S1000D-compliant illustrations - ISTC

ISTC Books: the next step
Council is considering a proposal to
establish a book-publishing arm to be
called ISTC Books.
General description
The ISTC would publish books in the
field of technical communication.
Initially, these would be short books of
about 60 pages, on a single topic. ISTC
Books would be run by a steering group
of Council members. The actual work
would be done by a commissioning
editor and a copy editor. The books
could be ordered from the ISTC
website, and from online sellers such
as Amazon. They could also be ordered
through any bookshop.
Authors would be given a
contract, broadly following the
recommendations of the Society of
Authors, and would be paid royalties.
Why ISTC Books?
As a professional institute, the ISTC
should be publishing its own books.
It has published books before, as
one-offs, but these have involved a
great deal of work and expense. If
the work were to be done by a paid
commissioning editor and copy editor,
and the books produced using print on
demand, publishing books would be
much more practical and profitable.
Council believes that there are
not enough books on technical
communication produced with a UK
perspective and that we have members
with the expertise and knowledge, as
well as the writing skills, to produce
useful and interesting books. The
books would enhance the image of
the ISTC, as well as reinforcing the
professional standing of their authors.
Submission and decision process
Once ISTC Books is established, and
the commissioning editor and copy
editor have been appointed, authors
would be required to submit to the
commissioning editor a proposal in
the following form, which is generally
standard in the publishing industry:
• A two- to three-page general
description of the book
• A full list of chapters, with a
description of up to five lines of the
content of each chapter
• A sample chapter containing up to
5000 words
• A statement explaining why the book
would be of sufficient interest to
technical communicators for some of
them to buy it
• A statement explaining why the
author is a suitable person to write
the book
• A list of any competing books that
have already been published.
The commissioning editor would review
the proposal and then do one of the
following: reject it, ask for changes or
pass it on to the steering group, with a
recommendation that it be accepted.
After acceptance
The steering group would decide
whether to accept or reject the proposal.
On acceptance, the author would be
sent a contract, together with a style
guide and a technical specification for
how the book was to be presented. As
well as a paper copy, ISTC Books would
need electronic copies in a prescribed
format so that the book is ready to be
sent to the print-on-demand supplier
for production whenever an order is
received.
Current status of ISTC Books
In a letter in the Winter 2005
Communicator, I asked for preliminary
ideas for books. At the time of writing,
I have received one. The topic is of
considerable interest and the author
has a background that suggests he
would be able to deliver a useful and
marketable book. However, I had hoped
for more than one proposal.
Consequently, I recommended that
Council should proceed cautiously. At
present, the proposal remains before
Council. The first step would be to
appoint the commissioning editor
and copy editor, but Council will not
do that until it believes that there are
enough potential books to make the
venture worthwhile.
This means that it’s important for me
to hear from potential authors who
believe they can write books that will
be of value to people in our profession.
If you have an idea, start by sending
me a brief outline. I will then let you
know whether I am ready to receive a
full proposal. Once we have a better
idea of the supply of manuscripts,
Council can make a firm decision on
the ISTC Books proposal. C
Alan Fisk FISTC
E: alanfisk@yahoo.com
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Communicator Spring 2006