Writing & Publishing
- This topic has 11 replies, 8 voices, and was last updated Jul 15, 2009 at 1:51 pm by
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TX-
I’ve never published a book so you’ll have to take this with a grain of salt, but my understanding is you write up a query of three or so chapters with a table of contents and an outline, then send it to various publishing houses.
Also, don’t forget that the age of the internet makes it extremely easier to get your book published.
You can pitch your book to several publishers, but in the age of on-demand digital printing, self-publishing is not a bad option either.
The benefit is you retain control (and the subsuquent rights) to your project. Rather than a royalty, you enjoy the profits of the sale. Obviously, these profits are much higher — once you’ve paid for the printing.
The downsides are that you don’t enjoy the distribution that you would with a publisher, and you also become responsible for a lot of details around production and publishing that you’d rather not touch.
Another writer and I have been having this discussion lately (he’s published a couple of fly fishing books, I’m looking at my first). As someone with 20 years of marketing in my background, I think self-publishing makes sense if you’re sure you have a solid market for your book and are willing to learn a lot about publishing and the promotion process.
Otherwise, there are a lot of “how-to” books for getting published — get a good one, write a few chapters, and start pitching.
For more information about self-publishing, simply google “book self publishing” and start wading…
Good luck!
TCTX-
My experience has been that publishing one thing opens doors to more things,
Zach
Zach,
does having a poem published in the local newspaper back in second grade count? ;D
On a serious note, do you think that having been published in the college or graduate level arenas makes a difference if the article does not relate to the genre one is currently trying to crack? Would that be something to let the editor reviewing one’s work know about? If the article has already been submitted to a magazine, and is pending the dreaded thumbs up or down, should one still let the editor know, perhaps by posting a link to the article if it is available online?
Thanks!
-Cory
Cory –
In my experience, academic publication has basically no impact on one’s chances of being published in the commercial press.
Just so I understand the train of thought- if the publication were to be in some sort of fiction-related journal, and you are trying to publish fiction (though possibly not of the same specific genre, say high fiction versus first-person travel/adventure) the fact that both are fiction might help, but if the academic publication were a treatise on Marie Curie’s discoveries, it would be of no value to the editor in his or her deliberations regarding one’s book of short Geirach-style essays.
Do I have it? :-/
Cory –
I think it’s safer to say that if you got published once, your skill would probably be apparent to a new editor.
The primary advantages of going with a commercial book publisher are that you get (hopefully) a good editor, and most importantly, you get marketing and distribution. If you just want a bunch of people of people to read what our write, then publish on the Internet. But if you want to really publish a book, get a publisher.
Unless you have something really unique, Lyons is probably not a good place to start. They are arguably the best in our field, and as such receive hundreds and hundreds of manuscripts per year. There are many other really good imprints in the fly fishing world, Stackpole for example, that have a lot fewer submissions. On the other hand, if you are a great writer, then Lyons is the way to go.
I’d continue writing and publishing your stories. When you have the book almost finished I’d start querying commercial publishers, but the hard cold truth is that most fly fishing books don’t sell very much and commercial publishers aren’t too interested in publshing a book from a little-known writer.
If you self-publish I’d go with print-on-demand, but make sure you get a good proofreader and editor (someone who believes in your work).
Also, check out the requirements for getting reviewed in Booklist, Publishers Weekly, and Library Journal. (Though getting reviewed in those magazinew will slow down the publishing process.)
And also query as many bloggers and outdoor columnists as you can before your book is published. Send copies to those that say they’re interested in reviewing your book. Make sure the copies are inscribed to the blogger or columnist, or stamped: review copy. That way, there’s less chance they’ll end up on the market as a used book.
(BTW, what’s really hurting me is that I’m selling so many more used books than new ones.)
Send copies to all the fly-fishing magazines.
Personally, I found that having a website doesn’t sell many books, but then again, I don’t keep my site active.
What does sell books, at least for me, is publishing stories on other websites.
Take a look at Dan Poynter’s book on self publishing and Morris Rosenthal’s book on print-on-demand publishing.
Join online book clubs. See who reviews fly-fishing books. If they have a lot of friends ask they if they’re interested in receiving a complimentary book.
Not to discourage you, but you’re looking at a very hard road ahead. The number of fly fisihing books published in relation to the market is very high.
Randy
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