Agents, editors, and publishers receive queries every day from professors and other academics who say they have a great idea for a trade book based on their research, thesis, journal article or latest discoveries from the lab or clinic.

Sharp editors also scour the daily press for the latest breaking news about scientific discoveries and newly reported studies on topics dear to the heart of the general reader.

Popular translations of recent discoveries

Biology, economics, environmental sciences, genetics, psychology, theology, and neuroscience  are all popular in the media these days, as we learn more and more about human nature, why we behave this way, and what we can or cannot do about it – at least for now.

The New York Times best seller, How We Decide by Jonah Lehrer, for example, is an effective and popular translation of recent discoveries in neuroscience that show how we make up our minds about everything from getting married to making a financial investment. The book’s fascinating scientific revelations are based on new fMRI scans of our brains in action.

Dynamite stuff.

I’ve been involved in many successful arrangements with academics that have worked out for everyone and produced good books that sold well. For example, the best selling Fighting For Your Marriage by Howard Markman, Scott Stanley, and Susan Blomberg, who are all PhD academics with extensive clinical experience. And right now I’m working with a Harvard professor on an exciting upcoming book based upon recent neuroscience research on how to be more productive and creative in our work and daily lives.

Converting academic writing to popular prose

Aside from the usual factors in a decision to represent or publish the work – originality, author platform, competition – there’s usually a special issue with the style of the academic writing itself.

As undergraduates and as grad students, during years of hard work on their PhD theses, then submitting research and scholarship in articles for peer review journals, and ultimately as distinguished professors and scholars, academics are expected to produce a kind of formulaic dry and didactic style of writing that is difficult to understand for the lay reader.

It’s often tough for academics, moreover, to shake off this firmly ingrained style. Consequently, even smart and well-educated agents and editors may be left scratching their heads in confusion. What does this mean? They have perhaps a glimmer of understanding from a few words here and there but these academic proposals are often barely comprehensible and ultimately unreadable.

Nevertheless, because the underlying ideas may be fascinating, important and useful, such projects are often taken on and repackaged with the following basic strategies.

How academic authors produce popular trade books

Three strategies

1.  Editorial Development

If the author has the capacity to revise the proposal and ultimately write the manuscript with major direction from a developmental editor or other dedicated professional, then it may be possible to produce a book that a general reader can understand and learn from.

The editor will work with the author line by line, page by page, explaining, clarifying, reorganizing, polishing, adding important narrative story elements like dramatic case histories and anecdotal examples with dialogue, visual description and characterization.

2.  Co-authorship

Sometimes the solution is to bring in a second writer, identified clearly on the book’s cover or titles page as “with” or “and” their name. In this case, the professorial author may or may not produce a first draft but with it or without, the co-author writes the book.

The original academic author has the ultimate authority and approval over the manuscript, but the writer does all the heavy lifting, including outlining, drafting, interviewing, further researching, and taking responsibility for keeping the production on schedule, under the guidance and supervision of the publisher.

3.  Ghostwriters 

When the original author doesn’t want to advertise that they had help writing the book, we turn to a ghostwriter.

Ghosts don’t care so much if they get credit so long as they are properly compensated. You may find their names buried in the book’s acknowledgements with some vague kind of thanks, but not always.

Co-authors and ghostwriters are highly regarded and greatly sought after. Agents and editors try to assemble a stable of cherished professionals, some of whom specialize in one field or another, but others who are experienced in a variety of types and genres based on their skill and alacrity.

These writers are usually well paid and don’t work on speculation but rather with a negotiable percentage of the author’s advance and subsequent royalties.

This kind of collaboration begins with a written agreement regarding duties and compensation and the possibility of disagreement and dissolution.

My advice: Get help early on

It’s always better to send an agent or editor a proposal that is already in a form that appeals to the general reader. This may mean engaging a developmental editor or co-author. You can find them through recommendations and personal references from your colleagues, meet them at readings and writers conferences, or search them online.

If you go forward on your own, keep in mind that what may seem clear to you may nevertheless need a lot more explanation, example, and narrative polish.

Agents and publishers appreciate it when you acknowledge your willingness to revise and collaborate up front. Then be prepared to compromise and modify your academic way of communicating so your ideas can have a broader readership.

All these techniques – editorial development, co-authorship or working with a ghostwriter — have been utilized with great success, producing books that appear regularly on best-seller lists.