How to Get Writing Work From Textbook Publishers

It generally takes numerous writers to create a textbook.

Creating a textbook is a complicated process that involves writers, editors, photographers, illustrators, graphic designers and layout artists. Textbook publishers must produce state-specific editions of their books that meet individual states’ guidelines, while ensuring that the books still meet national guidelines. Sometimes the publisher will do everything in-house, but many textbook publishers contract with private firms or development houses to do most, if not all, of the work. The development house will do everything from the writing to the layout, then the publisher will simply approve the final product before it goes to press. Most development houses hire freelance writers or have their own writers to produce the different content areas of a book; it is rare for a single writer to write the entire textbook.

Instructions

1. Have expertise in a particular subject area. For example, GGP Publishing, Inc., is a development house with expertise in foreign languages. As such, it would be helpful to have a degree in a foreign language and to be able to demonstrate proficiency in that language.

2. Possess excellent researching skills. When a development house receives a contract for a textbook, it divides the chapters among its writers. Research helps the writer gain content knowledge and understand how the book will fit together as a whole, particularly if the subject matter is not within the writer's expertise.

3. Familiarize yourself with the various textbook publishers and development houses. To get writing work from textbook publishers, you will probably want to look at job boards at the different development houses, since they are often the ones doing the actual writing. The Bill Smith Group is a development house with big-name clients such as McGraw-Hill Education and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, two large textbook publishers. Often, the development houses will have their own job boards with listings for freelance writers.

4. Develop a proposal for your own textbook idea. It is especially helpful to have a teaching degree or specialized training in the book's subject area. First send a query letter to literary agents and textbook publishers to gauge interest in your textbook idea, then, if requested, send a detailed proposal, which should follow the agent's or publisher's guidelines.

5. Write articles on your subject of interest for academic journals to market yourself to textbook publishers and development houses. This will better your chances of getting hired as a freelance writer or having your proposal taken seriously by agents and publishers.

Tips & Warnings

• Some of the larger textbook publishers, such as Pearson Education, hire writers directly. They too have job boards on their websites that specify what kinds of writers they seek to employ.

• Teaching and / or publishing degrees or experience are always an added bonus when looking for textbook writing jobs, whether from development firms or from the publishing houses themselves.

References

• Teacher's Mind Resources: Textbooks in the Age of Standards
• GGP Publishing, Inc: What We Do
• Bill Smith Group: Client List
• Pearson Education: Careers
• Mountain Plains Management Conference; So, You Want to Write a Textbook; David A. Rees