Writing a book (particularly with a coauthor) can be a rewarding, yet tedious, process for both the authors and the publisher. Suppose you and your coauthor have an idea for a new management science...

Writing a book (particularly with a coauthor) can be a rewarding, yet tedious, process for both the authors and the publisher. Suppose you and your coauthor have an idea for a new management science text with features that are not found in any other current text and with a point of view that you feel is more in tune with current systems thinking than traditional texts. Develop an activity chart for writing such a text.

Some of the activities include: (1) writing a prospectus; (2) creating a few sample chapters; (3) mailing the chapters to various publishers; (4) having discussions with publishers; (5) choosing a publisher from those who are interested; (6) researching current trends; (7) researching current applications; (8) writing- chapters; (9) correcting chapters based on coauthor suggestions; (10) writing problems; (11) responding to feedback from the publisher; (12) sending out parts of the manuscript for review; (13) revising chapters based on reviews; (14) selecting art work; (15) producing galley proofs; (16) proofreading and correcting galleys. (Believe us, this is just a sampling of the activities necessary to develop a text.)

 Add some activities of your own and try to estimate reasonable times for each activity. (They will probably be optimistic!) Based on your activity chart, develop a Gantt chart for a text-writing project. (Note: M any publishers do use a sim plified Gantt chart for this process.)