of hard line between "literary fiction" and "genre fiction." Been a proud sci-fi reader ever since.
Reading Ursula Le Guin completely befuddled my young & pretentious ideas about some kind of hard line between "literary fiction" and "genre fiction." Been a proud sci-fi reader ever since.
University Press week seems a good time to remind everyone that UPs are nonprofits, and many take donations. So if you want to support our mission, consider contributing to a small press this #UPWeek. And yes, modest amounts DO matter (you'd probably be surprised by our shoestring budgets) #TeamUP
With higher ed funding under threat, university presses are tuning out the noise & sticking to their values, reports @publisherswkly.bsky.social. University presses remain committed to publishing works that will build a better society. Read more: https://bit.ly/43pEj33
November 11, 2025 at 3:40 PM
🎵 it's that most wonderful time of the year 🎵
November 11, 2025 at 3:13 PM
🎵 it's that most wonderful time of the year 🎵
November 10, 2025 at 6:03 PM
Reposted by Michelle Chen
Let my gravestone read "PUNCTUATION GOES INSIDE THE QUOTATION MARKS."
November 10, 2025 at 4:48 PM
Let my gravestone read "PUNCTUATION GOES INSIDE THE QUOTATION MARKS."
