Writing books for 'idiots' and 'dummies' is no easy task, authors have found

By Kristina Tedeschi
Staff Writer

Published on March 14, 2008

An internationally known clinical psychologist and relationship guru, Dr. Judith Kuriansky has traveled the world providing psychological services to survivors of tragedies like bombings in Jerusalem and tsunamis in Asia. An alumna of Smith College in Northampton now living in New York City, Kuriansky has led peace workshops in countries like Iran and India, and has written several books on topics ranging from intimacy to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, all while teaching psychology at Columbia University and seeing patients in her private practice. But, Kuriansky says, it was writing for "The Complete Idiot's Guide" reference-book series that kept her up nights.

Contrary to what the series' title might suggest, writing a "Complete Idiot's Guide" book, which cover scores of subjects ranging from how to play the guitar to how to invest in the stock market, takes more than - well, an idiot.

"People think, 'Oh, an Idiot's Guide, how easy," said Kuriansky in a recent phone interview. "No. It is a very, very hard job."

A daunting task

Book series intended to be user-friendly guides for consumers were launched in 1991 by John Wiley & Sons Inc., headquartered in Hoboken, N.J., with "DOS For Dummies," which explained the computer operating system known as DOS. The book was published, according to the Web site dummies.com, in response to the growth of computer technology that was often difficult to understand. Two years later, Alpha Books, a division of the publishing house Penguin Group Inc., produced one, too - "The Complete Idiot's Guide to DOS." Both publishers followed with a slew of similar books. Today, Alpha publishes "Complete Idiot's Guides" in 30 categories and has sold over 20 million copies in 26 languages, according to its Web site.

Marie Butler-Knight, the vice president and publisher of Alpha Books, says her staff looks for writers with extensive knowledge of a specific subject who can translate that knowledge into basic, easy-to-understand language and ideas. It can be a daunting task.

"Most people who read our books read them because they're looking for information that in some way is going to improve their lives," said Butler-Knight. "They don't need or want information that is on an academic level. People who are highly knowledgeable about a subject often forget what it feels like to have no level of knowledge on the subject."

Kuriansky, whose other titles include "Terror in the Holy Land: Inside the Anguish of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict" and "Beyond Bullets and Bombs: Grassroots Peacebuilding Between Israelis and Palestinians," says she can vouch for that. Writing an Idiot's Guide, she said, "is much more work than writing a book. You have to have a certain tone; you have to know how to write it in chunks. The format is very idiosyncratic."

Burning the midnight oil

Kuriansky, who earned a bachelor's degree in psychology from Smith in 1968 and went on to earn a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from New York University, wrote her first in the series, "The Complete Idiot's Guide to a Healthy Relationship," 10 years ago. She says she was contacted by an editor at Alpha Books who had heard of her through a call-in radio show, "LovePhones," which Kuriansky hosted in New York City for several years.

She then went on to write "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Dating" and "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Tantric Sex," both of which are in second and third editions.

Each book, which runs about 350 pages, took Kuriansky a year to complete, she says.

Authors are paid in installments as sequential deadlines are met. According to Michele Wells, an acquisitions editor with Penguin Group in New York City, there is no set fee, and authors may receive a royalty or work for hire, depending on the topic and the level of expertise required.

After an often hectic workday, Kuriansky says, she would start writing at 11 p.m. and go for 12 hours straight.

"I learned to not sleep, or sleep in chunks," she said. "Sometimes, I wouldn't sleep for three days in a row."

Time-consuming tasks

Christopher Carlisle, the Episcopal chaplain for the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, says a short time frame was what made writing "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Understanding Intelligent Design" difficult for him. The book, which he co-wrote in 2006, explains the belief that certain features of the universe cannot be attributed to evolution, but rather to an intelligent cause, he says. Even though he is not a proponent of that school of thought, he says, he had to explain concepts proponents use as evidence of the theory, such as the function of bacterial flagella. A bacterial flagellum, says Carlisle, contains more than 40 microscopic parts, which rotate to propel the bacterium through water embedded in the membrane of a cell. Because of its extremely complex structure, advocates of intelligent design argue that it is unlikely that the bacterial flagellum evolved, step by step, over time, since each part it contains is necessary in making it work.

"The major challenge was that I had the outline approved by Penguin ... in sort of mid-January, and the book had to be done April 24, and it was to be 325 pages," said Carlisle. "I had to do an awful lot of research and an awful lot of writing every day."

About three pages every 24 hours, as it works out.

"And of course, I have a job, so it was burning the midnight oil," he said.

For Colrain author Erik Sherman, a wide range of interests has served him well as an Idiot's Guide writer. Last year his skill in photography led him to co-write "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Canon EOS Digital Cameras." His work in pizza kitchens and catering allowed him to follow that up a few months later with "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Pizza and Panini," which was released in August.

The pizza book is sprinkled with definitions of common and not-so-common items and foods, like flour and pissaladiere, a French-style pizza that comes from Provence. It also includes scores of recipes for dough, breads, pizza and the Italian grilled sandwiches known as panini. Ensuring those recipes were correct took painstaking editing on Sherman's part.

He says it was grueling to go over every single one, from his oatmeal dough and huevos rancheros pizza to peach French toast panino, to make sure each measurement was accurate.

Light but serious

So if creating the books is a laborious task, and if they are meant for the intelligent reader, why are they marketed to so-called "idiots"?

"It's a little tongue in cheek," said Butler-Knight. "The title is meant to be reassuring. Even if you feel like a complete idiot, this book is going to make that information, that knowledge, accessible to you."

Although Alpha Books often seeks out experts, it also takes submissions. Prospective "Idiot's Guide" writers are urged on the series' Web site, us.penguingroup.com, to keep in mind that the books are written for an "intelligent, busy audience that doesn't want to be patronized or bored." Authors are advised to write in the first person and use a conversational tone. There is a formula: The average book has 25 to 30 chapters, which are organized into four to six parts. Chapters must be 12 to 15 pages long, and typed in single-spaced 12-point Courier type. They must address a specific topic and be broken up by charts, bulleted lists and tables. The guidelines also suggest that sophisticated humor be injected into the language. But "don't be sarcastic, condescending, critical, insulting, or controversial," the site warns.

Guidelines for the Dummies series are similar, says Alexander Hiam, who runs a freelance marketing company called Alexander Hiam & Associates from his Amherst home. He was asked to write "Marketing for Dummies" in 2006 by an editor with Wiley Publishing Inc. who contacted him through his agent.

The author, who earned his bachelor's degree from Harvard University, then went on to earn a master's in marketing and planning from the University of California, Berkeley, said writing the reference book helped hone his skills.

"I actually thought that it improved my nonfiction writing," said Hiam, who has written about two dozen books, including "The Vest-Pocket CEO" and "Motivational Management: Inspiring Your People for Maximum Performance."

"One of the editorial requests is to be able to open the book anywhere, and right away, be able to understand it and have it useful. It can't be like a textbook. Everything has to stand on its own two feet," said Hiam.

Although the series' use of the words dummy and idiot are lighthearted, Kuriansky says she knows some have been put off.

"People used to say, I don't like them, I'm not an idiot," she said. "The interesting thing now, 10 years later, is I hear, Oh, I love those books."

Kristina Tedeschi can be reached at ktedeschi@gazettenet.com.