You could say I’m a kind of expert on this topic, because the way I messed up my promising start in ELT publishing is a perfect warning story to anyone else who is taking their first steps. It seems I’m temperamentally unsuited to doing most of the things below, but here’s what the rest of you should be doing:

Make yourself visible

Write and review in well respected magazines and on well known websites, remembering that it is what publishers in the UK read (EL Gazette, IATEFL Issues, etc.) that is important, not what people around you are using (www.teachingenglishinborneo.co.bo). Get on the conference circuit and chat to all the publishers’ representatives there, sprinkling your business card everywhere you can. Get involved in publishers’ websites, e.g. submitting lesson plans to go on their sites.

Don’t rely on sending book proposals

The traditional “send a book proposal, wait for review, proposal accepted if you are lucky, negotiate and then start writing” process doesn’t work anymore – it is basically dead. If you send a book proposal in, you might be very lucky if there is a new member of staff looking for writers and it makes them think you can work on their latest book idea. More likely, it will sit under another pile of proposals until it turns into mulch. Publishers now work under five year plans with the titles of almost all books in those 5 years decided. The next step is that they send those details to people they think might be able to write it, and then you send a proposal showing you can write precisely the book they want.

Specialize

If you only teach TOEIC and there is a TOEIC project coming up, you will fit in naturally with no time wasted in the publishing office – and time is the essence. It also means that your details will go to the right person in the right department of the publishers. Don’t worry that being too limited might stop you writing more books, once you are proven to be a reliable, low maintenance writer who meets deadlines you will be allowed to drift outside your speciality. I have it on good information that one well known exam book author who went on to write an IELTS book had actually never taught IELTS!

Build your CV

Keep in mind that your CV won’t only be used for your editor to decide if you can write the book. Its main purpose will be for that person to convince their boss that you are a safe bet who will look good on the book cover, in investment reports and on the EFL lecture circuit. Basically, if the project does f**k up they want to be able to say “How was I supposed to know? Look, they work for the British Council, they have an MA etc. etc. Anyone would think nothing could go wrong…” rather than “Well, I took a risk on this genius teacher working in a school no one has ever heard of in a small town in Borneo but it didn’t work out this time I guess. I’ll get my coat.”

Chase things up

Does your boss ever need reminding to do something? Well, your prospective editor sometimes will too. If you do send a CV (can very occasionally work), make sure you chase it up with whoever sent it on, send updates etc.

Be low maintenance

Although an occasional reminder might be welcome, an editor does not want to be dealing with a writer who creates work for them all the time. Don’t answer each email or document with a flood of questions, don’t email too often, do make all email titles very clear so the editor can find them when they need them, and most of all make sure you don’t make errors that need correcting or chasing up. Think of yourself as a prospective foster child- if you were the editor/ foster parent, would you choose the temperamental genius or the quite child who keeps their room tidy? Also remember that your editor probably won’t be around to see the remarkable results of your work, but they will be around when someone has to clear up the mess you make along the way.

Don’t despair

Despite the reliance on well-known names and safe ideas, one thing that makes an editor stand out in their own field is discovering successful new writers. All you need to do is work out what “successful new writers” means to them.

Psychoanalyse your publisher

When you do something to further your writing career, e.g. send a proposal for a new book they want to publish, try to picture what the EFL editor will do with it. How long will they look at it? What will they be looking for? Who else will see it and talk about it? What will any of those people need to see in you and your proposal to improve their own job prospects? If that makes you picture ELT publishing as a comedy about making pitches to Hollywood executives, then you are starting to get the right idea…

Concentrate your efforts, but not too much

Say yes to everything, but target one publisher at a time.

Don’t give up your day job

Be prepared to make considerably less money per hour than you would through teaching (depending on where you teach), consoling yourself with the fact that you can still write when you are too old to teach, that you can write between lessons, and that there is a very slight chance you could get in on the next big blockbuster.

Work in a school with contacts

If possible, work in a school where published teachers are working, or at least make sure the school is involved in pre-publication testing of materials for the big publishers etc.