Job Discussion Forums

[matador]

I have been asked to design the content for a 20 and 40 hour college course book.

I was told that I design all the materials for free and then the book is produced with my material.

After that each time a student buys a book, I get 3000yen. Therefore, 6 students in class at start of 20 hour course, I get 18000yen.

Is this usual?

What is the standard pricing model for this?

Design time...per page...etc?

[Glenski]

[matador]

Well, asked by the English school who is providing the English teachers to the college.

I provide the English school with the materials, they make the book, then I get 3000 yen per book that is sold (this payment comes from the college direct to me).

[JimDunlop2]

[matador]

....is this a good deal for my efforts? The material I have has been accumulated and adapted over the years, but in terms of the amount of time I would need to put in to adapt it(15 hours at least) , I am wondering if this is a good deal.

To recap: I provide the middle man (English school that provides teachers to the college) with the materials (20 hrs or so). These are then photocopied into a booklet. Students buy booklets; college pays me 3000yen per book sold.

Good, bad or ugly?

[Crab]

I would strongly advise against this kind of setup.

The reason being that you may well be entering into a relationship where the intellectual property (i.e. the contents of the book) belongs to the college and not you. If the book is a good one - and I assume you have the confidence to think it will be - there will be the potential to sell it outside of the college as well. You want to make absolutely sure that a) you are allowed to do this if you wish (at least after your relationship with the college ends) and b) that you will profit from doing so.

I am speaking from experience on this one as I have published a textbook through Macmillan in Japan. Although my contract states that Macmillan controls the book for 5 years, the intellectual property remains mine and I can do what I wish with it after this period.

This is very important because you do not want the publisher (in your case the college) to control the rights indefinitely and decide not to pay you anymore if you cease to be an employee or if they "tweak" the contents. You also want the option to refine the material and publish it with someone else after your limited term contract ends.

I strongly advise you to:

1. Copyright the contents of your book
2. Have a signed contract of limited term with the college, concerning this project.
3. Explore the possibility of publishing your book through an established publishing house (e.g. Macmillan, Longman, Cambridge, etc.). This will allow for distribution beyond your college; result in a superior finished product with proper editing, testing and design expertise enlisted; and look much better on your resume. You'll only get 10% of the profits but you will maintain control of your creation and your market will be greatly expanded.

Hope that helps.

Good luck!

[matador]

Very solid answer. Thank you.

[Glenski]

Jim,
Yes, I'm that serious. Look at any of the major publishers, and you'll see. Heck, I've even had some students complain and not buy the darned book at those prices! Guess what I'm doing this semester...docking 5% off their grade if I don't see that they've bought a textbook. I mean, really! If I have a conversation class that requires students to do pair work or to walk around the room with book in hand, it is a major inconvenience for a student's neighbor or partner to share a book (and not the cost).

High school books cost the same, too (English ones, anyway).

And, I recall spending exactly what you did in college. Yes, there was paper back then.

[Gordon]

If my uni students don't have a textbook by class #3, they have to leave and can only come back when they have the text. Otherwise, they may never buy one. Yes, my students also sometimes balk at 2,000 yen texts for year long courses. They pay about 1.5 million yen/yr but whine about a few thousand yen.

[sidjameson]

Gordon I think you mean their parents pay a few million a year for the course and the students whine about paying a few 1000yen for a book.

[Gordon]

[cornishmuppet]

Vaguely related....

In my old eikawa job there was a private class of two young elementary school brothers whom I taught at their house. The house was about 200 metres from the school, and the mother paid 25k a month instead of about 10k because she didn't want them to walk to the school (never bothered any other mothers). Her husband was a doctor and they lived in a huge house which was paid for by his company/hospital, whatever.

Despite being obviously loaded and prepared to throw money away, she refused to buy them a book each, instead buying one book and making a copy of it which one of the kids had to use. Therefore, every lesson involved a fight over who got to look at the textbook, who had to write on the copies, etc. It was a real pain in the ass.