Writing the Next Chapter

Think you have what it takes to become an author? Meet NEA-Retired members who wrote the book-literally. More...

Persistence Pays Off Hitting the Target

Jacquie McTaggart hadn't planned on becoming an author when she retired in 2001 after 42 years of teaching in Independence, Iowa. But the day school started that fall-without her-she was so glum all she did was sit at her computer playing solitaire.

"When my husband came home for lunch, that's where he found me, and he was so disgusted he said 'Do something. Get a job at WalMart as a greeter or go write a book.'"

Spurning the blue vest, McTaggart got in touch with a New York literary agent and pitched a book aimed at parents eager to smooth the way for their children in school. The agent was frank, telling her "no one would take a book from an inexperienced writer." But the dash of cold water came with a good tip: "She suggested I contact the local paper about doing a column on education."

Soon after, McTaggart's first article appeared in the Independence Bulletin Journal. Another paper picked up the column, and McTaggart began getting assignments from magazines. Finally, late last year, she achieved her goal when From the Teacher's Desk, a compilation of her columns, was published by Booklocker.com, a print-on-demand publisher. A steady seller, the book has generated a TV appearance, several radio call-in shows, and speaking engagements at reading conferences in several states. "I did what the agent suggested," McTaggart explains, "and everything grew from there."

Maybe it's the teacher's instinct: to share life's lessons with others even after putting away the chalk and filing away the lesson plans for good. Maybe it's a life stage thing: the desire to take stock, reflect on, and generate some fresh insights from a lifetime of family and work. It could even be the need for a new creative outlet, or a desire for-let's admit it-a little fame and fortune. Whatever the reason, when educators retire from active service, a fair number of them-including many NEA-Retired members-dive into writing a book.

Getting a book published probably won't make you rich, our NEA-Retired book authors say, but seeing the fruits of your labors on the printed page has its payoffs. The sweet satisfaction is definitely earned, though, because writing and getting a book published requires diligence, creativity, a flair for promotion-and a thick skin.

"A lot of teachers want to have a book," says Darlene Montonaro, who directs a writers' center in Cleveland, Ohio, where many Northeast Ohio teachers and former teachers attend writing workshops. "But they don't want to do the research and the rewriting and the submitting to publishers and dealing with rejection-and there is a lot of rejection-that it takes to get published."

Persistence Pays Off

Pennsylvania member Judith Wolfman has endured all the challenges of seeing a book off-press, and, like McTaggart, she found that persistence pays off.

Her book project started when a cousin called her with a request. Could Wolfman help him find photogenic pigs to illustrate a calendar he was producing? Country cousin Wolfman was happy to oblige and took him to her local county fair to find some prize-winning porkers. Something clicked, Wolfman says, "when I saw how some 4-H girls were handling their pigs, and how knowledgeable they were," and she began thinking about a children's book.

So she went to Writers Market, a writers' directory, to find a book publisher. Wolfman located seven publishers who wanted children's books with pictures and wrote letters to all of them describing the book she wanted to write.

One of them, Lerner Publishing Group, wrote back. "They liked my idea," explains Wolfman. "But they didn't know who I was, so they said, 'Do the book and send it to us. If we like it we may publish it.'"

When she delivered her manuscript-which eventually became the award-winning Life on a Pig Farm—the publishers liked it so much they commissioned a series of eight more farm books from her.

"It made me feel good to see my name on the cover of that first book, and doing each book gave me confidence in myself, in terms of my writing skills, how to tighten things up, how to work with editors," says Wolfman, who has gone on to write for children's magazines like Cricket and Highlights. "Everything grew out of that first book. It definitely launched my writing career...and it, well, it just dropped in my lap."

Wolfman's modesty belies a central truth of authoring and getting a book published: It's hard work!

First, you need an idea or a hook: it could come from a long-term research project or even a hobby.

Even when you can "see" a good book idea, it's still not going to become a book unless you can also "see" an audience for it, says Missouri member Martha Karlovetz, author of The Classroom is Bare...the teacher's not there, the story of losing her daughter, a teacher, to cancer. When she began researching prospects for her story, she found there were few books about the death of an adult child, "so I knew that it would be inspirational, not just to teachers, but also to mothers and daughters and to families [dealing] with cancer."

Yet another piece of the puzzle is settling on a format that will work for you and your reader. For most teachers that means going the nonfiction route. That's a plus for novice writers. It's easier to break into nonfiction, explained Karlovetz, and it sells better, faster, and easier than other kinds of writing.

Then, after you've written your opus, you have to find an appropriate publisher. Getting an agent to represent you presents a catch-22: "You need an agent to get published by the big [publishers], but agents don't want to work with a writer who is not published," states California member Jack Daley, author of the autobiographical Tasting the Whitewater. So your real options are: sell it to a specialized publisher; place it with a vanity press (and pay them to publish it and give you royalties if it sells); or publish it yourself.
Then there's the puzzling but demanding process of marketing and selling the book.

"Basically that means talking to people, doing speaking engagements connected with your book, and doing signings," says Porterville, California-based Shirley Skufca Hickman, who retired in 1994 and self-published Don't Be Give Up, a story of her youth in a Colorado mining town in the '30s and '40s, and School Success: 500 Ways Busy Parents Can Help Their Children Succeed in School. "But," she stresses, "it doesn't stop there."

Savvy authors also sell on Amazon.com and/or Barnes&Noble.com, which both take a cut of the revenues. "That's a bad deal for authors," says Karlovetz, "but you have to be there to survive."

McTaggart also produces an online newsletter that plugs her book. And she, like retired high school nurse Antonia Eisenstein-author (as Toni Rich) of They Stay the Same, a family-saga published by Publish America in the fall of 2003-never go anywhere without copies of their book in the trunk of their car. "You are always marketing-the book and yourself," explains Eisenstein.

Hitting the Target

So, think you want to take the plunge and write that first book? Our NEA-Retired experts say you'll have a far greater chance of achieving your goal if you heed this advice:

Consider your audience at every stage of the process: "A good writer is always thinking about who is going to pick up the book and read it," stresses Hickman. "That's the whole point, that link between the writer and the reader. If you don't care about that, then you are just on an ego-trip."

Have a place to write: "You must have a dedicated place for your writing," says Karlovetz. "When I retired, we converted a bedroom into an office and had everything in the office networked.

Use a computer: "It's invaluable for Internet research, rewriting, editing, and submitting manuscripts to a publisher," explains Irv Rothstein, who retired from teaching in San Francisco in 2002 and is working on a book of short stories based on his classroom experiences. Since writing is a solitary occupation, a computer linked to the Internet pays other dividends as well-it can keep you connected to other writers. "When you post a question on a[n Internet] message board or get into a chat room, people are willing and eager to help," says McTaggart. (Check out online writers' groups at www.forwriters.com/groups.html and www.manuscriptediting.com/writersgroups.htm.)

Finally, book authors need a quality Montonaro dubs "stick-to-it-iveness." "It's more important than skill because the writing muscle gets stronger with use," she says. "By writing all the time you learn how to work on your own, become more reflective, and improve both the creativity of your writing and the mechanics, too.
"And," she adds, "because you are writing all the time, you'll come to think of yourself as a writer...and that will help you deal with the rejection."

So if writing and publishing a book is fraught with so many challenges, why are teachers so interested in doing it when they retire?

"It's sort of that next step for us," says Rothstein.

"We are communicators, and for that next stage in life, we want to teach to a larger audience."

Eileen Beal writes a monthly column and has contributed to Arthritis Today, Aging Today, and Secure Retirement.

Exploring Your Options

You have a manuscript-written, rewritten, and ready to go. So who's gonna print it and get the word out to potential buyers?

To meet the demand for publishers, the industry has spawned an array of options that includes:

• Specialized AND niche publishers, small presses, and local publishers that print books on local and regional affairs and issues. They purchase and/or commission manuscripts and produce, print, promote, and distribute books. This is a viable option for authors of manuscripts that would appeal to a small, but dedicated readership.
• Subsidy publishers, also known as vanity presses. They require the author to pay part or all costs for publishing his or her book. The author may receive royalties on the book's sale from the publisher, or may wind up with a basement full of books. Either way, the publisher always makes money.
• Self-publishing consultants/presses or book packagers. They provide fee-based services-editing and copy editing; page design and set up; cover design and art; help with application for copyright registration and ISBN number; printing and binding; promotional services and marketing kits-necessary to get a book produced and published. The author-publisher may use as many or as few services as they wish. As with subsidy publishers, there is ample opportunity for "up-selling" or scams, so watch out for rip-offs.

To protect your interests, do thorough research on each option. Check out the publishers listed with the Publishers Marketing Association or Small Publishers of North America. Next, visit the publishers' Web sites, find out who they have published, and contact a couple of their authors to find out how they are to work with.

When you have settled on two or three options, call their representatives and grill them. Ask:

1. How do they work with a first-time author?
2. How many publishing packages do they offer, and how do they differ?
3. How much input will you have in the layout, production, and pricing of the book?
4. What is the cost of producing, printing, and delivering X number of books, and how much will a second printing cost?
5. When can they deliver a written quote/contract, and how long will the terms apply?

Run the quote and contract by a lawyer and, if all goes well, sign on the dotted line and get ready for the most nail-bitingly anxious three to nine months of your life-the birth of your book.

—E.B.