Writing a New Book Edition

by Janet Salmons, PhD, Research Community Manager for SAGE Methodspace.

Helen and I wrote a book together: Publishing from your Doctoral Research: Create and Use a Publication Strategy.
Find my Sage books here, and Helen’s here. Use the code MSPACEQ223 for a 20% discount when ordering Sage books, valid through June 2023.

I recently had the opportunity to chat with my friend and colleague Helen Kara about writing new book editions. We have both faced and accomplished the task of creating new editions for our books. As you will hear, we have used a variety of approaches. We hope that you can learn from our experience!

Helen Kara and Janet Salmons discuss ways to work through new book editions

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Steps for a Second Edition

When I began thinking about a new edition for Doing Qualitative Research Online, I gave a lot of thought to the process. It wasn’t the first time I’d written a second edition, and in the past, no matter how hard I tried to be well-organized, I ended up with some degree of frenzy in my efforts to complete the project. To lay a positive foundation, here are the questions I explored and the steps I took:

Big Blue-Sky Picture Questions

The questions in the blue boxes are big picture topics I thought about and discussed with my editor as part of the proposal process. Thoughts on these topics became part of my mental framework as I worked through the more practical questions.

In the context of Doing Qualitative Research Online the question what has changed in the world? meant I needed to think about the situations readers of the book would confront when using these research methods. The book is about using technology, so you might think that new technologies would need a primary consideration. I found that there have not been significant changes to communications technologies since the previous edition, but changes in public attitudes towards them were profound. Issues such as privacy and distrust of platforms, trolls, and hacks have grown. Users had become much more comfortable with video calls and video conferencing. I needed to keep these factors in mind when suggesting ways to interact online as a researcher, especially when trying to engage with participants and foster trust.

For the question What has changed in the field? I thought about the fact that acceptance of all forms of online research had increased, including studies using archival materials and Big Data as well as data collected from human participants. With more use of interactive tools, researchers were more willing to try creative and arts-based methods of generating data collaboratively. While being cognizant of these key questions, the basic purpose of the book remained sound.

Green-Growing Questions

Where should the book grow, and what weeding would clear the way for new ideas? Questions in the green boxes signaled what work needed to be done. I started by carefully reviewing the final, copy-edited manuscript of the previous edition. I also read through proposal comments and reflected on feedback received on the first edition. I started by a careful analysis of the actions needed:

• What should be updated? This step included identifying where I should tweak the manuscript. These minor changes could include referencing current literature, ensuring that the text is gender-neutral, and updating discussion of technology tools or features. These updates wouldn’t typically involve a lot of new writing, or changes to the organizational structure of the chapters.

• What should be rewritten? This step included identifying where new material was needed. Rewriting involved more significant effort, including structural changes such as adding chapters or changing the sequence of sections or chapters.

• What should be removed? This step included identifying where points were outdated or irrelevant. To maintain a coherent flow, that would mean writing new transitions or adding in new material.

Creative Purple Questions

After this careful review of the manuscript, I was ready to answer the next two questions shown in the purple boxes:

• What new chapters, sections, or text should be added?

• What new images or figures should be added?

I had several discussions with my editor before proceeding with the plan. Based on all of this preliminary analysis and reflection, the new edition of Doing Qualitative Research Online was expanded from 11 to 15 chapters, with all new exemplars, and redrawn figures.

• What changes are needed for the instructional/student resources?

Finally, I considered the online resources offered for instructors and students. In my careful read-through of the text I made notes about learning activities or exercises that might be useful. Once the second edition manuscript was completed, I worked on the resources while the publication process was underway.

 Yes, it is a lot of work!

A new edition is a significant effort! I hope that this systematic approach will help you move forward and keep motivated when you update your book.

Learn more from this recorded webinar: Planning and Managing a Book Project, offered with Lumivero.

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