Our book is SHIPPING now! Here's an easy stocking stuffer + 5 ideas for what to write on the gift tag ✨

You know you know at least one person who would love to save time and angst while making student writing better, doncha?! Make their day and ship our book straight to them!

 Image by B.G. Merkle, modified from Bellahu123/Pixabay—no AI involved!

After some paper supply chain issues that delayed our expected publication date [1] Teaching and Mentoring Writers in the Sciences, we are THRILLED to confirm that any pre-orders made directly with our publisher [2]—University of Chicago Press—are shipping immediately now.

And, USPS, FedEx, and UPS are all saying that items shipped by ~December 12-15 should arrive by Christmas if you live in the U.S. (If you’re celebrating earlier holidays, or live abroad, shipping might be a tight squeeze, but a late gift is still a gift, right?)

Aaaannd, the book would make great, quick (and even entertaining, we think!) reading for that suspension of time that happens between the big year-end holidays and New Year’s day. Folks have called those days “zwischen den Jahren” (German), the void, the Feral week, or the Twelve Days of Christmas [3], among other things. Yes, we said “entertaining” – we think our book can help with that very difficult job of teaching/mentoring writing, but we think it can also be something you (or your giftee) can enjoy reading. We worked hard to make it conversational, occasionally funny, and with just enough nerdery that you’ll have handy new tidbits for potlucks.

In any case, if you order directly from the press and use the code UCPNEW, you’ll get 30% off and have a great gift for the writing and academic nerds in your life this holiday season!

And, if you’re not sure how to pitch the book as the best gift your friend, partner, nemesis, or boss will get this season, we have five ideas for what you could write on the tag! 😈

1. To: NAME, so the only red you see next year is in your wine glass!

2. To: NAME, quit grading essays and start inspiring the next breakout-best-seller…in peer-review

3. To: NAME, a book armed with as many pens and puns as you are!

4. To my favorite editor/teacher/advisor: if teaching writing was easy, we wouldn’t have to edit. Thanks for all your help!

5. To: NAME, keep calm and revise on

6. BONUS! 🎁To: NAME, I couldn’t figure out what to write, but these authors think they can help. ;)

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This post was first published on my blog at commnatural.com. © 2025, B.G. Merkle, all rights reserved.

[1] The book was supposed to publish November 18, and the press usually has books in their warehouse and shipping roughly five weeks before that.

[2] The publication date follows by a few weeks to ensure pre-orders and stock for brick and mortar shops is actually in hand. So, if you pre-ordered from the evil corporate giant or your local best book shop, you might still be waiting a few weeks.

[3] Yep, they start on Christmas day.