No Payne No Gain: University Tests

University textbooks are far from interesting because their purpose is to inform and communicate a body of knowledge rather than entertain or inspire. Not only is the purpose different from writing for the general public the procedure for getting published is different.

Many students, after completing a course at a college or university, believe they could write a better text than the one assigned, and they probably could. But the text wasn’t written for the student; it was written for the professor to use as an aid to their instruction. The first and major difference in writing a university text is determining the audience. No student buys a text unless it is required. When writing a text, the author must please the instructor. Here is the rub: If the text is too good, the professor isn’t needed, and if it is too weak, the professor has to work too hard. The secret is for the author to find that delicate balance.

Assuming the author can find that delicate balance, how does one get published? To begin, the textbook author does not need a literary agent. The initial contact is best made with a representative of a publisher that visits colleges and universities to persuade professors to select their products. Another avenue is to submit a proposal directly to the publishing editor assigned to the desired discipline. The advantages of dealing with the publisher’s rep are eye-to-eye contact and give-and-take discussion. Reps can become an advocate, and they are direct conduits to the publisher. They can and will tell you what the publisher is looking for and what the publisher will invest in.

Publishers of texts are primarily interested in publishing books for existing courses. They are not interested in publishing a text for a non-existent course or for a course that is unique to an individual professor or an individual institution. So don’t get creative. Publishers of texts want texts that capture market share and turn a profit. The proposal should contain ideas that will penetrate the market, that is, get professors to adopt the text. Reasons for adopting a text might include: test banks, video clips, creative and useful teaching manuals, subject matter interfaced with an accrediting agency’s standards, and/or Power Point aids to lectures. Preparing the teaching manual and supporting teaching aids usually take as long if not longer to prepare than it does to write the text. Why would anyone go to the trouble to write a boring text with supplementary materials? There is money in it, that’s why. If you happen to penetrate the market, college texts are not sold one at a time like books for the general public. They are sold a class at a time and many classes have multiple sections.

So when writing a university text, contact the book rep personally and create ideas that will make the professor look good, smart and current. Keep in mind that a professor’s teaching evaluations are important for job security and merit pay. You can bank on it… and so can they.

Dr. James Payne, a nationally-recognized scholar, educator and speaker, is a professor of Special Education at the University of Mississippi and a Fulbright recipient. He is the developer of the PeopleWise Event Management System and the PeopleWise Profile System.