Between the Lines...Continued from p. 20


account for more than half the sales of her book. In five years, it will likely account for even more. But independent bookstores, in particular those that are rethinking what a bookstore can be, are coming back strong and have good prospects for maintaining their importance.


Marketing is increasingly a function of an author’s ability (and willingness) to become an effective promoter of their ideas and that’s not going to change. I believe the next five years are going to be more evolutionary than revolutionary. SEJournal: It seems like there are a lot more environmental-


energy books being produced these days than years ago. Is that true? Is there something to explain the trend and if it will continue? Miller: If there are more, I think it’s mostly because advances in technology are offering us real choices for remaking the energy sector and thus opportunities for books that present both the pos- sibilities and solutions to the barriers to getting there. I think that the environmental after-effects of fossil fuel extraction are going to be the subject of at least a few dozen books, once they become better known. SEJournal: Books about climate change have almost saturated the market, and the issue is finally resonating with more people, es- pecially with 2015 being a record year for warmth and the Paris agreement bringing together almost 200 nations on a clearer path. What advice do you have for writers pursuing new book angles on climate change? What angles haven’t been done that need to be done? Miller: I might suggest that it would be difficult to write a book on the environment that isn’t in some way connected to climate change, so your question is a good one. First, don’t compete with the news. Instead, go deeper and tell the stories around climate change. Telling stories isn’t a new angle, of course. But each story is unique and can be told in ways that are compelling and effective. SEJournal: As a publisher, do you prefer a folksy, conversa- tional tone or one that is more pointed and direct? Does it just de- pend on the book? What can you tell us about the industry’s preference for writing tone?


Freelance Files...Continued from p. 12


in the February 12 issue of Nature.” The density of that sentence yields a Flesch-Kincaid “readability” score of 14.8. That means it’s ostensibly appropriate for someone about to enter their junior year of college.


In our teen magazine, we’d rephrase that, saying: “John Brown studies diet and cancer at the University of California, Berkeley. His work has just linked eating tomatoes with cancer. His team described that new finding in the latest issue of Nature.” The new readability score — 7.7 — is now appropriate for kids about midway through seventh grade. What’s more, any mention of a jargony term — such as abyssal, albedo, pilus, piezoelectricity, RNA, seismic wave, El Niňo, ecosys- tem or jet stream — will require a parenthetic phrase (if not a sen- tence or two) to explain what it means. That too, can stretch a story. Indeed, I have repurposed some 130-word “briefs” from Science News , and without adding a single additional factoid, ended up with a kids’ version that ran up to 270 words.


This is why I argue that when writing for kids, looking to meas- ure the reporting effort and remuneration on a per-word basis can be misleading.


I love science, live science and have spent my career helping others understand what research is telling us about our universe. Dozens of specialty publications — not to mention most newspaper and broadcast outlets — offer adults a steady feed of news on science and tech.


In future, I hope to see more outlets do the same for children and


teens. There’s a huge, largely unsatisfied appetite for deeply reported journalism that’s aimed at the post-Millennials.


For more than 35 years, Janet Raloff has been writing about the


environment, nutrition, climate and science policy for Science News. Her writing has won awards from a number of organizations, includ- ing the National Association of Science Writers. She has a back- ground in physics, and undergraduate and graduate degrees from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.


25 SEJournal Spring 2016


Miller: There’s no right answer here. Your tone needs to fit the subject matter and the needs of the audience, while being true to your own voice and expertise. We’re looking for clear and com- pelling writing that fits those needs. Most important, whether you’re writing about serious science, the wonder of nature or un- winding an environmental mystery, write in a way that invites your reader into the book, that engages him with your narrative. SEJournal: Some authors associated with SEJ have made the point that big isn’t always better. How do writers know if they should pitch a university press, a niche publisher such as Island Press or a major national chain? Miller: Big isn’t always better, nor is it always worse. The au- dience you want to reach can be an important indicator of which publisher to consider.


Imagine the media you need (not want; everyone wants the


New York Times Book Review) to be reviewing or writing about your book. If it’s a journal, a university press is probably worth considering. If it’s Vanity Fair, you probably want a very commer- cial publisher. But publishers don’t come in neat boxes and it’s often hard to know what is going to be of interest to anyone. You can, of course, submit to more than one publisher and to more than one type of publisher. Don’t, however, think of only small publishers as “niche” pub- lishers. Random House and HarperCollins are just as much niche publishers as Island Press is. Both of them publish very particular kinds of books that meet certain criteria that fits well with what they do best. The ones that publish hundreds of books, in fact, need them to fit easily with what they do best and they look for books that fit that niche perfectly. Each has their own well-developed criteria and style, even if they publish books in a great many subject areas. Smaller, more focused publishers can often do exactly what


the larger publishers do and they also have the ability to try some different and more imaginative approaches to publicizing and sell- ing your book. Size isn’t always a great indicator of whether a given publisher is the best one for you and your book.


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