jobs.ac.uk - Great jobs for bright people
  • Find a Job
  • Find PhDs
  • Career Advice
  • Jobs by Email
  • Advertise a Job
  • Recruiters
  • Your Account

  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to secondary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

career-advice.jobs.ac.uk

Secondary Sidebar

jobs.ac.uk Career Advice

  • CV and Cover Letter Advice
    • CV Tips
    • Free CV Templates
    • Cover Letters with Examples
    • Personal Profiles
    • CV Resources
  • Jobseeking and Interview Tips
    • Jobseeking Tips
    • Academic Interviews
    • Professional Interviews
    • Jobseeking and Interview Resources
  • Career Development
    • Academic Careers
    • Research Careers
    • Career Progression Stories
    • Professional Careers
    • Working in Industry
    • Career Development Resources
    • Global Careers
    • Working From Home
  • Women in Higher Education
  • FE Career Advice
    • FE CV & Interview Tips
    • Working in FE
    • Managing your Career in FE
    • FE Jobs Profiles
  • Resources
    • Academic Case Studies
    • Professional Case Studies
    • Job Profiles
      • Biological Science Jobs
      • Health and Medical Jobs
      • Engineering and Technology Jobs
      • Computer Science Jobs
      • Physical and Environmental Science Jobs
      • Professional Service Jobs
        • Business Development Manager Jobs Profile
        • Chef Jobs Profile
        • Civil Service Jobs Profile
        • Email Marketing Jobs Profile
        • SEO Jobs Profile
        • Office Admin Jobs
    • Vlogs
  • Webinars
  • Country Profiles
    • Africa
      • Egypt
      • Ghana
      • Kenya
      • Nigeria
      • South Africa
    • Americas
      • Canada
      • United States of America
    • Asia
      • Bahrain
      • Brunei
      • China
      • Hong Kong
      • India
      • Japan
      • Kazakhstan
      • Malaysia
      • Qatar
      • Saudi Arabia
      • Dubai
      • Singapore
      • South Korea
      • Turkey
      • United Arab Emirates
      • Work in Vietnam – Country Profile
      • Work in Uzbekistan – Country Profile
    • Europe
      • Belgium
      • Denmark
      • Finland
      • France
      • Germany
      • Ireland
      • Italy
      • Netherlands
      • Norway
      • Russia
      • Spain
      • Sweden
      • Switzerland
      • United Kingdom
    • Oceania
      • Australia
      • New Zealand
  • PhD and Studentship Advice
    • PhD
    • Studentship Resources
    • Vlogs
  • Need help advertising a job?
  • About jobs.ac.uk
  • Ask A Professional
  • Academic Spotlight Interviews
  • Menu
    • CV and Cover Letter Advice
      • CV Tips
      • Free CV Templates
      • Cover Letters with Examples
      • Personal Profiles
      • CV Resources
    • Jobseeking and Interview Tips
      • Jobseeking Tips
      • Academic Interviews
      • Professional Interviews
      • Jobseeking and Interview Resources
    • Career Development
      • Academic Careers
      • Career Progression Stories
      • Research Careers
      • Professional Careers
      • Working in Industry
      • Career Development Resources
      • Global Careers
      • Working From Home
    • Women in Higher Education
    • FE Career Advice
      • FE CV & Interview Tips
      • Working in FE
      • Managing your Career in FE
      • FE Jobs Profiles
    • Resources
      • Academic Case Studies
      • Professional Case Studies
      • Interview questions tool
      • Vlogs
      • Job Profiles
        • Biological Science Jobs
        • Health and Medical Jobs
        • Engineering and Technology Jobs
        • Computer Science Jobs
        • Physical and Environmental Science Jobs
        • Professional Service Jobs
        • Civil Service jobs
    • Webinars
    • Country Profiles
      • Africa
        • Work in Egypt – Country Profile
        • Work in Ghana – Country Profile
        • Work in Kenya – Country Profile
        • Work in Nigeria – Country Profile
        • Work in South Africa – Country Profile
      • Americas
        • Work in Canada – Country Profile
        • Work in the United States of America – Country Profile
      • Asia
        • Work in Bahrain – Country Profile
        • Work in Brunei – Country Profile
        • Work in China – Country Profile
        • Work in Hong Kong – Country Profile
        • Work in India – Country Profile
        • Work in Japan – Country Profile
        • Work in Kazakhstan – Country Profile
        • Work in Malaysia – Country Profile
        • Work in Qatar – Country Profile
        • Work in Saudi Arabia – Country Profile
        • Work in Singapore – Country Profile
        • Work in South Korea – Country Profile
        • Work in Turkey – Country Profile
        • Work in United Arab Emirates – Country Profile
      • Dubai
      • Europe
        • Belgium Country Profile
        • Work in Denmark – Country Profile
        • Work in Finland – Country Profile
        • France Country Profile
        • Work in Germany – Country Profile
        • Work in Ireland – Country Profile
        • Work in Italy – Country Profile
        • Work in the Netherlands – Country Profile
        • Work in Norway – Country Profile
        • Work in Russia – Country Profile
        • Work in Spain – Country Profile
        • Work in Sweden – Country Profile
        • Work in Switzerland – Country Profile
        • Work in the United Kingdom – Country Profile
      • Oceania
        • Work in Australia – Country profile
        • Work in New Zealand – Country Profile
    • Studentship Advice
      • PhD
      • Studentship Resources
      • Vlogs
    • Need help advertising a job?
    • About jobs.ac.uk

Academic Writing: How To Write A Textbook

This article explores an often neglected aspect of academic publishing: the student textbook. Many scholars regularly publish their research in journal articles or academic monographs but never consider writing a textbook.

Why write a textbook?

Many lecturers become frustrated because a course that they want to teach has no obvious textbook to recommend to students. If this is the case, why not write your own? As innovative teachers working with the latest theories and approaches, we often find that student textbooks do not keep up with the trends explored in our research, meaning that students can struggle to grasp these ideas.

Textbooks can have a significant international audience, with US academia especially relying on the student purchase of a key text to guide them through a semester’s course. Unlike the publication of academic monographs, publishing student textbooks can offer considerable financial benefit to the authors because students buy a copy each rather than relying on sales to libraries as is the case with most monographs.

Considering co-authoring?

Many publishers prefer that textbooks have an authorial team rather than one author. This is because the ideas that make up a textbook’s content are not solely the intellectual product of one person but of a synthesis of the field, so it makes sense to have a number of scholars on board preparing the content.

Expertise on the methods of teaching and need for a book in a particular national context can help to sell the book. For example, having a European and US scholar working together helps to make the book relevant on both sides of the Atlantic, and consequently boost sales.

Finding a publisher

Looking for a textbook publisher is a different procedure from finding one for a monograph. Make sure you research which companies are the key players in the field, as the top monograph publishers may not be the best for textbooks.

If you are a full time academic you will find that textbook publishers come to you. You will be approached by publishers offering free ‘inspection copies’ of their existing books to encourage you to adopt the books as recommended texts for your courses. Alternatively, publishers’ representatives often visit universities and arrange face to face meetings with academics to discuss this. As an author you can take this opportunity to see whether the publisher would be interested in your proposed textbook.

The writing process

If you collaborate with colleagues overseas on the textbook, the writing process will have to be managed carefully. It helps to assign one member of the partnership or team to maintain contact with publishers, another to deal with images, and so on. The division of the writing will be different in every case, but it is important that any split is equitable, and that this is reflected in the division of royalties. Most co-authors find it easiest to allocate entire chapters to one writer, rather than having a number of contributors working on one section simultaneously, but with modern methods of communication, file sharing and editing, any version of the collaborative process is becoming viable.

Catherine Armstrong,Academic, Research & Teaching

What did you think of our article? - please rate

4 / 5. 1


Share this article

Reader Interactions

You may also like:

  • Audience at the conference hall.

    Writing Abstracts for Conferences

  • Supporting Individual Researchers in a Publish-or-Perish Culture

    Supporting Individual Researchers in a Publish-or-Perish Culture

  • Online education training and e learning webinar on internet

    Basic skills in Moodle management

Comments

  1. Book Writers says

    29th December 2019 at 4:56 am

    Of course, what a splendid website and educative posts, I will bookmark your website.All the Best!

    Reply
  2. Prof. N. Balasubramanian says

    16th February 2021 at 6:02 pm

    Excellent guidelines. Congratulations.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

four × 2 =

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Follow us

Searching for a job in the United Kingdom

Latest Jobs

  • Conduct and Complaints Officer

    Academic Services - Student Administration, University of Hull

    Location: Kingston upon Hull, Hybrid

    Salary: £32,546 - £38,249 up to 21% pension


  • Research Associate/Fellow (Brewing Science) (fixed term)

    Microbiology, Brewing & Biotechnology, University of Nottingham

    Location: Sutton Bonington

    Salary: £31,637 - £46,735 per annum, depending on skills and experience (minimum £35,116 with relevant PhD). Salary progression beyond this scale is subject to performance.


  • HR Adviser

    Norwich University of the Arts

    Location: Norwich

    Salary: £32,546 - £37,174 per annum


  • Information Specialist

    The Faculty of Health and Life Sciences , University of Exeter

    Location: Exeter, Hybrid

    Salary: The starting salary will be from £33,482 on Grade E for a GRA, £34,132 on Grade E for a PDRA and £42,882 on Grade F PDRF, per annum pro rata, depending on qualifications and experience.


  • HR Coordinator

    Department of Medicine, University of Cambridge

    Location: Cambridge

    Salary: £30,805 - £35,116 per annum


  • Lecturer in Health Sciences (Children’s Nursing)

    College of Medicine and Health, Bangor University

    Location: Bangor

    Salary: £37,099 - £44,263 p.a. (Grade 7)


Footer

jobs.ac.uk - Great jobs for bright people
  • Find a Job
  • Find PhDs
  • Career Advice
  • Jobs by Email
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Terms of use
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Policy
  • Accessibility Statement

Copyright © jobs.ac.uk 1998 - 2025

  • Find a Job
  • Find PhDs
  • Careers Advice
  • Jobs by Email
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Terms of use
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Policy
  • Accessibility
jobs.ac.uk - Great jobs for bright people

Copyright © jobs.ac.uk 1998 - 2025