Hi Nik,

My two colleagues and I happened to have a book ot offer that a publisher wanted (a teacher training book for EAP). One of the publisher's reps was visiting a university in China where my colleague was working and he said they were looking for ideas. So I guess it was luck more than anything as far as we were concerned.

I guess the message is to try to second guess what the publishers think the market wants and try to give it to them - not easy to do though.

Olwyn

I got my start in materials writing as a freelance writer. When the women who became my co-authors needed someone to do their teachers books, my name came up. They knew my name because of presentations and workshops I had done in Japan. So, there were elements of talent (my academic background & teaching experience), reputation (presentations, since this was before blogs and such)  and luck (I was available when they needed someone). I started pointing out a few problems I saw with student book units (as I was writing the teachers book lessons) and was brought in for planning sessions (so perhaps I could point out problems BEFORE the books were done) and then asked to be one of the co-authors of the student books. Very much a back door entry into the field.

Since then, I've worked as a freelance and royalty-based writer for adult and children's materials. Nothing that would "count" as a publication at the university level, so I can't talk about breaking into the resource-type book biz.

With consumables (like textbooks and their components) I've seen a shift in the way publishers look at authors and materials development, largely driven by new economic realities (IMO). In ELT these days, I don't hear of many authors who have had their brilliant ideas turned into textbooks, unless it's for a specialized or new-ish niche, and publishers feel pressure to get something on the market, fast. As far as I've seen, most recent ELT textbooks (and their writers) have been published in one of two ways:

1. Teacher A shows Publisher B a complete set of materials that he or she has been using successfully in classes, and it fills a need the publisher has identified (for example, country-specific materials). From the publisher's point of view, the field testing has been done, and there isn't as much work (or cost or time) in getting the books into stores. Teacher A will probably get paid royalties for this book, but it's not a sure thing. Publisher B might offer to buy the materials outright for a flat fee.

2. Publisher B looks at education trends, and identifies a need (for example, teachers might want a new adult EFL series based on Twitter or Social Networking). Then, the publisher looks for writers to fill specific slots on the project--student book author(s), workbook author, teacher's book author, etc. Each writer works with an editor, and the editors work with a senior editor. The senior editor provides continuity on the project since the writing is done concurrently, enabling the new series to get from start to shelf in the least amount of time. In this case, the student book authors will likely receive royalties. The rest of the team will be freelance-based.

Since the majority of new ELT textbooks fall into category 2, you want to be one of the writers publishers think of when they go looking for a writing team. One way to get considered for royalty-based student book jobs is to develop a reputation as a good freelance writer for teacher's books or workbooks, or other "work for hire" writing.

And, of course, it doesn't hurt to let editor friends (in the field you want to write for) know that you'd appreciate being considered for anything that comes up.

Now, perhaps some of the editors monitoring this forum will step in to correct me... :)