Help Wanted: Publisher Seeks Scientist To Pen Best-Seller

In the early 1960s, Robert Jastrow, then a young, adjunct professor of astronomy at Columbia University set out to write his first book—an examination of space science that, as he foresaw it, would stimulate the minds of his academic colleagues but, at the same time, be comprehensible to the general public. His motives were altruistic, he says now. His natural passion for teaching and writing was fired by the strong conviction that even the most esoteric scientific concepts can be—and often should be—conveyed in a lively, gripping style to a mass audience. He didn’t know and didn’t very much care, Jastrow recalls, whether his work would earn him a nickel. He says he wrote his first book, Red Giants and White Dwarfs, “for the love of it.” On the other hand, potential financial gain was clear to Nobel Prize-winning molecular biologist James Watson when, also in the 1960s, he began work on his book, The Double Helix. “It’s a fascinating story and also a controversial one, so I sort of thought it would sell,” explains Watson, director of research at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York. Both scientists’ books, of course, became blockbuster best-sellers immediately upon publication, gaining for each of them—despite their differing expectations—an abundance of fame and fortune. Since 1967, Jastrow’s Red Giants has sold nearly a half-million copies—a whopping success in a publishing world where a science title that sells 25,000 copies is seen as a commercial success. As for Watson, his instincts were correct about the likely popularity of The Double Helix, a work that publishers and scientists alike consider a masterpiece of scientific detection. For scientists who today aspire to a similar share of fame and for. tune, the heartening news is that the science publishing world is even more fertile than it was back when Jastrow and Watson began their books. Science books are turning up on best-sellers lists more frequently than ever before, with volumes such as physicist Stephen Hawking’s A Brief History of Time and astronomer Timothy Ferris’ Coming of Age in the Milky Way popping up frequently to challenge the Lee lacoccas and Julia Childs of the world. Publishers say they expect this trend to continue as our society becomes increasingly affected by events and attitudes relating to science and technology, as scientists become more adept at translating abstruse ideas into readable prose, and as what’s known in the book business as the “intelligent lay reader” strives to learn more about the world in which we live. “People are realizing that some measure of scientific understanding is needed to get along. Also, there is a continuing and growing drive for an understanding of the physical world and how we fit into it,” explains Jerry Lyons, senior editor with New York-based WH. Freeman and Scientific American Books. Regardless of their topic, the most successful scientist authors are those who can write about their work in a manner that is accessible to the public at large, which publishers say is crucial if a serious science book is to succeed. “Scientists must address where science and general culture intersect,” notes Richard Liebmann-Smith, a senior editor with Basic Books, a New York-based division of Harper & Row Publishers Inc. So, when developing a book idea, would-be scientist authors should tie their particular area of interest to a larger issue while also presenting what editors refer to as “sound science. “What we look for are books that present the substance of a scientist’s line of investigation in a way that gives entree to readers not in the field,” says Susan Abrams acquisitions editor at the University of Chicago Press. She cautions, however: “That doesn’t mean a superficial treatment that oversim- plifies to the point of inaccuracy for the sake of grabbing an audience.” Rather, she says, it means that an author must relate his or her investigations and findings to “larger” question. Abrams offers Tiger Moon, a study of tiger behavior by zoologists Fiona and Mel Sunquist, as an example of just such a book. Essentially a summary of the researchers’ work in using radio telemetry technology to track tigers in Nepal, the book—published by the University of Chicago Press this summer— also tackles broader ecological issues such as the animal kingdom’s shrinking habitat and the possibility of extinction for certain species. Moreover, according to Abrams, Tiger Moon does what all good science books should do: It conveys a sense of the authors’ energy and excitement for their topic. “A reader can smell, see, and hear this book. It’s a fabulous adventure and travel book that also presents sound science. Advance orders for the book were enormous, and were now in our third printing,” Abrams notes. A second key point for authors to keep in mind is that some of the best book ideas and most marketable science books are those that deal with topics of current interest to the general public, according to Leslie Meredith, senior editor of science and books published under The New Age imprint at Bantam Books Inc., New York, which published Hawking’s book. One of the best ways scientists might gauge the potential of their manuscript is by how much interest their topic has generated in the general media, Meredith adds. Once an author has developed a book idea that he believes meets these preliminary criteria, his next step is to approach a publisher. This can be done in a variety of ways, but editors at commercial publishing houses seem to agree that the shortest path to their desks is through an agent. Scarce are commercial publishers such as W.W. Norton Co. Inc., New York, that do accept unsolicited manuscripts. Even scarcer are science best-sellers that have come in over the transom. “The first step to getting published is to get a contact,” advises William Rosen, publisher of Macmillan and Collier Books in New York. “It doesn’t necessarily have to be an agent. It could be a sales-person of college texts or another author, but on balance, it’s much more likely that a manuscript will be read expeditiously if it comes to us through an agent.” Generally, agents are a combination of sales representative and business manager. In addition to reading manuscripts and submitting them to appropriate publishers, most agents also negotiate contracts, help collect payment from. publishers, and, keep records of book sales and authors’ earnings. In exchange for these services, all agents collect a commission on the manuscripts they place—usually between 10% and 20% of author royalties. Increasingly, many agents also are charging fees for reading and evaluating manuscripts regardless of whether they place them with a publisher. Writer’s Market, a writers’ reference book, estimates that 80% of all authors’ agents now charge some kind of reading fee. On average, these fees range from $100 to $275 for a manuscript of 50,000 words. Authors can expect to pay somewhat more to larger, more established agencies—perhaps $300 for a manuscript of that length. At Harvard University Press, which publishes about 20 science titles a year with a strong emphasis on evolution and the history and philosophy of science, Howard Boyer, editor for science and medicine, prefers that an author contact him directly. Also, he will often begin the process himself by suggesting an idea to an author. University of Chicago’s Abrams also prefers direct contact. “We’d just as soon people call us up or write a letter to the appropriate editor,” she says. That’s what one of her scientist authors, Michael Sobel, did. The result was the publication of Light, a physics volume published by the University of Chicago Press in 1987. While Abrams declines to cite sales figures, she says Light has gone through several printings and is currently one of the publishing house’s top-selling books. When it comes to the actual writing of a scholarly science book, most publishers—university and commercial houses alike—prefer that an author work alone. For the most part, books that are coauthored or ghost-written are discouraged or outright rejected as possible candidates for publication. “I tend not to like coauthors because the relationship between an author and an editor is much like a marriage,” explains Boyer. “I don’t like a ménage à trois because I have learned that the probability of completing a book goes down.” At Norton, scientists are paired with coauthors only as a matter of last resort, according to editor Mary Cunnane. “We prefer to publish scientists themselves writing about their science because the result is a fresher book without an intermediary,” she says. W.H. Freeman’s Lyons emphasizes that editorial assistance is always available to a writer, but that he expects the author to have some competence in the language. “What makes a book sing is the special point of view brought to the subject by the author,” says Lyons. Proposals that scientists submit to publishers or agents can vary from a detailed outline to an entire manuscript, but generally, publishers require a cover letter and prospectus running about two pages in length. Most also want to see a proposed chapter breakdown. “A minimal presentation to a publisher should consist of a synopsis of the book, including one-paragraph descriptions of each chapter and at least two sample chapters, ideally the introductory and last chapters,” says Liebmann-Smith, of Basic Books, whose titles include books on physics, biochemistry, astronomy, medicine, and science policy. The length of time it takes to receive a response to a proposal varies from publisher to publisher. Generally, however, the review process takes about six to eight weeks at most publishers. “There are various rites of passage,” explains Harvard’s Boyer. “If an author sends us a couple of sample chapters, it may take one or two weeks. If we send the chapters out to a few scholars for other opinions, it takes longer. If an author has completed an entire manuscript and I’ve decided it’s worth publishing, it goes for approval to an editorial board comprised of 12 Harvard faculty members.” Rites of passage at commercial houses are much more likely to involve projections on how much money a book is likely to earn for the publisher. This is especially true in the wake of today’s merger-and-acquisition activity in the publishing industry, according to Norton’s Cunnane. “Publishing companies have become a hot takeover genre of companies,” Cunnane noted, adding that because there are fewer and fewer truly independent commerercial publishing houses, there is extreme bottom-line pressure on edi- tors evaluating book proposals. “Publishers don’t want to sign up books that aren’t big-bucks books, and often good books will suffer because they’re considered. less sure to make money for the mother ship.” Finally, when scientists receive a favorable response to a proposal, they should not automatically expect to be pulling down an advance in the six-figure range, according to David Sobel, acquisitions editor at John Wiley & Sons Inc., New York, which publishes about 25 new titles a year on topics ranging from antimatter physics and neural networks to home chemistry experiments and weather folklore. A realistic figure for a first-time author is somewhere in the range of about $5,000 from a commercial publishing house. This sum is usually paid out in portions with publishers delivering one-third to authors when they sign a contract, another one-third on acceptance of one-half of the manuscript, and the final installment on acceptance of the remainder of the manuscript. Generally, university presses pay out less in advance money. The reason, according to the University of Chicago’s Abrams, is that most university presses need what money they have for cash flow. Because the Chicago press tends to publish scientists—as opposed to professional writers who write about science—”We’re not publishing people writing for an income,” she says. “Our advances are not going to support an author until the book comes out.” Once the book is on the shelves, most authors published commercially can expect to earn the standard royalty rate of 10% of the book’s list price on the first 5,000 copies sold, 12.5% on the second 5,000 copies, and 15% on every copy thereafter. At university presses, royalty rates are based on net proceeds of book sales rather than on a book’s list price. Generally, this will amount to less total income, as net receipts are calculated by taking the book’s list price, then subtracting 40% to 45% of that figure, which is the discount furnished to booksellers. Finally, while there is certainly much evidence that scientists can earn handsome financial rewards by writing about their work, the would-be author should be cautioned about the amount of effort it involves, according to biologist author James Watson. “Writing a good book is very hard work. On and off, it may take a couple of years to finish,” Watson notes. On the other hand, he adds, “Right now, publishers are all over scientists to write and are looking to sign up authors.” Julia King is a freelance writer based in Ridley Park. Pa.

Help Wanted: Publisher Seeks Scientist To Pen Best-Seller

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