I am an ESL teacher and I have numerous ideas for books and workbooks. I have worked on material for other publishers and editors, but have not published my own material. I just want to know the best way to go about doing it and avoid making some big mistakes.

You could start by writing up some proposals, with sample chapters, and submitting them to publishers you work with.

If you mean you want to self-publish, I'm not sure that's wise. You'll get your stuff much more widely distributed through an educational publisher.

But if that's what you want to do, make sure you test everything, and have other teachers test them as well, in a variety of settings.

Then revise based on how things actually went.

Also, familiarize yourself with the guidelines for your state, and some other states, so you know you meet them.

But I still think you should work with an existing publisher.

If any of your ideas involve math, get in touch with Key Curriculim Press. You can read on their website about how to submit ideas. (You can probably find that out on any publisher's web site.)

Also, since you have contacts, talk to them, especially the editors, for feedback on how to make your work acceptable to publishers.

If you publish yourself, you'll have to invest a lot of money, and have no guarantee you'll get it back. If you publish through a publisher, all that becomes their problem.

First off write the Educational outcomes of the book, then devise the poverbial lesson plan, sticking to established educational standards as appropriate. Document the entire process as per a course module.

Then produce the book / material and use your existing contacts to give the material the once over and see if they are interested in publishing it. If not contact some educational publishing houses or a literary agent.

i wish i knew