Baron-Faust/Buyon: The Autoimmune Connection

Advance copy: Backstories on books by NASW members

Cover: The Autoimmune Connection

THE AUTOIMMUNE CONNECTION:
ESSENTIAL INFORMATION FOR WOMEN ON DIAGNOSIS, TREATMENT,
AND GETTING ON WITH YOUR LIFE, 2nd Edition
Rita Baron-Faust, M.P.H., C.H.E.S. (NASW Member) with Jill P. Buyon, M.D.
McGraw-Hill, April 16, 2016, $22.00
ISBN-10: 0071841229
ISBN-13: 978-0071841221

Baron-Faust reports:

How could our body turn on itself without warning?

I was riveted by that question, posed at the Congress on Women’s Health in 1992, by Virginia Ladd, founder of the then-fledgling American Autoimmune Related Diseases Association (AARDA). Patients can have several autoimmune diseases with overlapping symptoms. Connections must be made, or a diagnosis can be missed.

Rita Baron-Faust

Many women told me they had a hard time having their symptoms taken seriously. So I felt compelled to write a book that would help educate physicians in multiple medical specialties as well as their patients.

The book covers autoimmune diseases more common in women, including rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, Sjögren’s Syndrome, scleroderma, multiple sclerosis, immune thrombocytopenia, and inflammatory bowel disease. The book talks about the effects these diseases have on women’s lives and the impact of the new healthcare landscape.

The first edition of the book, published in 2004, got good reviews, sold out at AARDA patient forums, and earned royalties. Even so, selling an update wasn’t easy. By the time the contract was signed, I was facing a decade of new data.

And there were other challenges.

My husband and I were preparing to move. I was writing literally up until the minute my PC had to be packed. McGraw-Hill outsourced the copy editing to India; time zone differences made editing and communication problematic. Expert peer review and fact-checking seemed to go on forever.

Technology saved me.

Instead of filing hard copies of studies, I had downloaded PDFs. When text was approved, I had an email record. I saved interviews as MP3s. End Note helped organize citations. I created a digital filing cabinet for the book and stored it on a portable hard drive. This enabled me to easily double-check facts or edits, and provided a fail-safe should my PC or notebook crash.

We moved into our new apartment the same day the book came out.

Contact info:

Rita Baron-Faust, 718-404-2437, baronfaust@aol.com, http://www.ritabaronfaust.com/, Twitter: @baronfaust
Publicist: for McGraw-Hill: Ann Pryor, 646-766-3101, ann.pryor@mheducation.com
Publicist for AARDA: Cindy Carway, 212-378-2020, carwayny@aol.com
Agent: Vicky Bijur, 212-580-4108, vicky@vickybijuragency.com
Book website: http://theAutoimmuneConnection.com](http://theAutoimmuneConnection.com) Under construction

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Advance Copy

The path from idea to book may take myriad routes. The Advance Copy column, started in 2000 by NASW volunteer book editor Lynne Lamberg, features NASW authors telling the stories behind their books. Authors are asked to report how they got their idea, honed it into a proposal, found an agent and a publisher, funded and conducted their research, and organized their writing process. They also are asked to share what they wish they’d known when they started or would do differently next time, and what advice they can offer aspiring authors. Lamberg edits the authors’ answers to produce the Advance Copy reports.

NASW members: Will your book be published soon? Visit www.nasw.org/advance-copy-submission-guidelines for information on submitting your report.

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