Comments on: Six jobs in ELT publishing

By: Sandy

Sandy — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 19:31:56 +0000

That’s right. The book “Teaching and Researching Motivation” is a good one, if you’re into the psychological aspects of teaching. Don’t know if it’s a Longman one, though…

By: Mike Harrison

Mike Harrison — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 19:43:12 +0000

Thanks for the recommendation, Darren

By: Darren Elliott

Darren Elliott — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 04:54:41 +0000

Mike – I would go for the Longman “Teaching and Researching…” series as a jumping off point. They are pitched a bit higher than the “How to teach…” series, and give you an immense amount of further reading to pursue, should you be inclined.

By: Mike Harrison

Mike Harrison — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 22:34:59 +0000

I don’t think anyone’s in teaching or ELT-related work for the riches, eh? Now TEFL superstardom, that’s feasible… maybe.

On a related note – could you recommmend any prep reading for a DELTA? I’m thinking about that for next year. TEFL superstardom is a long way off and I’ve got my work cut out for me!!

By: lclandfield

lclandfield — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 15:35:22 +0000

I’ve done work as a reader, and a teacher trainer (although mostly talking about my own books) and as an editor (I am series editor for Delta’s Teacher development series). I’ve actually enjoyed working at all of those jobs, but I don’t know if I would want to do one full-time all the time. Recently I’ve been lucky enough that the writing work has been plentiful (although not the dreamed riches I had thought of when I started… we’ll see)

By: Mike Harrison

Mike Harrison — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 15:28:32 +0000

Have you done any of these ELT publishing jobs, Lindsay, besides writing?

By: Sputnik

Sputnik — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 14:19:51 +0000

Thanks for the fulsome and fascinating reply. I still can’t tell if it’s a good or a bad job, but it is clearly something that gets you experiencing the full gamut of emotions either way.

By: lclandfield

lclandfield — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 10:41:40 +0000

Hi Sputnik,

Well, I’ve written elsewhere about some author woes (6 things authors would not hear) but other drawbacks to writing ELT materials include:
- much writing is for a fee, not a royalty. So it’s hard to really envisage living full time off of this.

- even with royalties, the money is not as ridiculously huge as some people say. Yes, there are a few authors who have hit it big time but the majority of writers need to supplement with other work.

- the deadlines are hell, and it’s frustrating if you as an author meet your deadline and then the publisher doesn’t meet theirs

- some projects get pulled/canned/trashed before they ever see light of day. I know a few horror stories of this happening.

- if you are a control freak about your writing then you will likely die of high blood pressure or a heart attack when doing published materials; there are many competing interests, and not always enough money to get what you want (e.g. “Why CAN’T I have this photo/extract/image for the lesson?” “Erm, because it costs five grand, do you wanna pay that?”)

The upsides though are that it is always a pleasure to see something through and touch your own book once published. And you meet lots of nice people. And it’s nice to think your work or ideas are spreading around. Ummm… it looks like I could have done a separate post on this come to think of it!

By: Adam

Adam — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 10:22:54 +0000

I guess I’d been waiting for you to post this particular ’6′ without even realizing it. Thank you, a lot to ponder.

By: Sputnik

Sputnik — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 05:52:46 +0000

Very interesting stuff. I just wonder what the downsides and, indeed, upsides are of the most important profession in publishing – the author. As you are in the know, can you spill the beans?