Ricki Lewis: Human Genetics

Advance copy: Backstories on books by NASW members

Human Genetics cover

HUMAN GENETICS:
CONCEPTS AND APPLICATIONS, 12th edition
Ricki Lewis
McGraw-Hill Education, September 5, 2017, $205.25
ISBN-10: 1259700933 ISBN-13: 978-1259700934

Lewis reports:

This is the 12th edition of my textbook. I’m sole author of all 12 editions. My Ph.D. is in genetics, and I came to this project, in 1991, with a decade of freelance science writing experience.

The “proposal” was a chapter outline scribbled on a napkin at a dinner with the publisher of my intro biology textbook, Life. Human genetics was the book I’d wanted to write in 1981 when five publishers asked me to do an intro book. Genetics wasn’t yet a big deal.

Ricki Lewis

My science writing skills infuse this textbook, in the boxed readings, chapter intros, and pedagogical elements about families I’ve interviewed. I once overheard a male professor seemingly insulting me by saying, “She writes like a woman.” I took it as a compliment.

McGraw-Hill has been great about letting me lead, such as going from a three-year cycle to a two-year cycle as human genome sequencing revved up. I decide which topics to cover and how and in what sequence, based on instructor reviews. I’ve had tremendous freedom.

Covers: All 12 editions of Human Genetics

I didn’t need an agent because publishers found me, and I’ve only taken advances on two of the 33 textbook editions I’ve done (I have written two other books with co-authors.) What I’m working on today won’t generate royalties for two years, given publishing cycles and semester timing.

The editorial situation is very different from that of magazines and other types of books. Editors mostly “manage products,” and now developmental editors are actually called Brand Managers. McGraw-Hill isn’t even a publisher, it’s an educational company. The one constant and the professional I’ve learned the most from over the years is the copyeditor. Copyeditors rock!

I’m not sure how much longer textbooks will exist. Many are being chopped up, reconfigured, and spat back out as “content,” to compete with other streams of “content.” I am not a content provider and never will be. I am an author.

Contact info:

Ricki Lewis, 518-210-2017, rickilewis54@gmail.com, @rickilewis
Website: http://www.rickilewis.com/
Blog: http://blogs.plos.org/dnascience/
Publisher: http://www.mheducation.com/

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Tell your fellow NASW members how you came up with the idea for your book, developed a proposal, found an agent and publisher, funded and conducted research, and put the book together. Include what you wish you had known before you began working on your book, or had done differently.

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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.

Publication of NASW author reports in Advance Copy does not constitute NASW's endorsement of any publication or the ideas, values, or material contained within or espoused by authors or their books. We hope this column stimulates productive discussions on important topics now and in the future as both science and societies progress. We welcome your discussion in the comments section below.