John Soares, author of Writing College Textbook Supplements
I was recently interviewed on Jenn Escalona’s blog The Life and Times of a Freelance Writer. (I highly recommend her blog!)
I presented a lot of good information for anyone considering writing supplements and ancillaries for textbooks, and so, with Jenn’s permission, here’s the interview in its entirety.
What is your specialty and how did you get started in that particular area?
I write supplements for college textbooks. Supplements, also called ancillaries, include instructor’s manuals, student study guides, student companion websites, test questions, lecture outlines (usually in PowerPoint), booklets on specific subjects, laboratory manuals, student readers, and many others.
Prior to writing my first textbook supplement I was an adjunct political science instructor at Butte College and Shasta College in northern California. At the same time I was developing a career writing hiking guides for the Mountaineers Books and also writing outdoors and travel pieces for newspapers and magazines.
I asked a HarperCollins salesperson how her company hired people to write supplements. She told me what to do and who to contact. That summer I won my first contract: $4000 to write 1600 questions for a new American government textbook.
A year later I left college teaching to freelance full-time. I still make royalties from my two hiking guides, but my income from the textbook supplements grew so quickly that I soon put most of my energy in that area.
I’ve since written over 200 supplements. I made $63,000 from supplements writing in my best year, even though I also spent a lot of time traveling and pursuing other projects.
What are three things a writer needs to know before choosing to specialize in your area of specialty?
1. Pay: I average around $50 per hour, and I’ve made over $100 per hour on some projects. I’m experienced and work fairly fast, so you may make less than that initially. Also, some projects are a lot of work for the money, so I usually turn these down.
2. Nearly all supplements are for textbooks for freshman and sophomore college courses. These courses have large numbers of students, and thus textbook users, so publishers can afford to develop the most resources to help students learn and instructors teach. So you should focus on academic subjects that have a lot of these introductory classes.
3. As with all freelance specialties, it takes time to build up a clientele. Be sure you have another source of income or savings when you start because you may not get projects right away, often because an editor may not have any available when you first contact her.
Does writing in your specialty require any particular training or could a layman pick it up?
It really helps if you teach or have taught college courses. If you haven’t, it will be difficult to get certain assignments. That said, there are many projects regular freelancers can do, including proofreading and copyediting and writing booklets.
Textbook supplement editors don’t expect you to be an expert at writing in general or supplements in particular. They want a certain level of quality, but they will give you examples to model and guidance as you go along.
There’s also a lot of room for new textbook supplement writers. Very few freelancers know about the field.
Are there any potential pitfalls associated with specializing in your area?
College textbook publishing is cyclical, which means more projects are available during certain times of the year than at others. Summer is definitely a peak season.
What is the current market for writing in your specialty? Who is buying and who is selling?
The market continues to be quite good. People are still going to college, so the demand for textbooks and textbook supplements is still high. And each time a new edition of a textbook comes out, the supplements must be updated. All the major textbook publishers hire freelancers to write and update these supplements
What do you enjoy most about your specialty?
I particularly appreciate continually learning more in all the different subject areas I work in. Even though I know quite a bit, I always pick up more knowledge and reinforce what I already know.
I also love the freedom to set my own schedule and travel when and where I want while still making a good living.
What do you enjoy least about your specialty?
Sometimes there’s so much work that I don’t get enough time off. Of course, I could turn down some projects, but I like to make a lot of money when I can and then take long vacations.
How would you suggest networking within your specialty? (Networking advice can include associations to join, web forums to browse, advice on meeting people and potential clients in a writer’s local area, etc.)
If you teach college, find other instructors who have written supplements and ask them for contact information.
Sales reps are another excellent resource. Part of their job is recruiting new supplements authors.
What advice would you give to freelance writers interested in specializing in your area?
You must be professional at all times. In particular, your facts must be accurate. Also, you need to meet your deadlines: If you’re late, you can cost the publisher a lot of money.
(John Soares is the author of Writing College Textbook Supplements: The Definitive Guide to Winning High-Paying Assignments in the College Textbook Publishing Market. You can download the Detailed Table of Contents and first two chapters for free.)
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