His first book, The Big Picture: A Sociology Primer, took 12 drafts and around five years to complete. But with his second book, Jon Witt, professor of sociology at Central College, had just 10 weeks to create sociology textbook like no other.
Teaming with editor Gina Boedeker from McGraw-Hill where his first book was published, Witt reworked a textbook into a unique, glossy, magazine-style book as part of McGraw-Hill’s new M Series of texts.
“I basically had 10 weeks to produce 15 chapters,” explained Witt, who plowed through a demanding schedule to meet weekly and then twice-a-week deadlines in order to beat the competition to the market.
“I worked day and night at the beginning of the summer to make it, starting with the first deadline May 5 and sending off the final chapter July 7,” he said.
Witt acknowledged the advantage to such strict deadlines.
“I felt a sense of accomplishment after I sent in each chapter,” he said. “I got to take a deep breath for about four hours and then it was back to work. I viewed it as a challenge — like running a marathon and after each mile, you feel that much closer to the end.”
Though the timetable was demanding, Witt did not want to sacrifice readability or substance.
“I want students to want to read it.” he said. “Textbooks are too often boring and adding another one do the pile wasn’t going to be beneficial for students or professors. The idea was to provide a text that’s visually appealing, and the M Series at McGraw Hill is just that — magazine-like. I needed something lively and wanted to make sure the content was solid and covered the core of sociological discipline without being overwhelming. I wanted it to be approachable and accessible.”
Witt has taught introduction to sociology for almost 20 years and settled into ways of talking about sociology that he didn’t see anywhere else. The traditional sociology textbook seemed inadequate, too much like a dictionary and not enough like a story of sociology’s fundamental insights.
“I felt like I had something to contribute to the world of sociology,” Witt said. “It was as much for me to get it down on paper to use in class as it was for students.”
With the help of his editor and the rest of the McGraw-Hill team, SOC was released Oct. 20. The text follows the basic outline and format of typical introductory text but it also incorporates the more insightful, conversational and engaging writing style that Witt used in his first book.
The initial response has been quite positive. One sociologist who adopted the book for his entire department this spring said the SOC book is “the best sociology book he has encountered in his 35 years of teaching.”
“He said that we can take all the pictures out of the book, print it in black and white, and it would still be the best sociology [book] on the market,” explained Witt. “He said everyone in their department is pumped about SOC, and the word is spreading outside of the sociology department as well.”
Part of what made this project appealing to Witt was the plan to release a second edition in which he would have a free hand and more time to make whatever revisions to the text he deemed necessary.
“I look forward to the continuing challenge of weaving the writing style of the first book, the structure of conventional text and the look and feel of the M series into a single cloth that fulfills my vision of what I think students need.”
Surprisingly, one of the most difficult parts of writing the textbook for Witt was the multiple choice review questions after each chapter.
“You wouldn’t think it’d be that hard to do since I had just gone through the chapter, but I was just fried and ready to be done at that point,” he said. “I kept thinking it’d get easier after each chapter but it didn’t. It was always hard.”
Colleague Dale DeWild, professor of sociology, currently uses SOC in his introduction to sociology class. Central students were given the textbooks free for the semester in exchange for writing comments in them about things they liked and didn’t, what worked and what didn’t work. At the end of the semester, the books will be sent back to McGraw-Hill for evaluation before the second edition hits bookstores.
McGraw-Hill is pleased with the arrangement as student input is a core part of the M series philosophy. Central students think it’s cool, too.
“If there’s a graph or diagram in the book that we don’t really think is relevant or doesn’t really help display what he’s wanting it to display then I’ll circle it and write it down,” said Jenny Flater, a junior from Galesburg, Ill. “Or maybe there’s a picture that fits perfectly with what he’s explaining — I’ll let them know that, too. We’re basically helping him (and the publisher) know what college students find useful in textbooks and what we like.”
“I love that it is made specifically to spark the interest of young students,” said Joel Pulliam, a freshman from Des Moines. “I love the pictures and side facts on every page, plus the fact that it is a reasonable size and looks just like a magazine, which is unique. It is definitely the most interesting textbook I’ve had yet.”
Witt also is keeping a blog to help him keep track of things for the next edition.
“McGraw-Hill does seem quite pleased with the initial response from the text. Already over 50 colleges and universities from Hawaii to Florida have ordered it for their courses,” said Witt. “This project was an extremely exhilarating and rewarding experience.”
