Rule 1: Find your structure and voice,
First person or third person? Narrative driven or explanatory? Lighthearted or serious? Popular science books allow for a much wider range of writing styles than academic papers. In the proposal, you’ll have outlined the overall book structure, but you’ll also need to decide how individual sections and chapters fit together. You might want to follow certain characters or include anecdotes and history to motivate the scientific content. If you can show the conflicts and struggles that shaped the science, it will help draw your readers into the research [8].
Your writing will also have a personality—your ‘voice’ on the page—and this will influence the feel of the book. Some writers have very distinctive, and possibly even distracting, voices. In popular science writing, it’s particularly important to avoid to the reader. Although they might not know scientific jargon, they should be able to grasp the concepts if you describe them well. As the old media adage goes, never overestimate the knowledge of your readers or underestimate their intelligence [9].
Rule 2: Research and interview,
A typical 250-page popular science book will contain around 75,000 words. If you agree to deliver the first draft in 18 months, that works out at about 1,000 words a week on average. However, behind those words lies a mountain of research and interviews. Depending on the focus of the book, you might need to sift through archives, newspapers, and biographies or even run simulations and analyze data. When researching a topic, it’s worth tracking down the primary source when possible. Just as facts in academic papers can wander astray over the course of several citations [10], well-known quotes and stories may turn out to be apocryphal [11].
It helps to interview people who are involved in the subject area of your book. Your job may work in your favor here: researchers can be happier to talk to a fellow academic than a journalist. However, it’s still important to follow good journalistic practice. Interviews should be on the record, and you should record your conversations to ensure accurate quotes [12]. Researching, interviewing, and writing take a lot of effort, which must be balanced against academic work. Good time management is essential: set aside specific evenings, weekends, and holidays for the book. In my experience, a good writing day will add around 500 to 1,000 words.
Rule 3: Edit and edit again,
Once the initial draft is ready, it will need several rounds of editing. Many of the rules for writing and editing papers [13,14] also apply to popular science books. Avoid long, complex sentences and adverbs. Make sure there is a clear logical structure. Get feedback from colleagues who are not afraid to critique the work. You’ll probably spend most time researching and writing about the topics you don’t know so well, so pay particular attention to sections of the book where you’re on familiar ground; this is where simple errors can creep in. Make sure you also understand what constitutes copyright infringement and libel, especially if you’re covering controversial events [15]. Your publisher should also be able to help advise on this.
When you send the full manuscript to your publisher, there will be two main editing steps. As with any publication, the main editor will advise on broad aspects like content and structure; copy editors later deal with the grammar and wording. If you’ve signed both a United States and United Kingdom deal, you may also need to ‘translate’ the manuscript for audiences either side of the Atlantic.
Rule 4: Plan your publicity,
Around six months before the publication date, your publisher will start ramping up for the launch. They’ll usually send dozens of review copies of the book to a range of reporters, producers, and editors. They’ll also mail copies to well-known authors and academics to collect ‘blurbs’ (those complimentary quotes you often see on first editions of books). Most publishers have in-house publicists, and they’ll help you pitch book-related articles to newspapers and magazines [16]. These are typically around 700 to 800 words, highlighting stories and ideas from the book that would be of interest to a particular readership.
Very occasionally, a debut book will sell lots of copies without much publicity. However, there seems to be a pretty strong link between sales and traditional publicity efforts. If a book is reviewed or featured in a major newspaper or mentioned on radio or TV, it can shoot up the Amazon rankings.
Rule 5: Do lots of speaking,
near the book launch date, your publisher can help line up interviews, which may include radio, podcasts, newspapers, and television. If you already have contacts in the media, it’s a good idea to get in touch and see if they’d be interested, too. There may also be the option to give public talks about the book. These might be one-off events or technology- and/or business-focused conferences with several other speakers. Each event will involve slightly different time slots and audiences, so although you may want to include a few recurring topics, you should plan to be flexible.
It can be difficult to avoid publicity conflicting with your scientific work. In some cases, you may need to turn down book-related events because of existing academic commitments. This promotion stage is a lot of work, but it can also be a lot of fun. After months of working alone on the book, it’s an opportunity to share the stories and ideas in your book with a wider audience. As an author, it’s a wonderful feeling to see people enjoy something you've created.
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