Re: Kirby and Evidence of Harm

[Guest guest]

Fryer,

I say you should give it a go and write the follow up to Kirby's Evidence of Harm. Apparently, not everybody has gotten the message. I'd buy your book and pass it out. I've already been forwarding your posts.

Lynne

Start the year off right. Easy ways to stay in shape in the new year.

[Guest guest]

By all means, PLEASE write your book.

We need more of these damning books on the shelves.

Repeat, repeat, repeat until the message sinks in.

And is repeated by others.

- Hokkanen

[Guest guest]

There are lots of books on how to write a non-fic proposal - it's a

very detailed and laborious process, and follows a pretty strict

format for editors to take it seriously. And you'll need an agent to

get into the relevant publishing houses. Finding an agent can take

up to a year or evcen more of querying 25, 50, 100, 200 agents. That

also has a format and process association with it.

Selling non fiction requires that you have a solid " platform " which

means you have to be an expert in the field and have proven

marketability. That's pretty much a must in today's publishing

world. I'd suggest you get Jeff Herman's 2008 Guide to Publishing to

learn about the process and agents. Also, www.agentquery.com has a

load of info on agents. Beware, there are many scam operations with

agents who promise all sort of things for a fee - none of which end

up with a real book on the bookstore shelf.

Lots of pitfalls to be sure. And it takes years to go from concept to

a book on the shelf - unless you're Paris Hilton!

Good luck.

KIM

[Guest guest]

Just in case anyone is serious about writing a book, I'm including everything I

learned

while working on the Jepson book. (This was already written out for one

perspective

author.) I agree with everything Kim says, plus:

What agents and publishers really want to see is a formal proposal.

Before you go any further with the text, prepare a proposal and

send it out. They don't expect you to have a completed text

anyway--they only want to see 2 or 3 completed chapters for a

non-fiction book, and a table of contents. It's worth mentioning that

we had a very hard time finding an agent because 99% of them felt the

autism book market was already glutted--and that was over a year ago.

In order to find out how to write a proposal, buy " How to Write a Book

Proposal " by Larsen. And then to target an agent, buy " Guide to

Literary Agents 2008. " There are a few publishers that specialize in

autism that you can approach directly--try Future Horizons and

Kingsley Publishers. But for most you definitely need an agent. It

takes persistence--you should be prepared to approach at least 50

agents, and expect 49 of them to say " no. " There is very little money

to be made--expect to make about a dollar per book sold in royalties.

The standard initial print run is usually about 5,000 copies. Very few

books ever sell more than 10,000 copies.

Publishers don't want to be very involved in helping you shape the book.

They're over-worked, and they will change very little. They want you to

do nearly all of the work yourself. We had to hire a graphic designer

ourselves to help with the graphs. If they don't think it's

sufficiently well-edited, some of them will tell you to hire a copy editor

yourself. They want you to put together an elaborate marketing plan,

which is part of the proposal. At the end of the day, you end up

wondering why having a publisher is such a great thing--you can also

self-publish, but it's hard to get your book sold anywhere other than

Amazon if you go this route.

Jane

>

> There are lots of books on how to write a non-fic proposal - it's a

> very detailed and laborious process, and follows a pretty strict

> format for editors to take it seriously. And you'll need an agent to

> get into the relevant publishing houses. Finding an agent can take

> up to a year or evcen more of querying 25, 50, 100, 200 agents. That

> also has a format and process association with it.

>

> Selling non fiction requires that you have a solid " platform " which

> means you have to be an expert in the field and have proven

> marketability. That's pretty much a must in today's publishing

> world. I'd suggest you get Jeff Herman's 2008 Guide to Publishing to

> learn about the process and agents. Also, www.agentquery.com has a

> load of info on agents. Beware, there are many scam operations with

> agents who promise all sort of things for a fee - none of which end

> up with a real book on the bookstore shelf.

>

> Lots of pitfalls to be sure. And it takes years to go from concept to

> a book on the shelf - unless you're Paris Hilton!

>

> Good luck.

>

> KIM

>

[Guest guest]

Jane, this is terrific and true. People think it's easy to write a book

and get it published - not by a country mile. People need to remember

that authors devote years of their lives to getting their books out -

it's neither a whim nor a lark. The research alone can take years.

And for every book published, hundreds never make it. deserves

better than the sharp stick in the eye he's getting.

KIM

[Guest guest]

One must first start out with Elements of Style, by E.B. White,

especially for those would-be authors with a public education. It will

make your writing gooder.

Lenny

>

> There are lots of books on how to write a non-fic proposal - it's a

> very detailed and laborious process, and follows a pretty strict

> format for editors to take it seriously. And you'll need an agent to

> get into the relevant publishing houses. Finding an agent can take

> up to a year or evcen more of querying 25, 50, 100, 200 agents. That

> also has a format and process association with it.

>

> Selling non fiction requires that you have a solid " platform " which

> means you have to be an expert in the field and have proven

> marketability. That's pretty much a must in today's publishing

> world. I'd suggest you get Jeff Herman's 2008 Guide to Publishing to

> learn about the process and agents. Also, www.agentquery.com has a

> load of info on agents. Beware, there are many scam operations with

> agents who promise all sort of things for a fee - none of which end

> up with a real book on the bookstore shelf.

>

> Lots of pitfalls to be sure. And it takes years to go from concept to

> a book on the shelf - unless you're Paris Hilton!

>

> Good luck.

>

> KIM

>

[Guest guest]

If anyone needs a graphic designer for an autism book, look here. My husband

Avery has

donated lots of time to this. BTW, he works in graphic ad design-and not for any

pharma

or medical groups!

> >

> > There are lots of books on how to write a non-fic proposal - it's a

> > very detailed and laborious process, and follows a pretty strict

> > format for editors to take it seriously. And you'll need an agent to

> > get into the relevant publishing houses. Finding an agent can take

> > up to a year or evcen more of querying 25, 50, 100, 200 agents. That

> > also has a format and process association with it.

> >

> > Selling non fiction requires that you have a solid " platform " which

> > means you have to be an expert in the field and have proven

> > marketability. That's pretty much a must in today's publishing

> > world. I'd suggest you get Jeff Herman's 2008 Guide to Publishing to

> > learn about the process and agents. Also, www.agentquery.com has a

> > load of info on agents. Beware, there are many scam operations with

> > agents who promise all sort of things for a fee - none of which end

> > up with a real book on the bookstore shelf.

> >

> > Lots of pitfalls to be sure. And it takes years to go from concept to

> > a book on the shelf - unless you're Paris Hilton!

> >

> > Good luck.

> >

> > KIM

> >

>

[Guest guest]

Incorrect information is incorrect information. It doesn't matter who

writes it.

I never thought you of all people would try to villify anyone for

pointing out the truth.

Learning something new every day,

, FA ~

>

> Jane, this is terrific and true. People think it's easy to write a

book

> and get it published - not by a country mile. People need to

remember

> that authors devote years of their lives to getting their books out -

> it's neither a whim nor a lark. The research alone can take years.

> And for every book published, hundreds never make it. deserves

> better than the sharp stick in the eye he's getting.

>

> KIM

>