Turning Your Ideas into a Published Book

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Turning Your Ideas into a Published Book
Jacqueline Wehmueller Executive Editor The
Johns Hopkins University Press Baltimore,
Maryland
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Nine Steps in the Publishing Process

• Idea
• Friends, colleagues, family
• Proposal
• Agent or publisher
• Editor
• Contract
• Manuscript preparation
• Copy editing to bound book
• Marketing and publicity

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1. Idea

• Know what you want to say and why you want to say
  it.
• Write what you know.
• Write what you are passionate about.
• Ask yourself Why am I writing this book?
• To entertain.
• To educate.
• To inspire.
• To send my children to college.

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2. Friends, colleagues, family

• Try it out different ways
• Avoid tiring it out
• Any blank looks?

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3. Proposal

• Author Information
• Description of the Project
• Competing Books
• Characteristics of the Proposed Manuscript
• Publishing History

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Author Information Who are you and what are
your qualifications to write this book?

• Name, position, institutional affiliation and
  address, office phone, department phone, fax
  number, and e-mail address
• Attach a copy of your CV
• Describe your experience and research in the
  field as they relate to the current project.

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Description of the Project What is it about and
who is it for?

• Title and alternative titles
• Content
• thesis
• methodology
• contribution to the field
• conclusions
• Intended audience or audiences
• scholarly
• professional
• trade

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Competing Books What else is out there and how
good is it?

• Author, title, publisher, date of publication,
  price, format
• How is yours different?

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Characteristics of the Proposed Manuscript

• Length (number of double-spaced, single-sided
  pages, including notes and bibliography)
• Tables, art, appendixes
• Date of completion

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Publishing History

• Is the manuscript being considered for
  publication elsewhere?
• Have portions of the proposed manuscript been
  previously published? (When and where?)
• Have you signed any publication contracts,
  consent-to-publish forms, or work-for-hire
  agreements? If so, please give details.

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4. Agent or publisher

• What are you looking for in an agent or
  publisher?
• Pros and cons of agents
• Do your homework
• Ask your friends and colleagues about agents and
  publishers.
• Who publishes the books in your field, or books
  similar to your book?

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Making Contact

• A preliminary phone call or email message. (Not.)
  
• Write a compelling cover letter
• Generally no longer than three or four paragraphs
  long
• Say who you are and why they should consider your
  proposal
• The first sentence is important
• Address the letter to the agent or the editor by
  name.
• If you know someone who has previously worked
  with that agent or editor, say so. Better yet,
  ask that person to alert the agent or editor
  before you make contact.

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Pros and Cons of Multiple Submissions

• For the author
• For the interested agent or editor
• For the marginally interested agent or editor
• For the uninterested agent or editor

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5. Editor

• Your editor will be your representative and
  advocate
• During the review process
• In making the case for publication to the
  managers and marketing staff
• Through copy editing, design, and production
• After publication, in marketing and publicity

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6. Contract

• Advance contract
• Contract advance
• Contract for completed manuscript
• Negotiating the contract
• Entirely appropriate Negotiation is O.K.
• What is important to you? Royalties, design,
  paperback edition, marketing,
• Legal advice intellectual property and
  publishing law

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7. Manuscript Preparation

• Double space everything.
• Do not embed art in Word files.
• Obtain permissions for art.
• Include a table of contents.
• Preliminaries
• Foreword
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction

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8. Copy Editing to Bound Book

• Freelance vs. in-house copy editors and designers
• Proofreading
• Author vs. professional indexing
• Type size and style
• Cover art

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9. Marketing and Publicity

• Freelance publicists vs. in-house publicists
• Promotional opportunities
• The authors role
• The internet

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How to Write Compellingly

• Know what you want to say and why you want to say
  it.
• Be aware of your tone and style, and employ them
  consistently.
• Keep the reader always in mind.
• So what? Ask and answer the so what? question

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A word or two about style

• Style is
• Vocabulary (tone, level)
• Structure
• Style that draws attention to itself must be
  very, very good.
• The occasional stylistic flourish is fun for the
  author and for the reader.
• Sometimes the most effective style is invisible.

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Keep the reader always in mind

• When explaining something to an audience that is
  unfamiliar with the topic,
• play out the information at a comfortable pace
• use analogies
• say it again in different language
• insert a figure or a table
• use an example such as a patient vignette.

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The reader is smart.

• Precision is a sign of clear thinking.
• Dont use many when you mean often for
  example, Patients are often told that nothing is
  wrong with them. vs. Many patients are told
  that nothing is wrong with them.
• Dont use words in writing that you wouldnt use
  in speaking.
• Elise Hancock, Ideas into Words Mastering the
  Craft of Science Writing (Baltimore The Johns
  Hopkins University Press, 2003), p. 12.

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Everything is interesting

• If a subject bores you, its because you dont
  know enough or youve adopted the wrong vantage
  point.
• That said, avoid using the word Interestingly.
  Make it interesting, write it interesting, but
  dont tell the reader that it is interesting (to
  you).
• Elise Hancock, Ideas into Words Mastering the
  Craft of Science Writing (Baltimore The Johns
  Hopkins University Press, 2003), p. 11.

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Turning Your Ideas into a Published Book
Jacqueline Wehmueller Executive Editor The
Johns Hopkins University Press Baltimore,
Maryland