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BREATHING NEW LIFE INTO YOUR BOOKS
Posted November 21, 2003
| SUMMARYIf a publisher is waffling on whether to revise your textbook, undestand why and then decide what to do. Walking away may be the best answer, but there also may be proactive responses. Mary Ellen Lepionka, a veteran development edittor, suggests possibilities for revitalizing interest in your book, including self-publishing and also going with a different publisher.
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By Mary Ellen Lepionka
Atlantic Path Publishing
Your publisher seems reluctant to commit to doing a revision of your textbook. Why? What can you do?
1. See the big picture.Understand that the publisher has legitimate business reasons for this reluctance. For example, perhaps one or more of the following situations apply.
Sales of your first edition have proven disappointing or have fallen off, and returns are high.
You are in your 10th or 12th edition with a small loyal customer base but declining sales.
Your book can no longer hold its own against strong, new, outside competition.
Your book lost out in inside competition. The publisher's other related titles, acquired through sale or merger, have been more successful in sales.
As part of its branding efforts, your publisher has shifted its focus to other parts of its list and no longer wishes to invest heavily in the field your textbook serves.
Your editor (or editors) have left, leaving you without a champion. New people don't know the history of your book or your relationship with the publisher.
Because of corporate changes, the publisher's sales reps no longer visit all the departments where the course for which you wrote your textbook is taught.
You are a senior author who no longer teaches, no longer publishes in refereed journals, or no longer presents at refereed professional conferences.
Your book reflects older paradigms, issues, or models that your editor feels you would not change even in a revision.
You have rejected editorial requests for a revision that addresses reviewers' concerns, customer feedback, and other market intelligence.
2. Be realistic If any of the above situations applies to you, why should the publisher invest? From a business perspective, it would not matter that you've written a good book if the publisher cannot interest prospective customers in it or take away -- or at least maintain -- market share. This is true even if you were instrumental in shaping your field during your distinguished career. "Heirloom titles" with general appeal sometimes survive indefinitely as trade books, but textbooks do not become heirloom titles unless they substantively change over their lifetime and remain in demand. Leadership changes, list changes, industry changes, and market changes can result in an unfavorable environment for you and your book. So, it's best to focus on situations that you can do something about, and let all the rest go.
3. Be proactive. Determine what the problem is, to whom it belongs, and what you can do about it. If the problem is your publisher's, for example, see how you might help. For instance, you might write a letter of welcome to the new editor, introducing yourself and explaining in detail the long happy history you have had with the company. Take the initiative to send the editor publicity releases or news articles about your recent publications or other achievements in your field, in which you continue to be active. Ask if it would be possible to have postproduction reviews done so you can see how your book was received and where it might be revised. Ask if it would be possible to receive a copy of the sales reports so you can see when and where sales fell off. Ask if you can help with marketing and promotion, address sales reps at the regional or national sales meeting, contact some departments where sales reps do not go, or do chat sessions, book signings, or campus visits on behalf of your textbook and its customers.
4. Be honest. If the problem is yours or your textbook's, see what you can do about that. Develop a revision plan -- much like a development plan or prospectus--to explain to the editor chapter-by-chapter the changes and updates you intend to make in addition to addressing customers' concerns. Develop new, exciting, contemporary ideas for chapter apparatus and pedagogy or for instructor and student supplements. Announce that you would consider adding a co-author, someone "up-and-coming" or at the forefront of a new or "hot" area in your field. For senior authors especially, accepting the contributions of one or more co-authors is a valid survival strategy and one that typically enhances textbook currency and quality. It can also be a way to help promote the career of a younger colleague or protégé. Publishers who suggest that you add a coauthor are offering to help you keep your book alive.
5. Be decisive. If it is the publisher's problem and you can't help, and if the decision has been made not to revise your textbook despite your attentions to your and your book's problems, then walk away. Negotiate a release from your contract or a reversion of rights, and seek out another publisher, or consider self-publishing or publishing online. Either way, you win by breathing new life into your book and finding new ways to bring it to readers.
Thus, faced with publisher reluctance to underwrite a revision of your textbook, you have several courses of action, both publisher-directed and self-directed. There is an expression in textbook publishing that predicts the longevity or shelf life of a textbook. "It's got legs" means that editors have reason to expect many successful revisions over a span of many years. In all fields, books with legs have characteristics in common. They have strong ongoing markets. They are well written and written by recognized authorities in the field. The authors address their real readers in a distinctive and appealing voice. The content is technically accurate, complete, up to date, topically balanced, intellectually honest, and pedagogically sound. Starting with your revision plan, then, you can give your textbook new legs on your own -- even a whole new life.
©2003; all rights reserved
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MARY
ELLEN
LEPIONKA
Lepionka, of Gloucester, Massachusetts, is the founder of Atlantic Path Publishing and author of its 2003 frontlist title, Writing and Developing Your College Textbook.
Forthcoming titles include her Writing and Developing College Textbook Supplements and Frank Silverman's Self-Publishing Textbooks and Instructional Materials.
E-mail: Mary Ellen Lepionka.
Telephone: (978) 283-1531. |
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