2019 Textbook award-winning insight (Part 4): What they wish they had known before they started, writing advice
A few weeks ago, we reached out to winners of the 2019 TAA Textbook Awards and asked them to answer some questions about their textbook writing. We had so many great responses we decided to create a five-part series to share them. The first installment focused on why they decided to write their textbook, and how they got started. The second installment focused on what they do to boost their confidence as a writer, how they fit writing time into their schedule, and what software they use. The third installment focused on which pedagogical elements in their textbook they are most proud of, and what involvement they have had in marketing their book.
This fourth installment in the five-part series focuses on what they wish they had known before they started, and advice for other authors.
Q: What did you learn in the process of writing a textbook that you wish you had known before you started?
Dave Dillon, author of the 2019 Textbook Excellence Award winner, Blueprint for Success in College and Career, 1e: “How challenging it is and how time consuming it is.”
Thomas Heinzen and Wind Goodfriend, co-authors of the 2019 Most Promising New Textbook Award winner, Social Psychology, 1e: “Subsequent editions cannot be taken for granted; they just require a different kind of work.”
Timothy Henry, co-author of the 2019 Textbook Excellence Award winner, Data Structures and Abstractions with Java, 5e: “The final steps with manuscripts and final proof copies.”
Milan Jirásek, co-author of the 2019 Most Promising New Textbook Award winner, Creep and Hygrothermal Effects in Concrete Structures, 1e: “I wish I had known how to work faster, but I still do not know it.”
Dana Loewy, co-author of the 2019 Textbook Excellence Award winner, Essentials of Business Communication, 11e: “That it’s crucial to hire the best lawyer I can get for contractual reasons, so that my interests are fairly represented.”
Matt Metzger, co-author of the 2019 Most Promising New Textbook Award winner, Attainable Region Theory: An Introduction to Choosing an Optimal Reactor, 1e: “It’s not that hard but it takes time”
David Patterson, co-author of the 2019 Textbook Excellence Award winner, Computer Architecture: A Quantitative Approach, 6e: “I wish Pearson Writer had existed when we started. Amazingly good advice on writing style as well as catching grammatical and spelling errors.”
Q: What advice can you share with aspiring textbook authors?
Atkinson: “Be sure this is a calling for you. You are not likely to earn much money.”
Carter: “get a proposal written, shop it to publishers, and be open to their suggestions and input”
Gage: “Attend TAA every year, attend any workshops in your area, and read a well-reviewed textbook that is not in your field of expertise and examine how well you are able to grasp the new information — what techniques does the author employ to make the information tenable and approachable for you? How can you adapt those techniques to your textbook?”
Guffey: “Start every chapter with an outline of 4 to 6 main points (objectives), and continually refer to it and update it as you write. The outline will help you see immediately if your organization is faulty.”
Hennessy: “Decide what your big picture objectives are: what are the 5-10 things that every student should know. Use examples and figures whenever possible. Writing is rewriting. Get a great coauthor and push each other to do better!”
Henry: “Protect your writing time the way you protect class time in your schedule.”
Loewy: “Writing textbooks is not as simple as it may seem to some. I call it ‘writing in a straightjacket,’ highly structured, concise, clear, disciplined writing. The more effortless the prose seems, the harder it was to craft it.”
Lucas: “Learn the craft of writing and publishing, get involved in writing, publishing, and critique groups, and become visible (e.g. write and publish articles, be active online through blogs and social media, speak to groups to hone that skill, train others, be active in professional groups on committees and boards, and network regularly with other writers and professionals in your specialty). Publishers look for all of these things when you approach them with a proposal.”
Patterson: “Be sure you make the book high enough priority that you can finish a draft in 6 to 12 months. If you don’t, you’ll have to rewrite what you’ve already completed as things can change. It’s also a lot easier if you have a co-author that you don’t want to disappoint by missing self-imposed deadlines as well as having someone to bounce ideas off of and give you critical feedback on early drafts.”
– Think strategically about which press to sign with. Is the prestige of a largely academic press important to you or would the reach of a major textbook press be better?
– Attend a TAA conference. It was enormously affirming to see a community of people interested in helping students learn through writing textbooks. Attending helped me see that I could write a textbook, just like these people.”
Zimdahl: “Allow plenty of time. Be prepared for harsh, but helpful reviews. Don’t expect academic writing to make a lot of money. Don’t anticipate abundant praise from your colleagues.”
View all of the 2019 Textbook Award winners
Read the first installment in this series: Textbook award-winning insight (Part 1): Deciding to write and getting the interest of a publisher
Read the second installment in this series: Textbook award-winning insight (Part 2): Boosting writing confidence, scheduling writing time, software
Read the third installment in this series: Textbook award-winning insight (Part 3): Pedagogy and marketing involvement
Read the fifth installment in this series: Textbook award-winning insight (Part 5): Key to textbook longevity, preparing for the next edition