Negotiating Roles and Relationships: Stepping Through the Minefield of Co-Authors and Textbook Publishers

When producing a single-author scholarly monograph that will be self-published, either in print format or digitally online, an author has complete control of the writing process, deadlines, and production of the product. On the other hand, publishing textbooks typically involves a number of interdependent participants, including co-authors and an assortment of publishing-company people (acquisition editors, developmental editors, copy editors, photo editors, marketing specialists, and sometimes more senior managing editors). Co-authors and editors bring unique personalities and egos to the writing project. Sometimes these personalities and egos work like a well-oiled machine; at other times they are significantly uncoordinated. This article examines the array of potentially problematic roles and relationships encountered when pursuing the publication of a co-authored textbook.