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Issue 48 |
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Writing Your Own TextBook (By Chris Chinnen) So, you want to publish a textbook. Let's examine the reasons why. You may want to become rich and famous. As for becoming rich you'd be better off writing a best-selling novel which is made into a movie, though I have heard through the grapevine of one English textbook and video series writing couple who have managed to buy their own island. The royalties from publishing one textbook do help me go home to New York now and then, but I'm a long way from being able to retire from teaching. Maybe after publishing nine more books. Oh well. As for becoming famous, if you are a textbook author and go to a JALT convention, you may be "recognized" if your name tag is conspicuously displayed. You may want to be published because you are trying to get a full-time job. If that's the case, you might want to try writing some articles first. It takes a lot less time and energy to write articles, and some universities regard well-researched articles more highly than textbooks. Try submitting your article to The Language Teacher or the in-house journal of the university where you work. Usually you can publish in their journal even if you are a part-timer. Why do you want to write a textbook? Perhaps you couldn't find just the right book for your teaching situation and so made all the materials yourself. Now you are wondering whether all these handouts that you gave your students every week could be put together into a book. I'm sure that a lot of first authors started just this way; in fact, that's what happened to me. I was teaching at a nursing school and couldn't find any conversation book specifically for nurses. So I used a regular conversation book and supplemented it with lots of handouts. The problem with this bits and pieces method was that the class seemed very unfocused and lacked cohesion. So, after doing this for a couple of years when the school asked me what textbook I was going to choose the next year, I said the decisive words, "I'm going to write the book myself." If you are holding your manuscript in your hand hot off your HP printer, you may want to skip this paragraph. For those of you who are complete beginners who haven't written their book yet, here is some advice. Read as many of the textbooks which are on the market as possible, especially the popular ones. This will give you an idea of the many kinds of exercises that are used to relay the content in textbooks. Then decide what content you want to include in your book. Making and working from an outline is very helpful, so that should be your next step: make an outline. Then gradually write each part of your book. Be very careful not to plagiarize. Of course there are many similar ideas running through various textbooks, and ideas are generally not copyrighted, but be careful to put an original slant on your book. Additionally, many things are in the public domain, such as the game of Bingo, because no one really knows who first made up the game. However, if you get an idea for something, such as a game which is an adaptation of someone else's game you must write the publisher and ask permission to use it. When asking for permission, you should generally include a copy of your game and explain how it is similar to the publishers'. Usually the publisher will grant permission while asking you for some small payment. Similarly, you should get written permission from your students if you want to use any of their papers (likewise get permission to tape or videotape them). Moreover, if you use their materials in something which earns you money, you should pay the students for it. After you have written the book what do you do? Different publishers have different ways in which they want to receive a book. Prentice-Hall wants you to write a proposal and on request they will send you a copy of their proposal guidelines. Other publishers will take your entire manuscript, but usually publishers want an outline and a few sample chapters. Some publishers want to see your ideas before you finish writing the complete manuscript. All publishers will ask you to revise what you have written according to some format and so want to advise writers how to proceed. Publishers are always looking for new materials; the best way to find out which format to use when sending your book is to ask. Sending a letter to a publisher briefly explaining your book and asking if they are interested in seeing a copy can also be helpful. You will receive the best results (improve the odds that your manuscript will be looked at and that you get a fairly rapid response) if you submit your book to a publisher where you know someone. Furthermore, it's not so difficult to "know" someone at a publishing company. The JALT book fair comes to Fukuoka once a year, and this is a really good opportunity for you to meet the publisher's representatives as well as discovering what kind of books each particular publisher is interested in. You can ask the representative at that time how they prefer you to submit your proposal or whether they are interested in the type of book you have written. I know you probably feel you want the fame of being published by an internationally-known company, but don't neglect the publishers who publish in Japan. In fact there's a textbook publisher, Intercom, right in Fukuoka. Moreover, there are many Japanese publishers who publish English textbooks for a rather wide audience. Your book may be just what they are looking for. Well, I wish you the best of luck in your efforts and hope to see your textbook on display at the JALT book fair some day. Christine Lee Chinen is the author of Christine no Yasashi Kango Eigo (Christine's easy English conversation for nurses) published by Igaku Shoin. The book can be found at Kinokuniya in the Nursing section. Teachers of nurses can contact the publisher for a complimentary copy at: Igaku Shoin, Kango Shuppanbu 5-24-3 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku Tokyo 113-91 [Chris Chinen passed away August 30th, 2002. Obituary » ] Issue 48 |
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