Seven Things I Wish I’d Done Differently with My First Book
I don’t think there are many authors who think their books are perfect. So this article isn’t meant to make me (or you!) feel bad. Rather, I hope that sharing my experience in writing my first book will help you to produce the best book you can. You’ll see that some of my suggestions focus on writing, but others deal with identifying the audience or marketing. It’s easy to mostly concentrate on the writing and research when trying to complete a manuscript, but thinking more broadly about other parts of the publishing process can also help you to better position your book for success. This post focuses specifically on scholarly books, although some of these lessons apply to other genres as well.
The first thing to remember, however, is that no book is perfect. If you already have published your first book, remember it’s a first book. Other readers know this too. They don’t expect it to be as profound or transformational as later work might be. So take a deep breath and try to let some of that anxiety go (better said than done, I know). Remember, you wrote a book! That’s amazing!
Second, if you want to publish your book, at some point you do need to finish it. Having limited time means that you almost always have to make compromises along the way. Maybe you decide to do some additional research, but this means that you can’t write another new chapter that you’d hoped to. Maybe you expand the book to appeal to readers in a different discipline, but don’t have the time to make clear arguments for how it could impact public policy. So accept that whatever constraints you face or faced (and there are always constraints) mean that your book can’t be exactly what you wanted it to be. And that’s ok.
Given those two caveats, here are some of the things that I wish I had done differently:
1
Figure out the theory. Really figure it out. Some of you may be masters of theory and dwell in that realm all of your waking hours. I wasn’t like that. I like theory, but have to be pretty intentional about thinking it through. My book is theoretical, but I wish I’d taken some extra time to better articulate its interventions. Doing so makes a book more relevant to other scholars and easier for them to respond to. So my book, for example, addresses agency, but I wish I had spent more time revisiting foundational literature on this subject so that I could more clearly articulate how it fits within other scholarship. Work to identify your interventions and be sure that you lay them out clearly and completely.
2
Broaden the appeal. Scholarly publishing, like so many industries, faces financial challenges these days. This means that editors are looking for books that will be of interest to an audience beyond the twenty specialists in your field. I did work on ensuring that my book would appeal to scholars across disciplines, but I wish I’d taken the time to explicitly respond to more of the conversations they participate in. For example, I talk a lot about gender, but engaging more thoughtfully with thinkers in gender studies would have helped the book better appeal to people in that discipline. So identify possible audiences and think about what revisions you’d need to make to make your book something they would really like to read. And always focus on keeping it engaging and readable so that it can be taught to undergraduate and graduate students and appeal to readers beyond the academy.
3
Don’t rush the book. Ok, this is a hard one. Many of us who are writing books are on tight tenure or promotion deadlines or are hoping to get a book contract to help us get a job. We also know that the publishing process can be slow and sometimes out of our control. I have a friend, for example, who had a manuscript reviewer become ill, meaning that the timeline for reviews changed dramatically. So you want to be realistic about your timeline. BUT, if you have the time, it might be worth it to take an extra six months to refine some of the parts of the book that you know are weaker. Slowing down a little would have helped me better deal with #1 and #2 above. Having a stronger manuscript will not only increase its appeal to presses and readers, but it will be something you can be more proud of. The trick is being sure not to take so much time that you miss a deadline or that you use improving the manuscript as an excuse to never turn it in (which is a scary, vulnerable thing to do).
4
Think about establishing a social media presence now. At an academic conference a colleague cornered me when I told her my book was under contract. “Start a Twitter account today,” she told me forcefully. I am pretty sure I nodded and scurried away, intent on ignoring her advice. I didn’t join Twitter. But I now think that she was probably right. Starting to engage publicly in academic conversations on platforms like Twitter not only helps you to gain followers who may buy your book, it also gives you more practice in being part of conversations like these and allows you to build connections that may be enriching in many ways. This is even more true during COVID. If you shudder at the thought of tweeting, like I did, I’d still encourage you to at least try it out and see how it goes.
5
Read more about writing. I was so busy when I was writing my book that I only read one (very helpful) book on writing (William Germano’s From Dissertation to Book). Now that I’m an editor, I read a lot of books on writing. And when I do, I think about how much my book would have been improved if I’d thought more about the writing itself. Again, writers are usually busy and reading time is precious. But try to read several books on writing while you work on your book. Scholars aren’t generally taught how to write in graduate school, but learning how to write a compelling book can greatly increase its chances of being published as well as widen its readership and appeal. Watch for a future blog post with some recommended books or be in touch here if you have particular subjects you’d like recommendations on.
6
Use a developmental editor if you can. These editors work directly with authors and provide detailed feedback on macro level issues, including argument, voice, structure, engagement with sources, and narrative flow. As I discuss in an earlier post, I didn’t know that developmental editors existed until after I’d published my book. If I had, I’m guessing an editor would have pointed out some of the issues I identified above (thinking through theory, expanding audience). Developmental editing can be expensive, but it can be a great investment since it ideally helps you produce your best version of your book. Most academics have friends and colleagues who read their work. But having a set of fresh eyes who is trained to do this work and has the time to give you extremely detailed feedback can transform your book. At the very least, it can help you deal with the sticky spots that you sense aren’t strong. You can learn more about developmental editing here. (Full disclosure, I am a developmental editor.)
7
Have a marketing plan. I was so happy that someone was publishing my book that I really didn’t even talk with my press about marketing. I should have. This can be a conversation you have as you’re deciding whether to go with a particular press as well as throughout the publishing process. But many presses have low budgets for marketing so you also want to think about doing some yourself. For example, I really wish I’d asked colleagues to review my book in scholarly journals. Even better, I wish I’d asked them to do this and had recommended journals for them to submit the reviews to. Although writing book reviews are time consuming, many people are happy to do them and getting reviews out fairly early helps increase a book’s exposure (you can return the favor later). You also can ask colleagues to host book talks for you at nearby schools or farther afield if you are traveling for other reasons. Setting up talks for community groups (Rotary, World Affairs Councils, etc.) and publishing related material in non-academic publications can also help ensure that your ideas are reaching the broader public. Doing what you can to get your ideas out there helps you reach as many readers as possible and helps your book gets the attention it deserves.
In the end, I’m really proud of my book. But I hope that some of these ideas help you approach the writing and publishing process in a way that’s successful for you. Remember though that your time is limited and you can’t do everything. So be strategic about what you take on. There also are likely some things on this list that you don’t want to do (I’m still not on Twitter). That’s ok too! But you do want to take some steps to ensure that you produce a book that you’re proud of that also gets read. Feel free to set up a free consultation with me, if you think talking with a developmental editor could help.
