Korean Job Discussion Forums

[WasteCase]

After years of ESL teaching I have accumulated enough of my own worksheets, lessons and activities to put it on down in a textbook. I am just wondering if anyone has had any experience in making an ESL textbook. What program should I use. Word seems unprofessional? I don't mind paying for a program online just not sure which one would be good. I'm not planning on using alot of pictures. There will be numerous worksheets and explained partnered activities.

Thanks guys

[SteveSteve]

Hey, there! I'm also in the process of starting my own e-book, and I agree with you that Word files and even static PDF documents are boring and not really engaging. A lot of ELT materials that I have found include photos, video, and audio that bring content to life.

I'm in no way a spokesperson for any products or companies, but two platforms you should look into are http://activetextbook.com and http://thesnippetapp.com. Both allow you to add multimedia content, are cloud-based, and also compatible across all mobile devices.

Best of luck to you!

[WasteCase]

Hey buddy thanks alot for your input! I will look into these two programs. Will they also allow one to make a hard copy of the textbook as well?

[SteveSteve]

That I don't know for sure. Users MIGHT be able to print their own if you enable them, but both sites are intended to be accessed via online or mobile.

[Troglodyte]

The format that you use (and hence the software as well) will depend on several factors. Who is your audience? Will the book be available for free or are you going to try to sell it yourself? Has any particular publisher shown interest in the book?

If you producing it for a particular publisher then they'll have a team that will put it together. They'll probably also have a preferred format. You'll mainly provide the content.

If you're planning to self-publish then you can choose the software. It seems like you want to produce a physical paper book with a possible online version. In that case, you're probably best off producing it in PDF format. Since it's mainly just text, Word is fine. Just save it as a PDF when you're done. What software did you use to produce all of those original worksheets?

One thing to keep in mind is that many people would probably want to edit the worksheets to customize them. For that reason alone, making them available in Word format might make them a lot more attractive.

One additional piece of advice. There is very little money to be made from book writing unless you can arrange for a large chain of schools to use your book or you're employed by a publisher (who commissioned the book).