How to Write a Textbook

Preparing Your Textbook

Decide on a subject and a grade level audience. It is important you consider these two things simultaneously as this will determine everything from the content included in the book to its layout design and presentation. Write for an audience that you already know. If you have worked as a college professor of mathematics, you might not know the best way to reach an audience of middle schoolers. If you are writing for an audience that is unfamiliar to you, consider hiring a collaborator who is familiar with this demographic. As you decide on a subject, consider which areas are underserved in modern education. Does your book fill a void in the market?

Conduct market research. Textbook publishing is big business -- far more so than traditional book or magazine publishers. You will need to research what comparable books exist on the market and how are they priced. Define your Unique Selling Point. The USP defines what makes your textbook special. What does it offer that no other textbook offers? You will need to explain to publishers and other teachers (who might become your customers) why they should pick your book over others.

Talk to fellow authors. You should find colleagues who have also published textbooks and get feedback from them. Did they use a traditional publisher or did they self-publish? How long did it take them to complete their textbook? What did they wish they had known at the beginning of the writing process?

Embrace mobile formats. Most textbooks now come in ebook form; some are only available in this format while others also have a corresponding hard copy. You should consider how you will adapt your textbook for a digital audience. Will you include a corresponding web site for the textbook where students can find practice test questions? Could you design fun games to help educate your audience (especially younger students)? Consider adding in these additional elements for the textbook.

Prepare for the long haul. Writing a textbook can take a very long time -- sometimes, it will be years between the time you start to draft the book and the time it comes out into print. Are you prepared to invest this amount of time? Are you passionate about your subject? If you are invested in the material you are writing on, then this will help you through the arduous task of publishing. If you just want to make a quick buck, you won't find much return on your time and efforts toward the project.

Drafting Your Textbook

Design an outline. Come up with a rough idea for how you will structure the book. You can ask yourself some of the following questions to help you: How many chapters will you include? How will you divide specific topics between the chapters? Will the chapters be independent from each other, or will students need to read one before they can move on to the next? Will you arrange the chapters in ascending order of difficulty? By the time the student finishes the textbook, will they be prepared to move onto the next grade level in the subject?

Determine the most important material to include. It is likely you won't be able to include every single piece of information relating to your subject in the book; rather, you will need to prioritize the most important content. What are the goals of the course in which this textbook would be used? What skills should students leave the course having practiced? What should they know to prepare for the material in the next grade or class level? How will your textbook correspond to standardized tests that students need to take during the school year? Consider finding examples of these tests to help guide your answer to this question.

Draft each chapter. You might be tempted to work on each individual chapter until it's perfect before you move on the next. Avoid this, as it will slow you down. Instead, write a complete draft of each chapter in the book. Once you have a full draft of each chapter, you will be able to better understand how they all work together and where you need to add more material or cut down on the length. Create a set writing schedule and then stick to it. If you make a regular habit of writing your textbook (say, from 3:00-5:00pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays), you will be able to consistently get significant work done. Avoid writing erratically in large chunks of time. If you are working under a publisher's deadline, do not procrastinate. Give yourself plenty of time to complete the task at hand. Set weekly goals in the months leading up to your deadline.

Incorporate helpful visuals into an engaging layout design. You don't want to put your students to sleep. Huge blocks of text might be difficult for students to process. You will need to visually break up the page, often with pictures, tables or other graphics. You might find your word processor program (like Microsoft Word) is not very useful for including visuals alongside text. You should consider putting part of your draft in a layout program like Adobe InDesign, where you can keep images alongside text. Give yourself some time to play around with InDesign and learn the basic principles of it. This will come in handy if you decide to self-publish the book. For any outside images or graphics that you include, make sure that you have permission to include them in your book. You could be sued for copyright infringement if you don't.

Preparing Your Textbook for Publication

Hire an editor. You might find an editor who works for a textbook publisher, an independent editor, or a colleague who works in a similar subject matter. But you need to have at least one other pair of eyes on your work. The editor will be able to help you find the best way to organize and clarify your content. She will also be able to assist in sentence-level improvements in grammar and word choice.

Publish with a traditional textbook press. When publishing a textbook you can either work with a traditional textbook press or you can self-publish. Traditional presses for textbooks include Pearson, McGraw-Hill, Cengage, W.W. Norton & Co., etc. If you work with one of these publishers, you will generally receive around 10% of the royalties for each book sold. Look up the "Contact" information on the publisher's web site. They will generally have guidelines for how to submit a book proposal or get in touch with an editor. In order to get approved by a traditional press, you will need to provide the publisher with a book proposal. The book proposal will generally provide the title of the book and a 1-2 paragraph summary of each chapter. Make sure you clearly explain the content of your book and why it will be important for your target audience of students. Make sure the book "fits" the publisher's list of books. Do they sell other books similar to yours? If they do, this is a positive sign because they won't have to spend extra money marketing a different item on their publishing list. With traditional presses, you will also have to sell the copyright of your work to the publisher; you will no longer have rights over the material once you sign a contract with them.

Self-publish your textbook. Because publishing with traditional presses can sometimes be a competitive process, more authors have turned to self-publishing -- often with more profitable results. Amazon.com recently entered the textbook publishing game. If authors sell their self-published textbook through Amazon for $9.99 or less, then the author will receive 70% of the royalties. This is a significantly higher rate than the 10% that is often offered by traditional presses. You could also make your textbook available for purchase through iBooks' textbook platform or through a personal web site. With self-publishing, you often don't have to put together a book proposal and you can generally retain your rights to the material. However, it is harder to spread the word about your textbook to schools and universities.

Launching and Selling Your Textbook

Market your textbook. If you publish with a traditional press, they will handle the marketing of your textbook. But if you are self-published, you will most likely have to devise a marketing strategy on your own.

Sell to your students. If you are a teacher, your students are your most obvious customer base. Make your textbook a required part of your class and explain why you have created this textbook. Try to keep your textbook at a significantly lower price than textbooks from a traditional publisher if you have self-published. You don't want your students or their parents to believe you are taking advantage of them.

Sell to your colleagues. If you have used your textbook successfully in your classroom, then share this with your fellow teachers and researchers. Offer to share small lesson plans or worksheets from the textbook so they can get a sense of the book before they buy it.

Market it at professional events. If there is a major conference in your field that happens every year, speak to the organizers about having a booth where you can sell your book to interested colleagues. If there are popular bloggers in your field who have a wide audience, you might also ask them to review your book as a resource for their readers.

Get strong reviews. You want to be able to show that other teachers and researchers have endorsed this book. This will add to your credibility as an author and to the value of the textbook.