Summer is great for winning freelance jobs to create supplements and ancillaries for higher education/college textbooks. If you teach, you likely have more free time, perhaps a lot of it, and you can use some extra money.
Editors Are Scrambling to Get Ancillaries Ready for Fall
Supplements need to be revised with each new edition of a textbook. Publishers time the release of new editions to coincide with the beginning of either the fall or winter term, and fall is fast approaching, in the publishing world anyway.
Of course, many editors have already locked down authors for the updated versions of instructor’s manuals, test banks, student study guides, PowerPoint lecture outlines, and the like, but…
There Are Still Some Choice Assignments Available
Here’s why:
#1. Some editors are slow to hire people.
I don’t know why, but I’ve gotten many assignments with due dates of two to four weeks. And often they pay extra because it’s a rush job.
#2. Textbook authors have been slow to complete the manuscript.
Since you usually need to work from page proofs, authors’ delays mean ancillary deadlines get pushed back.
#3. Other writers flake on the editors.
You’d be surprised how often it happens: a lecturer or professor agrees to create an instructor’s manual and then just doesn’t have the time to do it (or just doesn’t manage time well).
I developed a relationship with an editor that’s earned me at least $50,000 because a professor agreed to create the study guide and instructor’s manual/test bank for a new history book and then stopped returning her phone calls and e-mails. I stepped into the breach and cranked them out.
So Get Going Now…
If you’re well established in this field, then contact all the editors you’ve ever worked for and ask if they have any current projects. If you’re new to the game, consider buying my Writing College Textbook Supplements: The Definitive Guide to Winning High-Paying Assignments in the College Textbook Publishing Market. I cover in detail how to find editors and convince them to hire you. And explore the Related Posts detailed below.
I’m currently busy working on my own writing projects and blogs — and working on textbook supplements.
How about you? How’s your summer writing and working going?
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