Where firefighters come to talk training

WELCOME!

Hi all:

I'm Marla Patterson, Acquisitions Manager for Fire Engineering Books & Video products. Our FEB&V development team of Jerry Naylis, Book Acquisitions Editor, and Mark Haugh, Video Producer, is always on the lookout for the newest and best educational materials from today's leading fire instructors and trainers.

However, the road to authorship (or 'video guru-ship', as it might be) can often feel bumpy and filled with potholes. New authors, and even those who have already been through the authoring process, often find themselves pondering questions such as

* How can I tell if my training book or video idea is any good?

* How do I submit a proposal (or better yet, WHY SHOULD I)?

* What's a project outline, and why do I need it?

* My proposal was accepted!!!!! So. . . what do I do now?

* I teach this stuff all the time---why can't I just write it the way I talk?

* Better yet, why can't that (bleeping) editor just leave it that way??

These questions, and many, MANY more are what we'll discuss in this group. We welcome your thoughts, concerns, and nightmares about bringing your "baby" through the proposal, development and production processes.

Obviously, if you have a specific project idea to discuss, you are welcome to contact Jerry, Mark , or me directly by e-mail. But for more generic questions about the publishing and video production process, the more we share these questions, the more we all learn.

So bring 'em on! I promise, we're pretty thick-skinned about most of these issues. Our ultimate goal is to shape your expertise and knowledge into the most effective and professional training product possible. You deserve it.

Now . . . .what's on your mind?

Marla Patterson, Acquisitions Manager
marlap@pennwell.com

Jerry Naylis, FE Books Acquisitions Editor
jerryn@pennwell.com

Mark Haugh, FE Video Producer
mhaugh@pennwell.com

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Jay Michael on March 12, 2008 at 6:02pm

I just have a little question.
I seem to notice FE does a theme each month. Could you post the theme in advance? Along with this could you give the print date or how many months prior to the cover date the magazine goes to print.?
I am not in a hurry but I submitted a paper for the magazine last October and other than the acceptance have not herd anything.
If this is a forum for Books and Videos only, just delete it.
Thank you
Jay Michael

Permalink Reply by Marla Patterson on March 13, 2008 at 1:31am

Hi Jay--yes, the FE magazine questions go to Bobby Halton and Diane Feldman, since I just work on books and training products, but I'll be more than happy to forward your question to them.

Marla

Permalink Reply by Kristofer DeMauro on March 16, 2008 at 8:33pm

Marla,

What is the process for submitting an idea for a vidoe/book?

Permalink Reply by Marla Patterson on March 18, 2008 at 12:36am

Hi Kris:

I just posted a more detailed overview for proposal submission under a separate thread. However, the full review and approval process operates as follows:

1. Contact the sponsoring editor for an initial discussion on project potential. Sponsoring editors are Jerry Naylis for books (jerryn@pennwell.com) and Mark Haugh for videos (mhaugh@pennwell.com).

2. Submit your full proposal as described in the Proposal Submission thread.

3. Your materials and content plan are reviewed both internally and by one or more independent technical reviewers for satisfactory topic and outline as well as market potential and budgetary needs.

4. If your project plan passes the technical and fiscal reviews, your project will be approved and a publishing agreement will be offered to you.

RSS

Welcome to
Fire Engineering Training Community

Sign Up
or Sign In

Or sign in with:

Policy Page

PLEASE NOTE

The login above DOES NOT provide access to Fire Engineering magazine archives. Please go here for our archives.

CONTRIBUTORS NOTE

Our contributors' posts are not vetted by the Fire Engineering technical board, and reflect the views and opinions of the individual authors. Anyone is welcome to participate.

For vetted content, please go to www.fireengineering.com/issues.

We are excited to have you participate in our discussions and interactive forums. Before you begin posting, please take a moment to read our community policy page.

Be Alert for Spam
We actively monitor the community for spam, however some does slip through. Please use common sense and caution when clicking links. If you suspect you've been hit by spam, e-mail peter.prochilo@clarionevents.com.