It is non-fiction. It is cultural/historical, with lots and lots of photos(mostly color), and much text also.
I also want to be able to print off an extra 5000(first time thru) or so to sell directly by myself, since the topic of the book is “cult”, and I can sell a bunch at shows and gatherings of enthusiests/followers on this topic.
I dont want to submit an entire transcript to publishers with all of my personally owned photos in it. I dont want my hundreds of photos owned by me floating around before the book is published and available. It is also expensive to make many copies of pages which have photos.
I thought maybe about submitting one full chapter with photos, which have been “degraded” by my putting a personal banner accross the photos to prevent others from copying my photos.
I suspect that if you’re submitting your stuff to a reputable publisher, they have better things to do with their time than steal copies of your photos. Unless of course those photos are of Ben and J-Lo knocking naughty bits on the French Riv, in which case you’ll want to sell them to the Enquirer yourself.
Exactly. Or you can submit xerox copies of your finished pages, with a note that print-quality photos are available. Or sumbit text-only pages with notes that there are a great number of photos in the finished product.
Basically pick up a copy of Writer’s Market and find yourself an agent who sells this sort of thing. If you want to go it alone, familiarize youself with the publishers that publish similar books, learn how to send in apparoriate submissions, and cross your fingers.
(Without seeing your book, or even understanding its subject matter, may I suggest Chronicle, they do an amazing job with photo and graphic-heavy books)
Writers Market is probably at your library; though if you’re serious about publication, you’re best off buying your own copy. It lists publishers, both of books and periodicals with information on the type of books they publish.
Once you find out who publishes books similar to yours, you’ll need to contact the publisher for their writer’s guidelines. Most publishers probably have those online. You must submit your materials according to their guidelines to be considered at all. They may require several chapters or the completed manuscript. They may require a certain typeface. I have the impression that you have laid out the text with photos; you’re best off providing text as required with separate photos. If you do get published, the publisher will make the decisions regarding layout, number of photos, type of paper and print run.
If you’re concerned about your photos, download information from the library of congress webpage for copyrighting. It’s a way to validate your ownership and preserve your rights. With regard to your book, the copyright information will tell you what is protected by registration.
Larger publishers are unlikely to consider an author without an agent. There are probably literary agents in your area. Many are unwilling to take on unpublished clients, but may be willing to meet with you, or refer you to someone else. Expect a lot of rejections, it comes with the territory.
The publishing world is a large thing, but here is some advice that applies to mainstream publishing of trade books, which are the sort of books that you find in standard bookstores.
For non-fiction books you start with a proposal. The proposal contains several things: an overall view of what the book will be about, a chapter by chapter breakdown of the book, a short bio that explains why you are qualified to write the book, and a marketing analysis of who your audience is going to be and what other books are already out there targeting this audience on this subject. Note that a book of color photographs would be extremely expensive to publish, so you really need to make a case that this book would sell. You don’t have to include any of the text, unless there is something so special about the text that it would make a difference to considering it. For a book with photos you would of course include some of the photos with it. As Morkfromork said, no legitimate publisher would take any of your photos, but neither would they care if you put a personal banner across it if that made you feel better.
It is currently extremely hard to get even a proposal looked at by any major publisher if you haven’t been published before. Your best bet is to send the proposal to an agent. You can find books in bookstores and in libraries of names of agents and agencies and what subjects they specialize in. There are several internet sources as well that you can search for. You can send a proposal to several prospects simultaneously. It’s not easy to get an agent, but they are at least willing to look at proposals. That’s how they get their money.
I don’t know your subject, but there may be small presses that specialize in it that would be better bets for you than the big New York publishers. You’ll have to track these down by finding the ones who publish the sort of book and subject you want done. You may be able to approach them directly.
Getting a good-looking book of color photos is so difficult and so expensive that I’d stay away from self-publishing or the various PoD type publishers that abound on the Net.
You need to do a bunch of research before going forward. Think of yourself as creating a small business of one. That’s what writing really is. If you think and act like a professional, you’ll be much better received on the other end.
Just to reiterate: don’t worry about publishers stealing and circulating your photos. Doesn’t happen. Ever. I’ve been in the writing trade for over 20 years and have never seen a case where an editor stole a writer’s work.
If you are going through a legitimate publisher, you only need to send a proposal anyway. The photos get sent if they show interest in your work. You only need to include a handful of photos (and color photocopies are acceptable – never send a publisher your only copy of anything. I say this from sad experience*) with the proposal.
With color photos, your options are limited, since it will be expensive to print. If you do want to go it alone, contact printers (not “publishers”) and get a bunch of quotes. This may be a project for self-publishing (not a vanity press that says it’s self-publishing).
*An editor once accidentally lost a novel manuscript of mine out a window.
I have the largest collection of these types of photos in the world( only 3 libraries have collections even close to mine), and that is why I am so protective. There have only been 3 other books published on this subject ever. The knowledge and text that I have, is also very limited/and proprietary, and few peopel in the world know anything about this subject in detail. I want the book to be published and sold at bookstores, but I also want to sell it myself, since I can directly sell a lot of them. I have both color and black and white photos, since this is historical in nature.
I have a copy of Writers Market, but it is a few years old.
Another thought: if it’s of scholarly interest, you might try a university press.
It would be better if we had some idea of the general subject of this book. E-mail me at sf_writer@yahoo.com if you don’t want to mention it on the SDMB.
I think the usual method if you want to sell your own books (like at conventions and such) is to buy some at the wholesale price and sell them at the retail price, just as if you were a bookstore. I’m not sure what hoops you have to jump through in order to qualify for the wholesale price (possibly you’d need to incorporate, not really sure) but I’m certain your publishing house could direct you on how to do it. I believe this is a fairly common practice for SF/Fantasy authors and anyone who does a lot of conventioneering. The publisher doesn’t care who buys their books as long as someone does.
Susanann, I have the 2003 Writer’s Market. If your library doesn’t have a copy, you can drop me a line if you need to get the current info for any of the entries.
In addition to all the good info already posted, here’s another tip:
Connect and network with published writers, especially with writers who have published in the same field/subject as yourself.
You’ll get not only the possiblity of a inside connection that will put your submissions/proposals on the fast track, but you’ll get a lot of helpful trench-warfare-experience advice on how to approach publishers.
I once took a writing class taught by the novelist Robbie Murphy at The Writer’s Center in Bethesda, and she was kind enough to hang around after class for 5-10 minutes to answer questions about the nuts-and-bolts of publishing. Her informal advice on writing query letters, manuscript formats, and approaching agents gave me more worthwhile and practical knowledge than any 10 “How To Get Published” books combined could give.
The latest issue of PC Magazine rates about 6 different book publishing services. For a few hundred bucks they edit your text, put your photos together, design a cover, get you printed and make you accessible through big outlets like Amazon - though exactly how much of what varies quite alot from service to service.
The standard publisher contract always has a provision that allows the author to buy copies at the maximum discount, usually 50% or 55%. You don’t have to be incorporated. You do have to show your inventory and sales on your Schedule C when you pay taxes. Of course, 5000 copies is an enormously huge amount and would almost certainly have to be negotiated into the contract.
Napier, the sites given in PC magazine are not highly thought of by the professional writing community. Even besides their other problems, they would not be suitable for a specialized book of color photographs.
That article is a load of crap, since it leaves out a very important caveat:
Do it this by method only if you don’t want to make back the money you pay these “publishers.”
The only reason to use one of these electronic vanity presses is if you have a book with extremely limited appeal (your family and maybe your church group would be the only people interested) and you’re willing to overpay for the convience of not having to find a printer.
In any case, they are a terrible choice in this situation, since the prices quoted are for text only; a picture book would cost a fortune, and you’d go deeper in the hole every time you tried to sell it.
