Writing and crafting a textbook and attending to authoring tasks is a time-consuming, complex—some would say monumental—project, even harrowing at times. The updated and expanded third edition of Writing and Developing Your College Textbook, will guide you through the nuts and bolts of the textbook development process, and provide essential background information on the changing higher education publishing industry, as well as how to choose a publisher, write a textbook proposal, negotiate a publishing contract, and establish good author-publisher relations.

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The book is divided into three sections:

Part 1 – Understanding the Higher Education Textbook Publishing Industry

The three chapters in this section, written by Sean Wakely, cover the evolving higher education textbook publishing industry, how college textbooks are published, and Part 3 – Writing and Developing Your College Textbookhow to capture publishers’ interest.

Part 2 – Negotiating Your Textbook Publishing Contract

This one chapter section, written by Stephen Gillen, covers steps to getting an offer, establishing a positive relationship, and what to know before negotiating your agreement.

Part 3 – Writing and Developing Your College Textbook

This 11-chapter section, written by Mary Ellen Lepionka, covers why your textbook needs development, how to write to reach your true auience; how to establish an effective authorial voice; why you need learning objectives; why heading structure matters; developing your pedagogy, apparatus and feature strands; how to make drafting and revising easier; how to attend to permissions and presentation; and putting it all together.

Here’s what early reviewers had to say about Writing and Developing Your College Textbook:

“TAA and the authors have done a wonderful service to us all—textbook, academic, and even trade authors—with this seminal, blood-and-guts guide to the art, craft, and work of authoring. Even though I signed my first contract in 1987, I read every word of this valuable new book and took pages of notes to guide me forward!”
– Robert Christopherson, author of Geosystems, 9e

“This guide is an essential tool for anyone interested in writing textbooks, from beginner to seasoned veteran. It’s like having a group of trusted mentors sitting on the edge of my desk.” – Kevin Patton, author of Anatomy & Physiology, 9e. Read the full review on his blog, TheTextbookAuthor.

“I’ve authored two TAA-award winning texts, co-authored two more, and contributed to another dozen, but I still found plenty of tips and useful information that I will apply in my next project. My only wish is that I’d had this book 10 years ago. Every current and hopeful textbook author should read this book and every publisher should buy it for their authors.” – Lorraine Papazian-Boyce, author of Pearson’s Comprehensive Medical Coding: A Path to Success, 1e

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