You've done it in class. You've done it in more than one class. Your techniques work. The students are learning year after year and it's your material and your methods that are creating success. Now, how are you going to share this success with the world?

Finding a Publisher

A great place to find publishers is the International TESOL Convention. If you can't get to TESOL or TESOL affiliate conferences, get as many ESL publishers' catalogs as you can. Study them to see who is publishing the kind of material you have to offer. Talk to the salespeople from these publishing companies when they visit your institution. They know what your colleagues are asking for. Then make the transition from teacher's lesson plans to author's presentation. Write a prospectus__ a brief summary of what you want to publish, including any research and/or experience that validates your premise. Include what market/target audience you have in mind, such as elementary, community college, etc.; the skills to be taught, the pedagogy involved, ancillary materials to be included, and reasons why your work is so necessary. Be sure to include a brief bio-data. Work up a Table of Contents and at least one chapter, including any exercises and an answer sheet so the publisher has an idea of the format you have in mind. Check the competition so you can discuss what makes your work different, special, and unique. Write up a competitive analysis indicating what the competition is, what its strengths and weaknesses are and how your work compares.

Finally, your sample package is ready, accompanied by your cover letter, which outlines what is included and together with your resume or bio data.

Get the name of the acquisitions editor at each publisher you submit your work to so you have a person to connect with. Talk to people in the field and get an idea of the marketing practices of different publishers; what kinds of royalties/flat fees are being paid; what kinds of materials sell best (series versus individual books, CD-ROMs, etc.) Get out to conferences and do as many workshops as possible presenting your materials so you can keep refining them.

You've got a publisher who's interested in your idea or manuscript and you've been assigned an acquisitions editor. Your editor receives the sample package. Now it's ready for review. The best reviewers are usually those who are currently teaching the equivalent course for which your project is designed and who are accustomed to evaluating materials, either as textbook committee members or as experienced publishers' reviewers. The editor sends along the review package and guide questionnaires that will give you feedback on your materials. This feedback will enable you and the editor to evaluate your sample and perhaps redirect the writing, or make major changes (for example, adding/eliminating units, changing exercise formats, redesigning the flow of lessons).

So, you've passed the trial by fire, the reviewing stage, discussed the reviews with your editor and have agreed on changes. It's time to publish your masterpiece! After the editor's supervisor approves the project, a contract is offered.

Negotiation is an important part of the process. Before you sign, read your contract carefully, suggesting any changes you'd like to make. Feel good about what you're doing and whom you're working with. The bottom line for contract negotiations is this: Is it fair to both you and the publisher? No publisher is out to "get" an author on a contract. The financials of publishing are complex and royalties are figured as an expense of publishing the material, along with expenses of development, production, and publishing. It's important to understand that, as an author, if you receive 10%, the publisher's profit is not 90%. In fact, educational publishing survives on a very small margin of profit. Don't expect to get rich from an ESL textbook. It does occasionally happen, but if you're in it for the money, write a sexy cookbook with religious overtones or become an intern in Washington. You'll be in print even faster!

Publishing the Book

Once the contract is signed, the work is yours to finish on time in a form appropriate for final review. When this work is complete, the editor can "accept" the manuscript. Now the fun begins.

In most publishing houses, the manuscript heads for development and you are assigned a development editor (DE). It is the DE's job to work with you to look over the manuscript with an eagle eye. It has to be checked for consistency, that it ensures a variety of activities, that the exercises all work, that the tape script is accurate. Together, you must finalize the art and photo specs to get the manuscript in tip-top shape for the copy editor. The copy editor scrutinizes the manuscript for consistency, for punctuation, misspellings and for minute errors that have evaded detection. You will be sent the manuscript with copy edit queries and for approval of changes made.

Next step: Production. Here, your manuscript, art specification notes and sketches are thrown into the crucible. With the magic of computer programs, art on CD ROMS, and the talents of the production editor, the whole hodgepodge becomes beautiful pages. Your job is to review the pages and make corrections only__no changes at this stage, heaven forbid! It's necessary for you to meet schedules and support the production editor so the process of making the work on time and in an excellent fashion proceeds smoothly.

Voila! After many sleepless nights, the work is in your hands. Your work, now your publication, is ready to move into the next phase, marketing and sales.

Selling the Book

OK, OK. You've got a publisher, signed a contract, been through reviews, edits, production and design-great but it don't mean squat if it doesn't sell, which is where sales and marketing come in. Here's what's got to happen: the book has to be positioned, pre-sold, packaged, promoted and possibly piloted....Hmmm, a lot of "p's" here. Then there's advertising, journal reviews, direct mail, following up on leads, and committee presentations. Sampling is critical, it can be done at your basic sales calls, telemarketing, book fairs, and convention presentations. We mustn't forget Internet sales, and if warranted, author tours, and in-service training. Yeah, there's a lot of stuff to be done. We don't usually cover all the bases, but there's always some combination of these sales and marketing elements. It all depends on the sales potential of the book. Basically marketing/sales can be split into pre- and post-publication activities. Let's take a peek...

PRE-PUBLICATION:

• Positioning - Figuring out what is the best potential market for the book, El-Hi? Adult Ed.? College? Private School? Domestic? International?

• Sales forecasting - Estimating how many copies a book will sell and how much money it will bring in to the publishing company

• Packaging consulting - Working with editorial and design to come up with the most attractive cover for the book

• Pre-selling - Getting the word out to build excitement and interest about a book before it's published. Word-of-mouth, conferences, brochures, and the ever-nifty marketing focus group can do this.

  POST-PUBLICATION:

• Piloting - Having a teacher, or several, try-out the finished book in their classes in the hope that if they like it the whole school or district will adopt the text.

• Advertising - Promoting the book in the company catalog, brochures and space ads in ESL professional publications such as American Language Review.

• Journal reviews - Mailing the new book to the review editors of professional ESL journals in the hope that they will have the book reviewed (positively) in their journal.

• Direct mail - Sending out a brochure by mail to all the ESL professionals on a rented mailing list, or from the company's own database.

• Following up leads - Contacting ESL professionals upon the recommendation of the author who provides a list of contacts in the field.

• Presenting to textbook committees - Meeting with committees at colleges or schools to convince them to adopt the new text.
• Sampling/Complimentary/Examination copies (perhaps the single most important selling technique) - Giving away free copies of the book to potential users to try out with their students.

• Calling on ESL teachers/decision makers - Meeting with teachers, coordinators, chair people, etc. to present the book, let them know it's available and making sure they have a sample.

• Telemarketing - Calling potential customers on the phone to try to get them to agree to accept a sample book.

• Book fairs - Displaying the book along with other new and best selling titles at a meeting of all the ESL teachers in a school or department with the goal of leaving copies of the book behind as samples.

• Presenting at conventions - Conducting commercial presentations and giving away sample copies at local state, regional and national ESL conventions.

• The Internet - Promoting a book at the company web site and soliciting sample requests and/or actual on-line sales.
• Author Tours - For really big books/ series, sending the Author to different parts of the United States and/or other countries to present the book.

• In-service Training - When a book/series is adopted by a very large program, the publisher will provide free training of the ESL teachers on how to use the book.

  Once you've mastered all these techniques you can get a job as an ESL marketing or sales manager and even write a publishing column for ESL publications such as American Language Review. Good Luck!

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  My co-authors for this month's column are two of the top people in the publishing business. Mona Scheraga (ESL author, freelance writer, reviewer, and trainer extraordinaire) wrote Finding a Publisher. Publishing the Book was written by Tina Carver, ESL publisher, editorial director, and best-selling author. Selling the Book was written by Yours Truly. Mona, Tina, and I are now available to answer your questions about how to get published in the ESL/EFL field. In each issue of ALR, we will select one or two questions and answer them in the column. Send your queries to Publish or Perish c/o American Language Review, 6363 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 116, Los Angeles, CA 90048 or e-mail editor@alr.org