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ON WRITING YOUR FIRST BOOK
Posted March 18, 2003
| SUMMARYSimilarities between a good dissertation and a good book mean that many people already have the idea for what it takes to become a book author. Just as a dissertation begins with a proposal, so does a book. The book proposal is your vehicle for selling your concept and yourself. With luck, you'll have several publishers interested in learning more about your project. |
By Margaret A. Blanchard
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
So it's time to write that first book is it? And you don't know how to get started? Well, go back to your dissertation proposal, and you'll have a good idea of how to begin. |
Good books start with good proposals -- just like good dissertations start with good proposals. Book proposals are not exactly identical to dissertation proposals, but you still must know what you are doing. You need a viable and exciting idea, solid research questions, and a plentiful resources. You also need a literature review aimed at showing where your manuscript would fit in the literature and how it differs from the competition. The proposal is a must regardless of whether you decide to send the proposal to a publisher before or after you complete your research and writing. For the purposes of this discussion, we'll assume that you plan to send it out before you polish off your draft.
As you prepare that proposal, remember you also must sell yourself within its pages. Why are you the best one to do this book? Have you written on this topic before so that you are the expert in the field? Do you have access to resources that no one else has used? Is your idea so unique that no one else possibly could have thought of it?
Make sure that you double check your proposal for spelling, grammar, and style. Have a friend read it for clarity. Find the correct person to receive the proposal and spell that name accurately. Sloppy proposals leave the impression of sloppy scholarship.
The proposal goes in the same envelope with a formal query letter in which you introduce yourself and tell the prospective publisher of your background and qualifications. Add an updated résumé and send out multiple copies of your package. Publishers expect that youšll send multiple queries and work within that system. This approach, however, does make life a little confusing when responses start coming.
Start sending the query packages to publishers who already have a line of books in your area. It is more likely that a publisher who has already produced books in media law will take on another one than that a publisher who has no line of books your field will start one. That doesn't mean that you can't send a package to a new publisher to try it out, but donšt get your hopes up. And don't get your hopes too high that a non-academic press will take on a first scholarly book. Miracles happen, but most often they don't.
Most of the publishers' replies will be negative, but with luck, youšll have several publishers interested in learning more about your project. Some publishers may respond with the offer a contract, but more likely, they will request chapters of the manuscript. If the publisher asks for sample chapters, make sure to send your best research and writingand most carefully prepared materials. Proofread carefully; check footnote style; master word processing formatting. Everything you send to a publisher is reflection of you as author and scholar.
When you get a contract make sure you take it to a colleague who has published books to have him or her review it with you. Most contracts have room for negotiation on things like number of authoršs copies and similar matters. In no case should you sign a contract without getting advice from someone uninvolved in the project. New authors can be so excited by the very idea of publishing that they may agree to do things not in their best interests.
Don't be discouraged if the answer to your query or your manuscript is negative. Academic publishers today are very squeamish. If they don't get two glowing reviews on a proposal or a manuscript, you likely will be told to look elsewhere for a publisher. Take the comments that you get from that review, incorporate the valid ones into a revision, and send the manuscript to another publisher. Just remember two things: some manuscript reviewers don't read the manuscript that you sent it; they read the one they think you sent in and you pay the price. And some comments from the reviewers are indeed valid, not all manuscripts are perfect when first sent out, and you learn the lesson.
As you are thinking about your book, take note of copyright rules. You need to have some idea of fair use rules so that you know how much quoted material you can use with the proper attribution. If you need to use lengthy quotes or illustrations from material still in copyright, you may be required to pay handsomely for the privilege.
Make sure you know the rules about plagiarism. None of us plans to plagiarize, but carelessness and lack of awareness of how to define unauthorized borrowing has led many scholars astray and may just cause you problems as well. A short review of the rules canšt hurt.
Remember also that few dissertations transfer directly to books. Most need substantial editing as well as additional material and other revisions. At the very least, the academic requirements of literature reviews and research questions generally disappear on to resurface in altered forms.
For a good discussion of these issues and more, considering adding these two books to your professional libraries:
William Germano. Getting It Published: A Guide for Scholars and Anyone Else Serious about Serious Books. It has excellent chapters on contracts and using material from other authors in your work.
Beth Luey. Handbook for Academic Authors, third edition. This has an invaluable chapter on revising a dissertation and explaining the difference between a dissertation and a book.
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PEGGY
BLANCHARD
Blanchard is the author of Revolutionary Sparks: Freedom of Expression in Modern America, which was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, and Exporting the First Amendment: The Press- Government Crusade of 1945-1952, as well as several book chapters.M
Her articles have appeared in American Journalism, Journalism History, Journalism Monographs, Journalism Quarterly, Business History Review and Supreme Court Review.
Blanchard is book review editor for Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly and contributing editor for Journalism History and Communication Booknotes Quarterly.
She also edited The History of the Mass Media in the United States: An Encyclopedia.
Her research interests include First Amendment issues, the history of freedom of expression in the United States, and media history.
Blanchard is the William Rand Kenan Jr. Professor at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She holds a doctorate from Chapel Hill and master's and bachelor's degress from the University of Florida.
E-mail: Peggy Blanchard
This article first appeared in Media Law Notes Volume 1, Number 2 (Winter 2002), Pages 1, 5. Media Law Notes is a quarterly newslettter of the Law Division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication.
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