MEDIA AND INFORMATION LITERACY
Since the course tackles media and information literacy, I suppose our book will lean on many
sources of media and information. This may be in the form of film, TV shows traditional
media, as well as new media, social media, and emerging media-related technologies. Please
be informed that the author will be solely responsible for securing permissions from the
original sources of materials to avoid copyright infringement.
For consistency purposes, is it possible to have the following elements in every lesson? Please
feel free to give your feedback if the elements mentioned do not merit application in the
course for one reason or another:
! Unit Introduction
! Big Question (?) for every Unit
! Lesson Introduction (doesnt have to be long; a brief intro will do)
! Guide Questions per Lesson (covered by Your Goals)
! Assessment per Lesson
! Unit Test (can be provided in the Teachers Guide/Manual)
In general, I find your sample lesson to the point and very substantial in scope and
framework. However, just one particular observation: can we also give examples or
illustrations from our local setting? Wherever possible, that is. I know many of our youth are
watching Glee, but Im sure they will identify with some of our local characters, of course
without sounding too baduy.
Before I conclude, here are more suggestions to help you come out with a bestseller:
KNOW YOUR COMPETITION.
1. What is the appeal behind the most successful competitors?
2. What do they do well?
3. What do they lack?
4. Why should a professor choose your book over a competitor?
TEXTBOOK COMPOSITION
Every book has its individual or distinct feature that distinguishes it from other books, esp. its
authors personal style, basic organisation and clear writing. Please consider the following
reminders, suggestions, and potential book features as you write.
1. TABLES AND ARTWORK Market expectations and competing titles should be considered
in the choice of these elements, be it a simple chart or complex diagrams, not just your
content. Where possible, artwork and photos need to be provided as separate electronic
files labeled by chapter and number (i.e. Figure 3.4). Tables (strictly text) are okay to
include within the manuscript and need not be provided separately. Have these tables/
charts stand out from surrounding text by bolding, changing the colour, and/or creating
space surrounding it. The idea is to make it easy at a glance to determine where a photo,
figure, or other artwork should be placed.
2. PEDAGOGY Pedagogical features can add more life to your book. Elements such as
chapter or part-opening outlines, vignettes, headings, in-text sidebars, within-chapter and
chapter-end summaries, key concepts, chapter-end review questions, and appendices can
make your book more attractive to professors and students alike. There should also be
callouts to make them stand out from surrounding text by bolding, changing the colour,
and/or creating space surrounding it, so that our Production team will know where to place
them in the text.
3. THE IMPORTANCE OF THE PREFACE The preface is an important marketing tool that
doubles as your opportunity to outline your goals in writing the book. It is the chance to
detail the merits of your book to colleagues and students, and it should touch on the
following topics:
! The books purpose, such as the teaching challenge it is designed to address
! Your intended audience
! The structure and scope of the book
! The books distinguishing features, such as pedagogy or your approach to the
subject
4. ANCILLARIES Early on, we would be consulting with you about the ancillaries of the
book, especially nowadays that these are ever more prevalent in the market. Since
ancillaries may be needed to flesh out your message and market your book successfully,
we need to meet on this. Examples of ancillaries include: PowerPoint slides for instructors,
downloadable data sets, web links and audio resources, etc. From a marketing and
production standpoint, timing is critical in the availability of ancillaries. Our sales and
marketing team will surely find these essential in their efforts once the book is published.
Thus, from the initial phase of the book, it would be good to keep notes on how you might
support each chapter with ancillaries, and discuss this with the Acquisitions Editor or the
Managing Editor as to the optimum schedule for allowing the ancillaries to be available
when the book is published.
5. PERMISSIONS Securing permissions for the third-party material in your text is a very
important step in the publishing process. Much of the responsibility falls on you simply
because you know your text better than anyone. It would be advisable at this point to set a
meeting with our concerned staff regarding what forms or letters to fill up or draft in
securing permissions. This also goes with photo research and permissions, although you
may discuss this with us if you need our assistance.
6. FINAL MANUSCRIPT Please discuss the deadline and submission of the final manuscript
either with our Acquisitions Editor or Managing Editor. Prior to submission, please be sure
that each of the following are accounted for:
! Each chapter submitted as a separate file and labeled by author and chapter (i.e.
Cantor_01)
! Dedication (optional)
! Acknowledgements
! Preface
! Brief Table of Contents to include only part and chapter titles
! Detailed Table of Contents to include parts, chapters and all levels of sub-
headings
! Author Bio (approximately 250 words)
! If you feel a list of Tables/Figures/Cases is needed, please supply with other
items in the Front Matter
! References
! Glossary (if applicable)
! Appendices (if applicable)
! Indexes (either general or Author/Subject)
(source: Sage Author Guide)
Thank you for the opportunity of evaluating your manuscript!
