Part III: Submitting your textbook
By Terri Accomazzo, Associate Editor, SAGE
For Part I: Planning for your textbook, click here and for Part II: Writing your textbook, click here.
Submitting Your Textbook
Submitting your manuscript is one of the most exciting—and complicated—parts of the process. Be sure to read all the documentation that your Editorial Assistant sends you! Make sure you’re keeping note of all the small pieces, like the glossary and the photo captions. It’s easy to get distracted by the chapters themselves, but you don’t want your editorial team chasing you down for the last odds and ends!
It’s also very important to remember your editorial assistant’s advice about permissions. Be sure to keep careful records of all third-party material in your book (a.ka., anything you did not write yourself) and fill out your permissions log. We can’t print a book with permissions outstanding, and no one wants to put on the brakes so close to publication.
Our colleagues in production say:
The fancy formatting, pretty colors, and added stylistic details are not necessary when an author submits a manuscript. All of that is actually stripped out once the MS reaches production. We prefer to work with a clean slate. Each separate textual element should be similarly formatted (i.e., all heading 1’s throughout the text should look the same, all H2’s the same, and so on).
The headings within the text should match up with those in the TOC. If possible, please please please create a Detailed TOC before submitting to production. This saves the copyeditor, and the production schedule, loads of time. If there’s any art appearing in the MS, the author should make sure each piece is properly called out within the text, and labeled as such.
-Brittany Bauhaus, Project Editor
Our authors say:
A manuscript without permissions CANNOT be considered ready for publication. Be sure to keep careful notes as you copy and quote various sources. Oops! It is important to apply for permission at least 6 months before the manuscript is due.
–Gene Hall, Linda Quinn, and Donna Gollnick
Throughout the term, make notes on your syllabus or assignments, identifying changes or revisions for the next time you teach the course. Don’t expect to remember all of your great ideas at the end of the term.
–Anna Leon-Guerrero
Final Thoughts
Remember, the editorial team at SAGE is here to help! When in doubt, ask!
Anna Leon-Guerrero is Professor of Sociology at Pacific Lutheran University in Washington. She is the author of Social Problems, co-author of Social Statistics for a Diverse Societyand Essentials of Social Statistics for a Diverse Society, as well as co-editor of Contemporary Readings in Social Problems.
Craig Hemmens is Department Head and Professor in the Department of Criminology & Criminal Justice at Missouri State University. In addition to being the editor for the SAGE Text/Reader Series in Criminology/Criminal Justice, he is the author of Criminal Courts and the co-author of Corrections: A Text/Reader, Introduction to Criminology A Text/Reader, and Courts: A Text/Reader
Gene Hall and Linda Quinn both teach at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Donna Gollnick is an international consultant for accreditation. They are the author team for Introduction to Teaching
Russell K. Schutt, Ph.D., is Professor and Chair of Sociology at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, and Lecturer on Sociology in the Department of Psychiatry (Beth Israel-Deaconess Medical Center) at the Harvard Medical School. He has authored and co-authored numerous books on methods with SAGE, including Investigating the Social WorldMaking Sense of the Social World, Research Methods in Psychology, and The Practice of Research in Criminology and Criminal Justice
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