Many of the professors in Eastern’s history department have written books. It is required for the doctorate dissertation. It is also something promotions and tenure are based upon.

Roger Beck is an Eastern history professor who has contributed to a high school textbook. He has also had his own book, “The History of South Africa,” published.

The process of writing a textbook often involves several writers. One writer can be assigned to each chapter or section. The assignment depends upon the writer’s areas of knowledge.

“The authors all have to agree on a structure; it’s very much a team project,” Beck said.

The publishing companies place phone calls to those they wish to contribute to the book. The authors then must fit into the timeframe of the publishing company.

Beck said time constraints are usually shorter with working on a textbook than on something of one’s own work.

Once the copy has been written, art must be found to go match what has been written. The publishing company works with the authors when it comes to acquiring the art. Many of the pictures used in textbooks come under copyright, which means the company must pay to use each picture.

“Sometimes you make a decision about how much you can pay,” Beck said.

Once the picture is chosen, the author working on that section is also responsible for composing the caption.

Beck’s work in the two textbooks can be seen across the nation. He likes that he can guess at what students may know.

“I hear so many professors complain about what kids know or don’t know, but I did something about it,” Beck said.

Lynne Curry, an associate history professor, has written three books. Her latest book, “The DeShaney Case: Child Abuse, Family Rights, and the Dilemma of State Intervention,” was just published in March.

The procedure Curry went through involved doing a great deal of research, and then presenting the publishing company with a prospectus, a plan for what is to be written.

“By the time you are submitting (the prospectus), you’ve already basically laid out a chapter outline for your work,” Curry said.

Beck went through the process of getting his own book published seven years ago. He spent many months doing research for his work about South Africa work. He traveled to London and Holland to read through letters, newspapers and government pages.

“When writing your dissertation, you can often get a grant to help out,” Beck said. “After a while, you get married, have kids and teaching. It gets a lot harder to do the necessary research.”

Beck spent a year and a half writing his book, in which he disciplined himself to meet the time restraints set by the publishers he was working for.

“You have to make yourself go in and write everyday,” Beck said. “Nobody’s telling you to get up. There’s no professor standing over you.”

Curry was assigned an editor to work with on all three of her books. Each editor assigned to an author specializes in the area being written about.

“The last editor I worked with I became very close with,” said Curry. “I’ve also worked with some that I hardly see.”

An editor will usually send the copy to a few people, who will suggest changes. The changes will get made and sent back. The final product ends up being mailed to the writer so they can see it.

Beck has learned a trick of the trade when it comes to being motivated in the morning. He reaches a point where he could write more, but he wants to quit.

“I will stop and make myself a note, so that I know where I left off,” Beck said. “It takes away from my mind wandering in the morning.”

Curry took an extra six months beyond her specified deadline with her latest book.

“I just spent so much time redoing parts that I was not happy with,” Curry said.

It can take months to hear back from a publisher upon submitting a prospectus.

“It can be agonizing because it’s considered improper to send it to more than one publisher in academia,” Curry said.

Beck says many books are alike in the way the process ends. Once the book is done being written, the satisfaction lasts only seconds.

“After finishing writing a book, the killer is often in the idea that I must do an index, find illustrations, acknowledgement and so on.”

Beck is currently working on updates to his history books. He must add about five years of information and decide what information to take out. He must also choose new pictures and write new captions.

Curry is working on her next book concerning social workers and children.