On Writing (7): Writing a Book (2)

• After the Reviews Come Back …
• Writing Your Book
• Revising the Manuscript
• Keep a Record of Your Work
• Your Book Takes Shape
• The Final Stretch …

After the Reviews Come Back …

If the solicited reviews of your book proposal are favorable, it is likely that the publisher will wish to proceed. Inevitably, there will be recommendations for additions or deletions, but unless these are major, a contract will be forthcoming. The contract between the author(s) and the publisher will describe the timeline for production; it will be quite specific about the number of pages and illustrations, the use of diagrams, whether or not there will be color plates, etc. These issues are of considerable importance to the publisher, as they directly affect the cost of producing a textbook. It is important to keep to this agreement: a manuscript that is significantly shorter or longer than agreed may not be economically viable. The publisher will stipulate a deadline for submitting the material: a manuscript that is greatly overdue may well be out of date by the time it gets published.

Authors are naturally interested in seeing some financial return for their efforts. Royalties payable to the author (typically 10 %) will be identified in the contract. These may be reduced for bulk purchases, which are frequently sold at a significant discount. The contract will also address royalties for foreign language editions and electronic media.

The contract may also deal with issues such as the book’s format (hard- or softback) and cover design. Typically, the cover will be designed ”in house”, with input invited from the author.

Writing Your Book

Having gone through the rigorous commissioning process, the author is then faced with the daunting task of writing his or her book! The enthusiasm of a few months ago may have paled by the time you sit down in front of a computer to write your masterpiece.

It is essential to have a personal timeline for writing. Whatever anyone says, writing is time-consuming and requires discipline. It will dominate your weekday evenings and weekends for many months. Have reasonable expectations. You will not be able to sit down and write a chapter at a single sitting. If you manage a chapter a week you will be doing extremely well.

Some chapters are easier to write than others. It is best to start with the easier chapters: tackle material familiar to you first. If you find a chapter ”hard”, take the time to analyze why. If the topic is unfamiliar or difficult, you will need to do additional research; if you don’t, your discomfort with the material will be immediately obvious. A topic may be difficult because the data are ”soft” or the issues are contentious. It is useful to have colleagues read drafts of such chapters and offer their (candid) opinions.

If this is your first book, it will take considerably longer to write than you imagine. Sometimes you just can’t get in the mood to write. There are many distractions on a nice weekend, and after busy days at work, so you must be disciplined. Few of us can write a textbook in frenetic 30-minute sessions. For many - if not most - it takes at least an hour to get up steam: a useful writing session often lasts two to three hours, or more. Unless you are a ”night owl”, it gets increasingly difficult to write as the evening wears on. Although alcohol disinhibits and may appear to enhance creativity, in reality it is a central nervous system depressant that can quickly destroy the creative muse. If you are Ernest Hemingway, go ahead and drink. (As much as you like!) If not, keep that gin and tonic as a reward at the end of your writing session. Most authors have a preferred time of day to write. Inevitably, writing has to be worked around your ”day job”. The discipline of writing often requires that you try to write when you don’t feel like it. For many, writing is a painful process. However, there is a real satisfaction in seeing a textbook take shape. Once you have ”broken the back” of the work, the remainder usually falls into place.

Revising the Manuscript

One certainty about book writing is that the manuscript you produce after your ”first pass” always needs revision. There is a temptation when revising to try to add ”late-breaking” information. Taken to extremes, this is like painting the Golden Gate Bridge: the process never stops. A good editor will tell you when it’s time to stop revising. There will be plenty of space for new material in the next edition of your book. Having a colleague review the manuscript is a good idea. By the end, you are too close to the work to spot typographical errors (”typos”). Also, interested but critical colleagues can tell you which material needs to be re-thought or re-done.

Keep a Record of Your Work

As you write, it is essential to back-up your work regularly on to portable media (e. g. to CDs, ZIP disks, floppy disks, etc.) that can be stored separately from your computer. A hard-drive crash or corruption can spell disaster if your data have not been backed-up. Also, keep at least one hard (printed) copy of everything you write. If all else fails, printed text can be scanned into a word processing program to recreate missing parts of a manuscript.

Do adhere to the publishers’ guidelines for preparing the manuscript. These are usually quite specific about font style and size, pagination, margination, line and paragraph spacing, etc. In general, the less formatting you apply to the text the better, as your electronic manuscript will likely be imported into editing software specific to the publishing house. The commissioning editor will expect to receive - and the contract will stipulate - hard copy, plus the manuscript in electronic format using a familiar word processing tool, such as Microsoft Word™. The editor’s instructions will also stipulate how figures and photographs are to be submitted (e. g. glossy photographs or electronic files). Digital images are increasingly preferred, given their high resolution (and therefore clarity). Make sure that each of your figures is accompanied by an appropriate legend.

If your chapters end with a bibliography or reading list, take particular care to check the references. Do not rely on second-hand information: references cited in papers and books are frequently wrong, so verify each one by looking it up in Medline™ or a similar internet source of citations.

Before peppering your work with statistical analyses, it is wise to seek the advice of a professional statistician or suitably qualified colleague.

When you are satisfied that you have ”tweaked” the manuscript as much as you can, send the hard copy plus electronic files off to your publisher. Use express mail or at least registered delivery; your ”baby” deserves nothing less!

Your Book Takes Shape

Once your ”baby” enters its new, surrogate home, it becomes the centre of a flurry of activity. Initially, an inventory is taken to make sure that everything needed has been submitted, and in the required fashion (i. e. images, figure captions, references, permission forms, etc.). During this time, a copy of the manuscript is sent out for another round of anonymous peer review, which can take anywhere from four to eight weeks, depending upon the size of the book. While it is hard to imagine that any reviewer would demand a major rewrite at this stage, a fresh perspective is valuable. You will receive a list of suggestions to improve the manuscript. It is then up to you, your Acquisitions Editor and the Publisher to decide which changes need to be made.

After changes have been made, and the manuscript is considered to be in its final form, a meeting is held to introduce the project to the marketing and editorial teams. The marketing people will contact you to discuss possible cover designs with a target audience in mind. The editorial team typesets and formally edits your manuscript (for grammar, spelling, syntax, etc.), and creates a page design for you to approve. After your manuscript has been read in-house multiple times by various editors, it will then be returned to you for review. Then it goes back to the editor for any final corrections.

The Final Stretch …

You will then experience an eerie silence of several months, during which time your manuscript goes through two more rounds of in-house editing, then finds its way to the printer. Before you know it, you will receive the proof pages to review. This is A Big Day for any author! This is when you know it has all come together.

The proofs will arrive with a request for fast turnaround. However, this does not mean that your review should be superficial. The proofs are your last chance to catch mistakes and correct typos. You cannot start a major rewrite at this stage. Indeed, you will be warned that anything more than minor revision will delay publication and could attract charges for the editing work involved. The proofs will come with instructions on the use of proof correction marks. Most new authors are intimidated by these symbols, but with a little practice they become quite logical and easy to use. If you really can’t handle proof correction symbols, you should itemize your requests for changes in a separate document to be faxed or emailed back to the publisher. If you miss errors at the proof stage, the only way to correct them later is for the publisher to insert a loose page listing ”errata” (errors) in the book. Pages of errata look amateur and publishers hate them, so do your proofreading right first time!

At this stage, you may be asked for input about the book cover. Typically, an artist at the publishing house will work-up a number of possible cover designs. Publishers know from experience what will sell, so you should trust their judgment.

A few more months will elapse before copies of your book arrive in the mail. This is a wonderful day for anyone who writes, but it is especially wonderful for the first-time author. The contract will stipulate the number of free copies to which the author is entitled. It is amazing how quickly these free copies disappear when they get distributed to family, friends, colleagues, and admirers. Unfortunately, it is a common misconception that authors receive unlimited supplies of free books to hand out to well-wishers. Beyond the agreed 10 - 20 free copies, the author has to buy the book like anyone else, but may be offered a 10 % or greater author discount for bulk purchases.

At this point, congratulations are in order: you are now a published author, a not inconsiderable achievement! Without doubt, your first book will be the hardest. Each subsequent book is a little easier to write, as you gain experience and confidence. In the words of the ancient Chinese proverb, ”A journey of a hundred miles begins with a single step.” Similarly, a successful writing career has to start somewhere. Anyone can write a book, so why shouldn’t you?

C. Kotlar

Acquisitions, Professional Books Division · Slack, Inc. · Thorofare

New Jersey · USA ·

Email: ckotlar@slackinc.com

J. Baillie, M. B. Ch. B.

Department of Medicine, Division of Gastroenterology, Duke University Medical Center

Box 3189 · Duke University Medical Center · Durham · North Carolina 27707 · USA

Fax: 1-919-684-4695 ·

Email: baill001@mc.duke.edu

Email: ckotlar@slackinc.org

C. Kotlar

Acquisitions, Professional Books Division · Slack, Inc. · Thorofare

New Jersey · USA ·

Email: ckotlar@slackinc.com

J. Baillie, M. B. Ch. B.

Department of Medicine, Division of Gastroenterology, Duke University Medical Center

Box 3189 · Duke University Medical Center · Durham · North Carolina 27707 · USA

Fax: 1-919-684-4695 ·

Email: baill001@mc.duke.edu

Email: ckotlar@slackinc.org