Introducing Readers to Life and Work in the Foreign Service Foreign Service Books The first edition of AFSA’s book Inside a U.S. Embassy: How the Foreign Service Works for America was published in 1995 and 1996. The 98-page volume offered up firsthand accounts from U.S. missions around the world, with profiles of who works in an embassy including then– Refugee Coordinator Linda Thomas-Greenfield (Nairobi), Labor Officer Thomas Shannon (Johannesburg), Political Officer Michele Sison (Abidjan), and Ambassador Tom Pickering (Moscow). In 2003 AFSA published a second, completely new edition with a similar format but all fresh content. At 136 pages, that edition, and the revised 2005 edition, sold more than 100,000 copies. The book was a popular resource for U.S. embassies worldwide, military institutions, and universities, as well as Foreign Service candidates. “The State Department ordered 10,000 copies initially, and every time we reprinted, they purchased thousands more,” says Shawn Dorman, who compiled that edition for AFSA and is currently AFSA publications director and FSJ editor in chief. “For some time, State was sending a copy to every person who passed the written test—21,000 people used to take the test each year, so that added up.” When it came time for a new edition, says Dorman, “I shopped the book around to publishers, and found strong interest.” Georgetown University Press, Cornell University Press, McGraw Hill, and a couple others offered to publish it in a traditional publishing deal. Dorman did the math and, in consultation with AFSA leadership, determined that it made more financial sense for AFSA to publish the book independently. Acting as publisher, AFSA retains about 70 percent of sales revenue instead of the 10 to 14 percent that a typical publishing contract would offer. “So, we turned them all down and created an AFSA imprint, Foreign Service Books,” says Dorman, adding, “All the proceeds go to the Fund for American Diplomacy.” The third edition, subtitled Diplomacy at Work, was published in 2011 with all-new content. It was expanded to 280 pages and includes a chapter on joining the Foreign Service and another on FS work and life featuring family members and local staff perspectives. Both the second and third editions are available in print and e-book format. Altogether, AFSA has sold more than 200,000 copies of the book. The third edition is now in its 10th printing and continues to sell well at a rate of hundreds of copies each quarter. Along the way Inside a U.S. Embassy has won awards and accolades and remains one of AFSA’s best outreach tools. The 2011 edition received the 2012 Independent Publisher Book Award gold medal in the category of Current Events–Foreign Affairs/Military, as well as the 2012 Axiom Business Book Award bronze medal in the Career category. It has been adopted for more than 70 university courses and is available in more than 2,100 libraries worldwide. The success of Inside a U.S. Embassy supports the development of other books about the Foreign Service. In 2015 the first edition of The Voice of the Foreign Service: A History of the American Foreign Service Association, written for AFSA by Harry Kopp, hit the scene. A second edition was published in May to coincide with the AFSA and Foreign Service centennials. While Inside a U.S. Embassy helps readers understand what it’s like to serve in today’s Foreign Service, The Voice of the Foreign Service takes readers through the early history of diplomacy, from Benjamin Franklin to the Rogers Act of 1924 and the Foreign Service Acts of 1946 and 1980, as it traces the evolution of the Foreign Service and AFSA over time. The process of getting a book to market—from concept to writing, editing, production, promotion, and distribution—takes a lot of work from many contributors. AFSA’s small but mighty publications team makes it happen, helping ensure that the public gains a better understanding of the history and the importance of today’s Foreign Service. —Donna Scaramastra Gorman n AFSA’s Good Works Each edition during our centennial year, The Foreign Service Journal is profiling an AFSA program that advances the collective or individual interests of its members. This edition we feature Foreign Service Books, AFSA’s publishing imprint. AFSA’S GOOD WORKS 78 SEPTEMBER 2024 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL
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