A Look at an Editorial Board Meeting

I talk with authors a lot about what we at F.A. Davis call the Editorial Board, or Ed Board for short. All healthcare textbook publishers have a similar group of individuals responsible for approving, tabling for further adjustments, or rejecting product proposals.

I thought I'd take this opportunity, snowbound at home as I am, to provide a bit of insight into what goes on at a typical Ed Board meeting. Because that's where your project will first gain its wings.

Let's take a look.

About the Board

Our Ed Board, like others, generally meets once a month. We acquisitions editors (or sponsoring editors, publishers, or whatever) present new projects for discussion. We also present updates of projects passing through the editorial/development/production pipeline. Other business takes place there too, but let's focus on the presentation of new projects, whether they're new or being revised.

We present projects to a selected group of people, including members of the Sales, Marketing, Finance, Production, and Administrative departments, as well as assorted other individuals. At F.A. Davis our president, Rob Craven, attends. That's important because it allows us to have the final decision-maker present, giving us flexibility to move quickly on "hot" projects.

Everyone sits around a large table, and when everyone is seated, the meeting begins. Let's say I'm the first one on the agenda and I'm presenting a new book called, oh, I don't know, Essentials of Snow Shoveling for Health Professionals. Quite a good title, don't you think?

What happens

In presenting this sure-to-be bestselling book, I may discuss these or other topics:

• Overall vision of the book


• Overview of author or author team


• Reviewer comments about proposal


• Specific markets book will target


• Approximate size of intended markets


• Specific courses or curricular content book will fit


• Estimate of sales for each year of product's life of title (number of years until new edition is published, often 4 or 5 years)


• Other pertinent financials

People around the table may ask questions, add market information, comment about the book's sales potential or feature set, explore the plan for electronic assets, or anything else about the project to help the decision-makers, and ultimately Rob, better understand the product and whether we should publish it.

I may field questions about specific slices of a particular market, such as, "What percentage, do you think, of snow shovelers are health professionals?" or "Are there regional differences in how health professionals shovel snow?" or "Will all snow shovelers be interested or only those with bad backs?"

I then answer each question in turn: "About 15 percent," "There are many more snow shovelers in the Northeast, Midwest, and Pacific Northwest than other areas," and "Of course everyone will be interested, but bad backers probably represent about ¾ of the market."

Pretty good answers, huh?

Possible outcomes

After all the preparations, discussions, comments, and questions there are basically three possible outcomes. The project may be:

1. Approved (or approved to go to a higher decision-maker, depending on the company).


2. Tabled until more information is gathered or the proposal is otherwise adjusted and then brought back before the Board.


3. Rejected.

Best-case scenario, and what we all work hard for, is outcome #1, an approval. We certainly accept tabling a proposal because at least the project isn't dead. We just have to rework this or that, and then eventually — probably — we'll get an approval.

We generally hate rejections, but we know that hey, it's a business, sometimes that's just the way it goes.

After the meeting I'll call the author and explain what happened and what the next steps are. If it's an approval, it's away we go!

So when your acquisitions person is preparing for Ed Board, or whatever the decision-making body at that publisher is called, be kind. He (or, you know, she) is working hard on your behalf. We put ourselves and our reputation on the line for every book we bring before the Board. We want to succeed, just as we want your book to succeed.

So let us go forth from this day forward, within an Ed Board and without, to shovel the bejeebers out of this snow!

3 Keys to Getting Your Textbook Proposal Read for Real

You have an idea for a textbook or clinical resource. Your book could be the next best thing to squeeze-bottle ketchup. It could make you and the publisher very happy. Wonderful!

But if the editor doesn't read your proposal, your book, your baby, your crowning glory might never see the printed page.

Never fear. Here are three keys to make sure the editor reads and truly considers your proposal.

1. Find the right editor. Sounds like a no-brainer, but it isn't. A publishing company might have 10, 20, even 30 or more editors signing titles in various disciplines. Figuring out which editor is right for your book might prove confusing.
   
   To find the right editor, go first to the publisher's website and look for an author's area. (For a list of author areas for the major healthcare textbook publishers, check my blog post at http://andymcphee.wordpress.com/2010/10/26/tips-for-writing-a-solid-book-proposal/.
   
   Look for a list of editorial contacts, and then identify the editor handling the discipline that most closely resembles the discipline you'll be writing for.
   
   Alternately, you can find a book similar to yours and published by the same company, and then check the masthead for the editor's name. Look for Publisher, Sponsoring, or Acquisitions in the person's title.


2. Write a compelling proposal lead. Put your best effort into the lead of the proposal. That's where you'll keep or lose the editor's attention. In that lead, tell the editor:

• Which markets the book is designed for. Be specific. Rather than "The book will appeal to medical assistant programs," write "The book will appeal to medical assistant programs that offer introductory courses in medical billing and reimbursement."


• Why your approach to the content is superior. Again, be specific.


• Why you're the right one to write the book. Toot your horn in specific ways. Rather than "I just love this topic," write "My background as a lab tech and 8 years of teaching clinical medical assisting give me an edge."

1. Make the proposal error-free. This is must. If the editor finds one spelling error, well, okay. But two? Three? More? Forget it. You need correct spelling, punctuation, capitalization—everything. Show the editor that you're a writer.

When I see a proposal from someone who gets all three keys dead-on, oh, I'm reading that proposal.

How We Choose a Book Cover

I've approved or rejected a whole bunch of book and newsmagazine covers over the years, and it never ceases to amaze me the sheer variety of opinions that can be expressed over any one cover design. Just now I brought around to several colleagues two possible covers for a book to be published next year.

The book will sell in bookstores, so the cover needs to be catchy, it needs to convey a cogent story about the content, and it needs to pass several other marketing-oriented criteria such as placement of the author's name. The color palette used on a cover is typically also used for the interior, so the cover shouldn't be too monochromatic. Otherwise we wouldn't have the flexibility we need to vary colors in headings, sidebars, and other features. So anyway, I bring these two options around to some peeps for their opinion. (I had a third option but I had already rejected it. Looked too much like tennis balls on a Scrabble board.)

Sure enough, as I knew it would come to pass, some people absolutely hated Cover 1, while others absolutely preferred it. Some hated the title font on Cover 2, some found it really interesting. Some really liked the puzzle-like image on Cover 2, some had a clear aversion to it.

That's why I love covers, there isn't any one right answer.

Design lies very much within each person's emotional center, I think. With writing, we can read a variety of authors and like them all even though their style can vary quite a bit. Sure, there are some authors we just can't stand, but on the whole we can read and enjoy a wide variety of writing styles and never give them a second thought.

But with art and design, our response is more emotional, more instinctual, more gutteral. We react to every design. We have to, there's no way around it. The trouble is, for us decision makers in publishing, we have to choose just one design. Oh, ugh.

When I show a cover around, I'm not just gathering opinions. I'm also gauging those opinions in light of the kind of person I know you to be. For instance, I showed the cover to someone who tends to think on a highly detailed level. Many of the book's intended purchasers also think that way, so I considered the opinion in light of that. Another person was more artistic, so I considered the opinion in that light. I certainly weighed the author's own choice as well.

In the end I chose the version I think will do the best job for this particular book. Will everyone be happy? Heavens, no. But we'll have a book with a great cover that fits the need for a product of this type in the market it's intended for.

Happy happy joy joy!

What is an Acquisitions Editor?

We acquisitions editors (AEs) essentially “find and sign” authors. I try to find the right author for the right book at the right time for the right market and in the right format (the 5 Rights in publishing). After I find them, I sign them to contracts with F.A. Davis.

AEs are responsible for knowing all about their markets, including what they are, how they work, what they need, and how they’ll respond to products we create. I handle the following markets:

• Medical assisting


• Medicine


• Physician Assistant


• Health Information Technology


• Medical Billing and Coding

I visit schools and attend conferences throughout the year in these disciplines, meeting people and learning about trends, curricula, books in use, and many other matters. I base decisions about which publishing projects to pursue and which to let go on my knowledge of the market, as well as many other factors. I also build the company’s publishing plan for each market. A publishing plan explains explain in detail what the market is and how we should address it for optimal results.

Beyond the 5 Rights of publishing, AEs are also responsible for guiding the overall vision for a book and making sure that once the vision is clear and mutually agreed to by the author, that vision is followed throughout the entire publishing process.

The AE's functions include:

• filtering all unsolicited proposals, deciding which are worth publishing, which are worth at least investigating, and which are headed for the rejection pile.


• developing a publishing plan, a strategy for a particular line of books (or other products, but let's talk books here). That strategy may, and generally does, involve ways to grow the line, increase revenue, or expand the publisher's presence in a particular market. It may also, though, involve letting a line go. Maybe it's because the market doesn't produce enough revenue. Maybe the market's focus has changed, so the need for the line no longer exists. There could be many reasons, none of which relates to your book.


• gathering market feedback to identify needs which might be filled by the right product, and market contacts to identify potential authors to develop books to meet those needs.

Author-related functions
The AE also works intimately with every author to:

• craft a winning proposal


• fine-tune the overall vision of a book


• reach compromises between the ideal and the real


• say and do the sometimes difficult things that need to said and done

After the proposal
Once a proposal is accepted by the company, the AE serves as:

• leader of the development and production team


• consistent voice for you and the product


• final (usually) arbiter of developmental and production-related issues


• cheerleader, butt-kicker, compromiser, penny-pincher, visionary, grammar cop, and overall guide for your book from the first word you write to the final binding of the spine to the pages.

The AE is, in effect, the captain of a ship. Authors supply the cargo for that ship, and the Captain guides it through the many possible hazards at “sea.” The Captain is also responsible for working with the Authors even before the cargo is created, making sure it will fit the needs of the people who’ll eventually use it.