1. Turning Your Ideas into a Published Book
Jacqueline Wehmueller
Executive Editor
The Johns Hopkins University Press
Baltimore, Maryland

7. Nine Steps in the Publishing Process
Idea
Friends, colleagues, family
Proposal
Agent or publisher
Editor
Contract
Manuscript preparation
Copy editing to bound book
Marketing and publicity

8. Know what you want to say and why you want to say it.
1. Idea
Know what you want to say and why you want to say it.
Write what you know.
Write what you are passionate about.
Ask yourself “Why am I writing this book?”
To entertain.
To educate.
To inspire.
To send my children to college.

9. 2. Friends, colleagues, family
Try it out different ways
Avoid tiring it out
Any blank looks?
One writer friend of mine cautions against telling your book idea to everyone you encounter at every dinner party. She is concerned that

10. 3. Proposal Author Information Description of the Project
Competing Books
Characteristics of the Proposed Manuscript
Publishing History

11. Author Information: Who are you and what are your qualifications to write this book?
Name, position, institutional affiliation and address, office phone, department phone, fax number, and address
Attach a copy of your CV
Describe your experience and research in the field as they relate to the current project.

12. Description of the Project: What is it about and who is it for?
Title and alternative titles
Content:
thesis
methodology
contribution to the field
conclusions
Intended audience or audiences
scholarly
professional
trade

13. Competing Books: What else is out there and how good is it?
Author, title, publisher, date of publication, price, format
How is yours different?

14. Characteristics of the Proposed Manuscript
Length (number of double-spaced, single-sided pages, including notes and bibliography)
Tables, art, appendixes
Date of completion

15. Publishing History
Is the manuscript being considered for publication elsewhere?
Have portions of the proposed manuscript been previously published? (When and where?)
Have you signed any publication contracts, consent‑to‑publish forms, or work‑for­-hire agree­ments? If so, please give details.

16. 4. Agent or publisher
What are you looking for in an agent or publisher?
Pros and cons of agents
Do your homework
Ask your friends and colleagues about agents and publishers.
Who publishes the books in your field, or books similar to your book?
--Currency, expertise, friendship, prestige, reputation, trust
--15% of royalties but contacts in publishing world and possibly get a higher royalty rate. Do not pay an agent. At least in the beginning, sign for the current project only, not for future projects. Do they sell foreign rights, serial rights, motion picture and television rights?
--look at the books you admire. Who published them?

17. Making Contact A preliminary phone call or email message. (Not.)
Write a compelling cover letter
Generally no longer than three or four paragraphs long
Say who you are and why they should consider your proposal
The first sentence is important
Address the letter to the agent or the editor by name.
If you know someone who has previously worked with that agent or editor, say so. Better yet, ask that person to alert the agent or editor before you make contact.

18. Pros and Cons of Multiple Submissions
For the author
For the interested agent or editor
For the marginally interested agent or editor
For the uninterested agent or editor

19. 5. Editor Your editor will be your representative and advocate
During the review process
In making the case for publication to the managers and marketing staff
Through copy editing, design, and production
After publication, in marketing and publicity

20. 6. Contract Advance contract Contract advance
Contract for completed manuscript
Negotiating the contract
Entirely appropriate: “Negotiation is O.K.”
What is important to you? Royalties, design, paperback edition, marketing, …
Legal advice: intellectual property and publishing law

21. 7. Manuscript Preparation
Double space everything.
Do not embed art in Word files.
Obtain permissions for art.
Include a table of contents.
Preliminaries:
Foreword
Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction

22. 8. Copy Editing to Bound Book
Freelance vs. in-house copy editors and designers
Proofreading
Author vs. professional indexing
Type size and style
Cover art

23. 9. Marketing and Publicity
Freelance publicists vs. in-house publicists
Promotional opportunities
The author’s role
The internet

24. How to Write Compellingly
Know what you want to say and why you want to say it.
Be aware of your tone and style, and employ them consistently.
Keep the reader always in mind.
So what? Ask and answer the so what? question

25. A word or two about style
Style is:
Vocabulary (tone, level)
Structure
Style that draws attention to itself must be very, very good.
The occasional stylistic flourish is fun for the author and for the reader.
Sometimes the most effective “style” is invisible.

26. Keep the reader always in mind
When explaining something to an audience that is unfamiliar with the topic,
play out the information at a comfortable pace
use analogies
say it again in different language
insert a figure or a table
use an example such as a patient vignette.

27. “The reader is smart.”* Precision is a sign of clear thinking.
Don’t use “many” when you mean “often”; for example, “Patients are often told that nothing is wrong with them.” vs. “Many patients are told that nothing is wrong with them.”
Don’t use words in writing that you wouldn’t use in speaking.
*Elise Hancock, Ideas into Words: Mastering the Craft of Science Writing (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2003), p. 12.
Sometimes this means using one adjective rather than two or three. Finding the one right word means that you have thought it through.
An example of imprecision that can lead to misunderstandings in medical books for patients, for example. There is a difference in meaning between “often” and “many.”
, such as, possibly, “plethora” and “myriad.”

28. “Everything is interesting”*
“If a subject bores you, it’s because you don’t know enough or you’ve adopted the wrong vantage point.”*
That said, avoid using the word “Interestingly.” Make it interesting, write it interesting, but don’t tell the reader that it is interesting (to you).
*Elise Hancock, Ideas into Words: Mastering the Craft of Science Writing (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2003), p. 11.
These words of wisdom from my friend and author Elise Hancock, who wrote a book for us titled Mastering the Craft of Science Writing.

29. Turning Your Ideas into a Published Book
Jacqueline Wehmueller
Executive Editor
The Johns Hopkins University Press
Baltimore, Maryland