I suspect editors see this all the time. I also suspect that I’ve unknowingly participated in it as well. If you’re a book writer, you have to be clear of your readership. As an academic editor I receive many proposals for books that either cry for popular treatment, but are too academic, or books that are written for laity on topics of interest only to academics. A writing life is a struggle to find that correct balance. Particularly for your typical academic. You see, doctoral programs don’t generally include instruction on how publishing works. Or in writing. It’s assumed that any string of 100,000 words from a credentialed expert is worth publishing. Worse, as Steven Pinker has pointed out, academics are rewarded for writing poorly. No wonder people are confused!
Lately I’ve been on a kick about people not paying attention. It is important to observe. When writing a book it’s important to gauge who might want to read your potential book. Indeed, this is something seldom asked early enough in the process. Who is this book for? Will they want to read it? You see, we have this lone ranger attitude to book writing. In actual fact, most books you see in bookstores are the clear result of teamwork. Yes, authors do most of the writing. In many books editors do quite a bit of the fixing of the writing. Agents, marketers, publicists, sales reps—there are a host of people behind successful books. It’s easy to think, while writing, that your book will be a bestseller, no matter how academic. That you will see it in Barnes and Noble and point it out, ever so casually, to your friends. That it will sell for less than $20.
It’s important to pay attention to what other people think. We’re all busy, I know. We have our own lives to live and plans to enact. Who has time to bother thinking about who might read their book? Obviously, other specialists such as themselves. But how many people is that, really? With the sheer number of books published each year, are there topics that will draw in thousands, instead of hundreds (or less) of buyers? Writing a book naturally makes you think the topic is important—vital, even. It’s easy to transfer your personal interest onto the masses. My advice, for those few who ask or care, is to think carefully about who you wish to reach. Be honest with yourself. And try to think from the point of view of somebody else.
