Textbook Producers

NOTE: I've split this into its own thread, as I thought it might garner more responses here.

(I'm afraid I don't know anything about these publishers, as I work in the UK, but hopefully there will be someone who does.)

I haven't worked with any of the packagers on your list, but I can answer a few questions.

Payment: You don't usually have to wait to finish the project to get paid. For textbooks I usually submit an invoice for each chapter or group of chapters depending on how long they are. It usually comes out to one invoice every 2-4 weeks.I aim for every 2 weeks because it makes bill paying easier. Payment has never been a problem, and I've worked for a bunch of companies. In the fastest turn around I had the check in the bank 10 days after I e-mailed the invoice, but that was when I was writing directly for a publisher. Slowest has been 5-6 weeks. The maximum time before payment may be in your contract. A good many contracts say 45 days, but I've found 30 to be about the average. If you are contracted to do a book, like a series book for junior high, whether it is work for hire or royalty, you usually get roughly 1/3 when you sign the contract, 1/3 when you submit the ms and the remaining 1/3 when revisions are done, just like a normal book advance. Again, this is specified in the contract.

How much work: It is cyclical. I have found that at least in my specialties,(medicine/biology) I get a lot of work spring and fall, less winter and summer. I think it has to do with the publishing cycle and when work is assigned. The biggest drawback about freelancing is that you can never depend on an even flow of work or pay. I suspect that new writers get smaller chunks of work until they show they know what they are doing and can meet deadlines. I started out small writing what are called "textbook features" These are the usually single or double page spreads that are boxed outside the text - longer than sidebars, maybe 700 words, but contain stand-alone information. Don't be too discouraged if the work comes slowly at first and if there are gaps in employment. You can always fill in with magazine writing or a part time non-writing job.

Working for more than one at a time: Depends entirely on how much time you have, whether you have another job, etc. I have found that I can only write quality material a few hours a day, but I can research for a lot longer. I try to have three projects going at once - one each in the writing, researching and editing stages. It's a nice theory and when it happens, it is great, but often I end up with a more unbalanced schedule. Often textbook writing assignments are for multiple chapters with intermediate deadlines. Since you usually get all the deadlines at the same time, and the project can go on for 4-6 months or longer, you can kind of figure out how much other work to take on, how to work ahead so you can go on vacation, etc. One great advantage about textbooks is that the projects tend to be extensive, so you don't have to keep scrambling around to find work the way you do for magazine writing. When you think about deadlines and work loads remember that most of this work involves extensive research. You need to count this time in. It can really eat up your time to write about something you don't know too much about because you have to master understanding the material yourself before you can explain it in writing to someone else.

Hope this helps. Let us know how your search for assignments turns out.

Whether you suit them has a lot to do with what kind of works they have in the pipeline and your area of expertise. Don't be surprised if you hear nothing for 6 months and then suddenly someone e-mails or calls you. As I said, these things are cyclical and they may not be assigning anything in your area of expertise right now. The last job I got put out a call for writers in October so I sent my resume. Nothing, nothing nothing. Then in December I got a request to do a paid sample. In January I got a check for the sample, but no correspondence or anything else, so I figured they didn't like it. In March, the project editor telephoned me and asked me if I wanted to work on the book. I started writing in May. I will finish in November. This kind of delay is not uncommon. My advice would be to send out a couple of queries every two weeks and see what happens. It is okay to turn down work, too. I just turned down a project last week because I am booked through December and they wanted to move faster than that. Their final comment was to tell them when I was free and wanted to take on another project, so obviously they had no hard feelings about the fact that I was working for someone else.