This is No. 2 in an occasional 10-part series on the topic of self-publishing textbooks. If I’ve written a podcast or recorded a post in the series, it will be linked to in the footnote at the end of this post.1 If there’s no link, it’s because I haven’t created it yet. But I will. Eventually. I may write posts out of numerical order and reserve the right to not post about the topic the following week just because I might not feel like it.
Why do I publish my own textbooks? The short answer is: because it’s fun. But that’s just me, you might have a slightly less warped idea of fun. Why might you publish your own textbooks? Conversely, why might you decide self-publishing isn’t for you? Some thoughts to consider:
It’s a way to generate extra income. But even better than that are the indirect benefits…
It positions you as an expert. If you were a prospective student, wouldn’t you want to study from a teacher who literally wrote the book on how to speak English?
You could use your textbooks to generate leads. Giving away an e-book for free (at no additional cost to you) is a good way to get prospective students’ email addresses. A free paper-and-ink book is an even more compelling gift that could net you a new student, or cement an existing relationship. If the prospect signs up for a year of lessons, the cost to you of giving away a few print copies of the book pales into insignificance.
It saves you time and effort on planning. Why reinvent the wheel every lesson, when you have a textbook ready to remind you and your students of your best ideas?
Writing your first textbook requires a lot of effort, it’s true, but once you have done one, you have a template for the next one, and the next. And the next.
There’s an enormous potential upside. You, as the writer and publisher of the textbook, hold the copyright which means you own the intellectual rights to the book. Which means you get a cut every time anyone, anywhere, buys a copy of your book. And it might be a hit...
…but it probably won’t be. And it will certainly cost you an enormous amount of time and effort. Aren’t textbooks obsolete anyway?
So, the jury is out, especially if you don’t have much confidence in your abilities to publish yourself. If you are not really into teaching English as your primary income, publishing your own textbooks may be overkill, hardly worth the blood, sweat and tears that will flow until you figure out your own system of how to do it.
But if you think there is something to the idea of having your own textbooks, I’m happy to show you what I know.
Patrick
P.S. if you need a bit of firing up, I just republished on Substack my Self-Publishers’ Declaration of Independence that I wrote way back in 2012 (when I had barely published a thing!) It still rings true today after I have published 76 titles (although I maybe over-egged the case for ebooks).
Introduction: How to publish your own English textbooks in Japan
How to write your own textbooks
How to edit your own textbooks
How to make the covers of your own textbooks
How to format your own textbooks for different media
The pros and cons of Amazon, going wide and traditional publishing
How much should you charge for your textbooks?
You’ve published your textbook. Now what?