Writing Textbooks That Sell

Joe McVeigh Ian Martin Janet Aitchison Stephanie Karras Irene Frankel Daphne Mackey

Panelists

Janet Aitchison

Stephanie Karras

Ian Martin

Irene Frankel

Daphne Mackey

Writing Textbooks That SellSession overview

• Introduction & thanks

• Presentations by the panelists

• Questions from participants

• PowerPoint slides available: www.joemcveigh.org/resources

Writing Textbooks That SellSession overview

• Thanks to the Materials Writers Interest Section of TESOL.

• Thanks to the photographers on Flickr who share their work using a creative commons license.

Getting in the door

Looking for opportunities

Listening toteachers

Filling aneed

Constructing the content

Predicting the future

Taking risks

Dealing with an uncertain economy

Finding the right market

Calculating potentialsales

Janet AitchisonPublishing Director, ELT/ESL

Getting Started in Textbook Writing

Janet Aitchison

Cambridge University Press

Cambridge University Press

The stakes are high in ELT publishing

Getting your foot in the door

Don’t pitch a book – pitch yourself!

The perfect author

StephanieKarrasPublisher, U.S. American ELT

What’s the Story?

How can you contribute to a strong story?

Know the market

Know the competition

Be clear about what you’re writing

Be open and flexible

IanMartinDirector of Global Marketing

IreneFrankelEditorial Director, U.S. Adult ESL

Meet the needs of the market

Who is “the market”?

What do “they” want?

No PARSNIPS

PARSN IPS

oliticslcoholeligionexuditysraelorkmoking

Meet State Standards—especially California’s

Standards for Evaluating Instructional Materials for Social Content http://www.cde.ca.gov/ci/cr/cf/documents/socialcontent.pdf

Avoid advocating a point of view

Replace a reading that argues a point of view with a “neutral” reading, followed by a discussion question that lets in all opinions

Be sensitive to cultural issues

Replace culturally unacceptable content with globally acceptable content

Check the expiration date

Avoid presenting material as new or trendy. What is currently new or trendy will likely be old hat by the time the book is published

DaphneMackeyLecturer and Author

A Writer’s Perspective

When you’re writing

A Writer’s Perspective

When you’re writing

When your book is published

A Writer’s Perspective

When you’re writing

When your book is published

When you’re thinking about your next project

Thank you

Download the PowerPoint slides

www.joemcveigh.org/resources