Want to be an Author?

A few years ago (before all of the cancer crap I went through) I was in the process of writing a book.

Well, actually it was a book proposal. As a sidenote, book proposals are rather interesting as they are basically a marketing document targeted towards publishers to generate excitement about your proposed book.

At any rate, I didn’t get many nibbles on the book and the only publisher who did bite eventually decided not to go forward because they thought there was no market for the book.

It was still an interesting process to go through and I’ve stayed in touch with my agent over the past few years. Of course I haven’t been able to do much (any) writing for him due to illness.

I received an e-mail from him today and thought you might be interested.

Here’s a note from the publisher of Nimble books, a clever idea that seems to be doing well. As you will see below, this is a great opportunity to reuse your own material, try out a new idea, etc.
After much experimentation with formats, page lengths, and styles over the past few years we think we have found a “sweet spot” that delivers good value for money.
http://www.nimblebooks.com/wordpress/2008/02/10/how-to-write-a-nimble-book/

The new preferred format for “nimble” books is 32 to 47 pages long, saddle stitched, color interior, 8.5 x 8.5?. The price to the customer varies with page length between $17.36 and $20.51. The manuscript should be 7,000 to 13,000 words long minus approximately 400 words for each image. Images must be 72dpi resolution or greater; color, if at all possible; and provided with either explicit permission to use from the owner or with a strong “no copyright” rationale To be clear, the availability of color images is not a requirement; it’s a nice-to-have.

We are currently publishing books in the following series:

COOL MAPS
COOL SHIPS (CVN-68, DDG-81, etc.)
COOL AIRCRAFT
NAPOLEONICS ? BORODINO, etc.
WORLD WAR II
COOL SCIENCE
CURRENT AFFAIRS

But ideas for other topics are quite welcome and he would like to publish some technology books.

The important thing to understand about the financial side of this is that this is micropublishing. I will be quite happy with a book that sells 10 copies a month.

This format should work for you if:

• ” You have strong text in hand that you want to “repurpose” or try out in print, or
• ” You have beautiful color photos or art in hand could not be cost-effectively reproduced in a trade book with a B&W interior,
• ” You pick a topic that is easily illustrated with high-quality public domain images (e.g. space, navy ships, history before 1922) and …
• ” You have a blog or some sort of platform that gives you the ability to drive traffic or…
• ” You pick a topic that is keyword-friendly or …
• ” You pick a topic that is enthusiast-friendly.

For examples, see the Nimble Books store and look for the books that have square covers.

Payment is $3 per copy to the author or a flat fee of $75 and the publisher tells me that these books have been selling.

If you are interested in seeing if the publisher likes your ideas, send them to me with a 1-2 sentence summary.
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2. A StudioB author, because of personal reasons, cannot write Ruby on Rails for Microsoft Developers, which has been contracted.

The editor is looking for a new author to start very shortly. Here’s a summary.

Ruby on Rails for Microsoft Developers will be the definitive guide for Microsoft programmers interested in learning the Ruby on Rails methodology. It will serve as a roadmap for ASP.Net, C#, and VB.Net developers looking to migrate both their applications, as well as their skill set and development processes, to a newer, agile programming platform. The book’s approach will cater to the Microsoft developer personality, taking steps to first outline the pertinent benefits of Rails over Microsoft technologies, and then aligning the programmatic patterns of Rails with those commonly found in Microsoft software development. Readers comfortable with Microsoft technologies will learn how Rails provides many of the same conveniences, particularly in areas of simplified design, implementation, and language features, all while enforcing a simple, extensible enterprise architecture.

If you are interested inbeing considered for picking up this project as the sole author, please send me a note and one paragraph regarding your experience and credentials and a current resume.

I’m not sure how Neil would feel about me posting all of his contact info on my blog so if you’re interested, just drop me an email at GMan67 @ pduck.com and I’ll pass his info to you.

G-Man