Being Humbled

Yes, this is about that pesky textbook again, but there's a broader lesson or two that apply in other contexts that I need to remember.

When the reviews of my sample chapters came back, they were pretty positive. One or two of the reviewers said they would like to see some coverage of macro topics, and at the time, I brushed that off. The book I had envisioned was a book with a thesis, a thesis that glued micro topics together like epoxy. You could teach an entire semester and more with the book I envisioned, so why would I need any macro chapters?

But my editor was pretty firm that omitting macro topics was a deal breaker, and this was frustrating to me. This was my vision! After all, Hemingway didn't have an editor telling him how to refine his vision, did he?

Oh. Yes. He did. An editor that not only checked his mechanics, but whom Hemingway consulted on character development, plot, and whatnot. Key stuff.

Oh. Yeah. And I am not Hemingway.

And so I was reminded that publishing is a partnership. They put a lot of money into this project before the first copy ever hits bookstore shelves, and through that earn some right to have a say in its development. We both want to see this project be as successful as it possibly can be. And it turns out that lots of schools teach a one semester issues course with specified learning goals that include macro topics. Omit macro, and I automatically forego the chance to sell my book to those schools.

All of this, of course, is a year and a half ago.  Before Occupy Wall Street, before the partisan budget battles. And now, I realize that my editor was right: macro issues are not only important because they sell books, but they're important to ordinary people, and they're important to college students. My book will include macro issues, and it will be better for it. Humbling to realize that you were wrong. 

So I've been thinking about this for a few months now. I've even come up with some ways to tie the macro topics to the general theme that unifies my micro topics. And those micro chapters are largely done. So it is time to start the macro, and to be honest, I have not written anything in macro before. I am in uncharted waters here, and a bit worried about it. Nevertheless, tonight, I begin.