This review has been accessed
times since December 18, 2008
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Lepionka, Mary Ellen. (2008). Writing and
Developing Your College Textbook: A Comprehensive Guide to
Textbook Authorship and Higher Education Publishing
(2nd ed.). Gloucester, MA: Atlantic Path
Publishing
Pp. xiv + 305 ISBN 978-0-9728164-7-2
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Reviewed by David C. Young
St. Francis Xavier University
December 18, 2008
As someone who teaches in a school of education, my
responsibilities are far-reaching, but generally, they fall
within the three broad areas of teaching, service and research.
In regards to teaching, the typical expectations are that I offer
undergraduate and graduate classes in my areas of expertise, and
supervise student teachers during their field experience. In
terms of service, it is assumed that I will sit on faculty and
university committees, and remain an active participant in the
affairs of the broader education community. And finally, it is a
requirement that I maintain an active research agenda. Thus,
writing journal articles, books, book chapters and reports
becomes part of the natural routine that most academics,
including myself, engage in during the course of their
career.
As a junior university faculty member, one of the many tasks
that I find myself engaged in is reading countless texts in an
effort to find the most appropriate book to use for the courses I
am teaching. This is no easy undertaking, as ideally, the source
one selects should be reputable, readable, provide sound
curricular content, and be cost efficient for the students who
ultimately purchase this resource. Too often, I find myself
lamenting the fact that I am unable to find one book that meets
all of my expectations, and as a result, I am often left to
cobble together a set of assigned readings by various authors. I
find this to be a less than ideal compromise for myself as the
instructor, and more importantly, for the students in my
classes.
Recently, I have found myself toying with the idea of writing
my own text—one that would meet my unique requirements. My
initial assumption was that this would be a straight-forward
endeavor, but, I quickly realized that there were numerous issues
involved in writing a textbook that I had not previously
considered or even envisioned. What I was ultimately left with
was an idea of what the book should be, coupled with a massive
array of questions, the answers to which I was unable to
uncover. In the interim, and quite fortuitously for me, I had
been asked to write this review of Mary Ellen Lepionka’s
2008 work Writing and developing your college textbook: A
comprehensive guide to textbook authorship and higher education
publishing. This comprehensively revised second edition book
was well received, and served as a most valuable resource in
terms of providing cogent answers to the many queries I had
assembled.
In sixteen succinct chapters, Lepionka, drawing on her thirty
years of experience in educational publishing, provides the
reader with a thorough account of the publishing process from
beginning to end. As she states at the outset, academics are
experts in their particular field, but they are not experts in
textbook publishing, and this book is a cogent and practical
account of how one goes about writing as well as publishing their
material. This work has several strengths which are particularly
noteworthy. First, and perhaps most importantly, the book is
very readable. That is, the writing is clear and unambiguous,
and even someone such as myself, with little or no familiarity in
textbook writing and publishing, could benefit from this read.
This overall readability is fostered by the inclusion of a
glossary of publishing terms. This may seem but a minor point,
but, for a lay audience, the ability to locate definitions for
terms such as “seeding adoptions” or “crossover
trade” was most appreciated. An additional strength of
this book is that it offers the reader extremely useful tips and
strategies in terms of the actual writing style one should employ
in their textbook. As the author of various journal articles and
book chapters, I must admit that I felt as though I had a firm
grasp of what academic writing entailed, but, in retrospect,
after having read Lepionka’s work, I find myself
re-evaluating my position. The material dealing with the writing
process, particularly as contained in chapters six and seven, is
very useful, and all writers could benefit from embracing the
guidelines she outlines. In addition to this, the material in
chapter sixteen dealing with enhancing a text’s value
visually is an absolute must-read for any prospective book
author. As Lepionka points out, the visual presentation of a
book is important in marketing and selling it to potential
customers. The suggestions offered in this chapter are
wonderful, and I would also recommend that readers devote
specific attention to the appendix dealing with visualizing
information. A final strength of Writing and developing your
college textbook: A comprehensive guide to textbook authorship
and higher education publishing (2nd ed.) is the
inclusion of references, charts, diagrams, a sample prospectus
letter, a list of publishers, and web links. Each of these is
strategically and appropriately interspersed throughout the book,
and provides the reader with relevant and additional information
that they might draw on as they engage in producing their own
text.
After having read Writing and developing your college
textbook: A comprehensive guide to textbook authorship and higher
education publishing (2nd ed.), I find myself
better prepared and better educated about the expectations
associated with writing a “good” and
“successful” textbook. Although the thoughts of
actually embarking on this process are still somewhat daunting, I
do feel “empowered” about the prospect of writing my
own text. For those who may have trepidations about producing a
book, rest easy, as Lepionka’s writing may be the solution
to your problem. It certainly worked for me!
About the Reviewer
David C. Young, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in the School
of Education at St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, Nova
Scotia (Canada). His current teaching includes courses in
educational administration and policy, educational research and
inclusive education. His research is focused on the areas of
educational foundations, school law and special education
policy.
Copyright is retained by the first or sole author,
who grants right of first publication to the Education Review.
Editors: Gene V Glass, Kate Corby, Gustavo Fischman
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