10 Qualities of a Successful Textbook Author-Publisher Relationship

I've written before about what makes for a successful textbook author, and wanted now to talk about what makes for a successful textbook author-publisher relationship.

In my view, successful author-publisher relationships are those in which both sides:

1. Are deeply devoted to producing the best possible product for the market, not necessarily the highest moneymaker possible.
2. Stay focused on the people they're invested in —  the student.
3. Work together to develop a clear vision of how they can make a better book.
4. Communicate with each other openly, honestly, and professionally.
5. And regularly. Not haphazardly, but according to a mutually agreeable schedule.
6. Are always thinking of ways to improve and promote the book.
7. Bring their most reasoned and compromising self to the table.
8. Help keep each other on task.
9. Make each other a priority in their daily schedule.
10. Share a laugh and a good, stiff drink once in a while.

But that's just me.

5 Reasons Author Teams Should Jump All Over Google Docs

I am not now, nor have I ever been, an employee of or contractor for Google, Inc.

(Though wouldn't that be cool?}

However, I am a huge fan of several of their products including their document apps, known collectively as Google Docs:

• Document (similar to Word)
• Presentation (similar to PowerPoint)
• Spreadsheet (similar to Excel)
• Form (survey app)
• Drawing (simple illustration app)

Granted, not the coolest names ever, but they get the point across. More important are the distinct advantages of using the apps when authoring a textbook.

To wit, my favorite five.

#1 Keeping it simple

The Google apps are simple to use and much more flexible than you might expect.

The clarity of the interface is a great thing for authors because it can help authors focus on content and not as much on making it all look pretty. I've had too many authors spend time making their manuscript look pretty, and then seeing all that lovely, truly magnificent formatting pretty much stripped out in preparation for the production process.

Take Google Document, for instance. This app has all the most commonly used functions of your typical Word user. Its toolbars look and feel familiar:

The app can handle tables, bulleted and numbered lists, image insertions, styles, and a bunch of other commonly used functions.

Does a textbook author need more? Not bleedin' likely!

#2 Always handy

When you create a Google document, you'll always have access to it, no matter where you are. I mean, as long as you have internet access.

Are you home? Go to your Google Drive and work on the document there.

At work? Do the same.

Driving in your car? What are you, nuts? Keep your eyes on the road!

#3 Saves automatically

Google will automatically save your work every few seconds.

Yes, seconds.

No more Oh, No, I Must Have Forgotten To Save All That Work!

No more, Remember To Hit Control-S!

Just keep on working.

#4 Sharing working files with co-authors and editors

When a document is saved on your or a co-author's Google Drive as a Google Docs file, you both can work on it at the same time.

Yes, at the same time.

And not just two people but how many ever you've got.

Add a chat or phone call through Google Hangouts and you've got yourself a writing extravaganza between, say, Seattle, St. Petersburg, and beautiful downtown Saganaw, Michigan.

#5 An even better "Track Changes"

People who tried Google Document last year will say that the app is great, but that it's no good for authors because it doesn't track changes," like Microsoft Word.

It does now.

Yes, Document, the Google version of Word, not only saves a file's revision history but it also remembers who made what changes to a document. Any changes made by anyone with edit rights to a file (extremely easy to set up) can be shown at any time. Like so:

Take that, all you Track Changes stalwarts!

3 Tips for Googling Like a Guru

Do you ever have trouble finding the right search terms when looking for specific pieces of information?

Here are four quick tips that could help you narrow down your search to exactly what you're looking for.

#1 Quoth the raven, 'Nevermore'

Quotation marks (not The Raven, I'm afraid) can be a huge help in narrowing search results. Putting quotation marks before and after two or more words will return results containing that exact phrase.

For instance, putting quotation marks around quoth the raven will return results with those exact words in that exact order.

#2 Take away the minus

If you're looking for, say, information on diabetes, the kind with Type I and Type II, and you keep getting hits with "insipidous" in them, use the dash.

A dash before a word will eliminate pages with that word. So your search would be "diabetes-insipidous."

So use a dash. It's like word-math!

#3 The dots have it

So, you need the number of skin infections between 1920 and 1940. Use the ol' double-dot trick.

Two periods, placed between two numbers, tell the search engine to use the numbers as a range, like this:

          skin infections 1920..1940

Now, all that said, please know that today's search engines are just terrific at presenting what you're looking for. Sure, Google is probably most accurate, but Bing and Yahoo! aren't far behind.

Now...Seach away!

5 Techniques for Connecting One Paragraph to Another

So you're going along, writing your textbook chapter or essay or, I dunno, bestselling novel, when you come to end of a complete section of content. You've said all you want to say about it.

Now what?

How do you get from the end of that section to a new section of content smoothly, so the reader isn't jarred out of her seat with an annoying non sequitur?

Here are five techniques to build a bridge from one paragraph to another, a bridge as strong as the Rialto in beautiful, downtown Venice.

[Note: We'll use the terms last paragraph and new paragraph to describe the two ends of the content bridge.]

#1 Define a word

If you introduced a term at the end of the last paragraph, define it in the next one. This technique is among the easiest and smoothest to use, but it works only if you need to introduce a new term.

#2 Repeat a word

Read the last paragraph or two and see if there is a word or short phrase that seems to carry the weight of the concepts you're trying to get across. Then use those same words in the new paragraph to relate the previous concept to the new one.

#3 Use a heading

Headings can be a great way to bridge that gap between concepts or chunks of content. Textbooks actually require headings to break up the text and help the reader perceive the hierarchy of content.

Headings are also useful and common in magazine, journal, and even academic essays. (For more on crafting a heading, see "Working with Headings.)

#4 Pull a switcheroo

When you need to change directions quickly, pull the ol' switcheroo. (That's really not the name, but I like it better.)

The switcheroo involves the mention of the concept covered in the last paragraph and switching to an opposite or otherwise contradictory concept in the new paragraph. Here are a few examples:

• For all the advantages of using EMR software in the medical office, there exist disadvantages too.
• As much as physicians might want to use social media, sometimes they just can't.
• While many institutions are moving forward, others are moving backward or standing still.
• Although too little bone calcium can cause fractures, too much bone calcium is a problem as well.

#5 Use "bridge" words

Many words and phrases, typically prepositional, can work as a key to bridging one paragraph to the next. Here's a list some of the more common bridge words:

• along those lines
• although
• another (medication, test, approach, or whatever)
• because of that
• beyond that
• by the way
• even so
• even with all that
• except
• however
• in addition to
• in contrast to
• in spite of
• instead of
• it was around that time
• rather than
• since then
• that's not all
• while (this was happening, that) was also happening

If all else fails and you just can't figure out a way to bridge the last paragraph with the new one, put the whole work aside. Leave it alone for a few hours. Take a nap, ride your bike, go shopping, whatever.

When you return, I'll wager that the bridge appears before you, like magic!

Five Kinds of Illustrated Graphics for Health Care Textbooks

There are only two kinds of people in this world: Realists and dreamers.

Wait, wait.

There are only two kinds of people in this world: Generalists and specialists.

Sorry.

There are only two kinds of people in this world: Givers and takers.

Oh, this is ridiculous. There are way more than two kinds of people in this world, but from my perspective, there are five (maybe six) key kinds of illustrations that can be used in a health care textbook:

1. Statistical (charts/graphs, tables) 
2. Clinical (anatomy, physiology, pathology, comparative)
3. Schematic (how something works)
4. Storyline (recreates an event, page “decorations”)
5. Icons

Let's take a look at each one.

#1 Statistical

Statistical graphics convey quantifiable data. Mostly. There are a wide variety of statistical graphics commonly used in health care textbooks. This list, in fact, is enormous, but here are some of them:

• Maps
• Bar graphs
• Line graphs
• Histograms
• Area charts
• Pie charts
• Timelines
• Flow charts or algorithms
• Infographics

The more complex the data being presented, generally, the more complex the graphic.

#2 Clinical

Clinical graphics commonly take the form of one of four types:

• Anatomical
• Physiological
• Pathophysiological
• Comparative

Comparative graphics, such as the one at right, can be extremely helpful in clarifying pathology or surgical interventions.

#3 Schematic

Schematic illustrations are useful for showing how something works. Some schematics use some kind of anatomical illustration as the underpinning (below, left). Some are more architectural in structure, as in the example below, right.

#4 Storyline

Storyline graphics recreate an event of some kind, such as an office patient speaking with a receptionist, a physician taking a patient's blood pressure, or a nurse holding a newborn. Sometimes these kinds of images serve a real purpose, but often they're just page decorations and carry no content weight.

#5 Icons

Icons are used frequently in health care textbooks. They're generally quite small and tend to identify particular types of content, such as alerts, communication-related content, patient education, and so forth.

~ #6 Maybe one more — Infographics

We haven't used infographics much so far, but I think you'll begin seeing more used as time goes by. Infographics provide a mix of data types in, typically, a vertical format and are heavily illustrated.

So, there you go. Five kinds of illustrated graphics for health care textbooks.

Wait, maybe six.

Oh, bother.

3 Keys for Crafting a Solid Table of Contents

What kind of face do you want your health care textbook to present, this one?

How about  this one?

Correct, neither of those. You want to present one that looks like this:

The face you put on your book is all summed up in the table of contents, or TOC. The TOC provides an at-a-glance overview of the book, its structure and organization. It needs some thought behind it for the book to be successful.

Here are three keys for crafting an effective TOC.

#1  Never call your introductory chapter "Introduction."

Your first chapter should just jump right into the content. Yes, it's introductory content, almost certainly, but don't call it that. That would be as bad as calling the last chapter "Conclusion."

Try not to call that first paragraph "Basics of...," "Essentials of...," or, I don't know, "Prolemogena of..." 

Instead, identify the core point you're trying to get across in that first chapter, the main concept. The bulk of the chapter will, most likely, address that issue.

Title your chapter after that content.

#2  It's the sequence, silly.

Pay attention to the sequence of units and chapters. The sequence should make sense, meaning that a reader should be able examine the sequence and be able to determine with some confidence the author's intent in leading the reader through the book.

For instance, in a book organized by body system, you might choose to organize chapters by a head-to-toe sequence, one that starts with the neurological system, say, then special senses, then integumentary, digestive, respiratory, and so forth.

Or maybe you want a critical-to-less-important organization that starts with the respiratory system, then cardiovascular, neurological, endocrine, and so forth.

For books that don't cover organs, maybe you want to build from simple to complex. Or grand concepts to more minor concepts.

Whatever the organization, make sure you really think about it. Don't just throw down chapters as they enter your head.

#3  Make the titles parallel.

Your TOC should present a consistent, parallel tone and style, just like your writing. If you've got a body systems book, maybe you want "System" at the end of each title, as in:

1. Integumentary System
2. Respiratory System
3. Cardiovascular System
4. Gastrointestinal System

If so, then stick with that construct. Don't mix them up, as in:

1. Skin
2. Respiratory System
3. Cardiovascular System
4. Digestion

If you want to use, say, gerund titles (verbs with –ing), fine, just be consistent. Similar chapters should have similarly constructed titles.

Pay attention to your TOC, and you'll be better able to put your best face forward.