How I became a textbook author.
I’m a teacher turned textbook author and I get asked quite a lot about how that came to be.
The TLDR is that no one comes along and plucks you out of your classroom and offers you a writing job because you are such an amazing teacher. It’s also unlikely you’ll find an ad online for this sort of work. So how does it happen?
Both writing gigs I landed were through putting myself “out there” (I feel the need to use big air quotes here). The first time it was through cold-emailing publishers and the second time it was because I was “out there” running a business in the languages education space.
I was also deeply engaged in languages pedagogy, curriculum and resource creation - I had the passion and skills needed to do the work…but so do many other teachers, so how did I make it happen?
Before I had kids, I was teaching 7-12 Japanese at a girls school in Brisbane. Big changes were coming for the senior syllabus and teachers in my network would often remark that we were going to need a new textbook – who going to put their hand up to write it?
That might have been a throwaway line for most people saying it but I took it seriously. To the point that I emailed publishers and pitched the idea, closing the email with something along the lines of, “oh and if you do go ahead with this and are looking for someone to write it, I’d love to be involved.”
I very quickly got offered work by both publishers I’d pitched to.
One offered me some reviewing work on their updated range of Year 7-10 resources, which I turned down, because the offer from the second publisher was exactly what I had hoped for. They were developing a new senior Japanese book and asked if I was interested in being a co-author. My knowledge of the Queensland curriculum and my enthusiasm for resource creation were of interest to the team. There were phone calls discussing my experience and I had to send some samples of tasks I’d created to show the quality of my work. The author team was eventually convened (I was definitely the junior of the team and worked with a number of very experienced teachers / writers). Together we mapped out the new book and got stuck into writing.
If you teach Japanese in Australia, you may have worked out this book was iiTomo Senior. My first foray into educational publishing was a huge learning experience. I learnt a lot about the rigour of producing commercially available resources and how to balance a book against the competing demands of many different state and territory requirements.
This writing work planted a seed for me. I’d always been adamant that I would be a teacher for the rest of my life. Now now I’d had a baby, moved interstate and wasn’t going back to my old job, I got curious about how else I could use my skills to earn money, outside of the classroom.
I borrowed ‘Freelancing for Dummies’ from the Grafton library and started trying to come up with business ideas. This lead to Languages Roadshow, the business I still run, offering professional development and resources for languages teachers. I have dialled this up and down over the past seven or so years of having my three kids and also working in my husband’s business.
My first conference event for Languages Roadshow, 2019.
In 2022, I was at a conference with a trade display for my business. A neighbouring trade display was selling the most beautiful Italian textbook I’d ever seen. That book was the award-winning Avanti Tutta! published by Lingopont (owned by Elio Guarnuccio). I felt a strong pull toward Lingopont because of their fully-integrated, vibrant approach to resource creation and because of Elio’s passion for revitalising languages education in Australia. We kept in touch and soon enough, Lingopont was preparing to write Peko Peko, a new course for Year 7 & 8 Japanese. I was invited to be on the author team. I had a lot on my plate at that time - I’d just had baby number three. I knew I’d have massive FOMO if I turned down the offer though, so I said yes (and I am so happy I did).
Same outfit, different job, 2024.
If you are a teacher who is interested in getting into textbook writing:
Firstly, it’s so important you are active in your professional network. Present at conferences. Get to know colleagues outside of your school through whatever groups, events or committees are available. You need to have a good understanding of experiences of teachers outside of your own - challenges they face with curriculum implementation, resources that work well, the sort of topics people like to cover etc.
Secondly, make contact with the publishers of the major textbooks in your field. Maybe nothing will come of it, but you never know. Offer your services as a critical friend or reviewer of any new or updated materials they are working on. When new books are in development this is a crucial phase and could be a way in for you, even if there aren’t any writing spots going.
Finally, be ready to be educated on the rigours of commercial publishing. There’s a huge difference between creating your own classroom resources and being involved in publishing a textbook. It’s also a lot of fun seeing a textbook go from a word doc manuscript to something that looks like this.
One of my favourite pages in Peko Peko
If you’d like to ask me any questions, contact me at kelly@languagesroadshow.com.au