This is a topic that seems to come up enough in RL conversations that there must be a fair amount of interest in it out there in cyberspace too.
I’m always toying with ideas for books I want to write. If I had put my time and energy into doing so for the last few years, instead of posting garbage on forumosa then I would now be the proud owner of, well, a book. I’m not sure if anyone would buy it though, so that has been a convenient excuse for not getting anything done. But I keep thinking about it, and I’m not alone.
A friend of mine recently came up with an idea for something that he thought was a good idea. He approached a local publisher, and they’ve offered him a deal. Yeehaw! But it’s for the local market and needs to be translated into Chinese, which he has to pay for. So we came up with this idea of co-authoring it with a local person. He’s writing it in order to boost his career by being a published author, not with any great hope of making a lot of money. Does anyone have any ideas about how he could go about finding a suitable partner? It’s a business book.
'Nother one. I have been dabbling with idioms having their origins in sailing. Hundreds of them, and I’ll need to trim the list down to make a book, but I’ll also need to provide illustrations. Where would I find someone who can do something like that?
Does anyone have idea, opinions, or experiences in this game? What do good publishing deals look like? How does one go about finding good people to work with? etc.
I’m about to do something similar Loretta, and we’ve spoken about it a bit. Trust will determine how much work is done out of the Creator’s sight.
I caught a break by finding a distributor first, then I got the idea for the books I wanted to do. I’m going to go local with the art/page layout at first, and if that works well, well, why change? I found a couple local smaller printers who can do 1000-2000 first runs at a silly-low price.
I’ve worked with the big boys when it comes to getting books published in Taiwan. I wouldn’t recommend it.
I’m going to see if I can make something work while keeping most of the decision making in-house as it were.
The question I have is what kind of deal should I make with the distributor/agent? His role is key, otherwise I have a ball that does not roll. Do I split the cost of getting the art/page layout, or do I eat that myself and give him a percentage of the net? Or do I eat the cost of producing the books and give him a commission?
I think that having him work for commission would make him sell harder, rather than guaranteeing him a check.
Pay for the costs. The distributer gets a percentage. Keep ownership of the book. Don’t blow your profits on wine, women, and Japanese schoolgirl uniforms.
Getting a book all the way from the concept stage to a product on shelves is bloody hard work, but ultimately satisfying. I would really recommend would-be forumosan writers to get off their fat hairy arses and - um, wait on, it’s probably better to write sitting down - okay, get ON their fat hairy arses and get writing. Cut down on your forumosan posting and put your creative energies into something more constructive.
If I had the money, I would love to start a publishing company that put out English language books on Taiwan. The country really needs (and deserves) it.
As fate would have it, I am putting the finishing touches on a novella set in Taiwan, which I hope to self-publish in a side-by-side English and Chinese version. It’s mainly of specialty interest (comparative spirituality, Asiatic gynecology) but perhaps a few Forumosans would buy it. Anyway, I am happy to see these issues discussed here, and look forward to hearing about your projects and experiences. (And pricing / distribution insights!)
[quote=“jdsmith”]The question I have is what kind of deal should I make with the distributor/agent? His role is key, otherwise I have a ball that does not roll. Do I split the cost of getting the art/page layout, or do I eat that myself and give him a percentage of the net?[/quote]I think that if you pay for the artwork yourself, you can own the copyright for it. That would seem to be worth quite a bit if the book eventually took off in a bigger way and you got it sold and distributed further afield.
It would be great if there were a decent print-on-demand service here. Lulu’s very good, but by the time books are shipped from the US or Spain to here, they can end up a bit pricey. Not always though. Depends on the format and the number of pages.
[quote=“joesax”][quote=“jdsmith”]The question I have is what kind of deal should I make with the distributor/agent? His role is key, otherwise I have a ball that does not roll. Do I split the cost of getting the art/page layout, or do I eat that myself and give him a percentage of the net?[/quote]I think that if you pay for the artwork yourself, you can own the copyright for it. That would seem to be worth quite a bit if the book eventually took off in a bigger way and you got it sold and distributed further afield.
It would be great if there were a decent print-on-demand service here. Lulu’s very good, but by the time books are shipped from the US or Spain to here, they can end up a bit pricey. Not always though. Depends on the format and the number of pages.[/quote]
Yeah, that’s how I’m thinking now. If I pay for the cost of the book to be produced, and have a sliding scale that gives the distributor more of a cut for each 1000 books he sells, then he has a greater incentive to sell more. I can cover my costs and then a bit more from the first 1000.
I want the copyright in my name, and getting an ISBN is fairly simple. That protects me if the deal with the distributor doesn’t pan out.
Loretta has suggested elance.com for art, but I think I’m going local for the first few books. Same for the printer.
When we finally do use the printer, I’ll let you know how it goes.
Oh, the books I’m doing are quite small and for beginning/elementary students. 16 pages.
Who do I complain to about overzealous moderating?
A book is not simply a commercial transaction. It’s a work of art. Or it’s a personal expression of something, or it’s a novella about living in Taiwan, or it’s a pile of idioms for teachers, or whatever.
I didn’t put this thread in the B&M forum precisely because it’s not just about money. It’s about doing something constructive, it’s about managing people to get things done, it’s about a whole raft of things that may appeal to people who aren’t interested in business and money. Please put it back where it came from. :fume: :fume: :fume:
My fault. I wondered/asked if it should be put in there, so the likes of Mr He and business-minded group could check it out.
edit: however, I do think GETTING a book published IS a business oriented thing. Anybloody can “write a book” in their house and save it to their hardrive, and even send out a few pages to their friends, but having a book published and not eating a huge cost, and maybe even making some dough off it is a business thing.
Never! When you die you will be locked in a small inferno with an infinite number of monkey who will bang away at their infinite number of typewriters until, just by chance, they happen to replicate your work. They will have better agents than you, and you will spend eternity trying to sue them for copyright infringement.
Never! When you die you will be locked in a small inferno with an infinite number of monkey who will bang away at their infinite number of typewriters until, just by chance, they happen to replicate your work. They will have better agents than you, and you will spend eternity trying to sue them for copyright infringement.
See, it’s about legals, not business.[/quote]
Well, it shouldn’t take them long to get to:
[quote]That horse is hungry. Horses eat hay! [/quote]
Well, I’m very glad it is in this section otherwise I wouldn’t have spotted it. There are lots of people who read the business and money section who are also creators and artists!!
jdsmith - another reason we need to meet up. I have illustrated books before and have been designing some basic worksheets for beginner english students at my school.
Heres a sample… I didn’t put much effort into it because it wasn’t a paid job…
If you think it’s suitable for what you are doing - let me know
It would be great if there were a decent print-on-demand service here. Lulu’s very good, but by the time books are shipped from the US or Spain to here, they can end up a bit pricey. Not always though. Depends on the format and the number of pages.[/quote]
There are a couple that do photo books, so I guess they’d do other types of books as well. (I think, the sites are in Chinese and my Chinese is terrible).
[quote=“pubba”]Yeah - it’s not Shakespeare I know… But that was the material I had to work with. Real high brow stuff.
Good luck with your book.
Edit : LOVE Robert Crumb! That’s a very very good compliment - cheers ![/quote]
Well, I’m sure they gave you “pattern sentence guidelines” to follow. Many smaller schools, kindies and larger publishing companies are STILL trying to somehow make this kind of nonsense work, ie, not be boring as hell to teach and infinitely numbing for students to learn.
It doesn’t work. Come up sometime and I’ll show you what I’ve already done and use in our school, but haven’t published…yet.
I think if Almas John sees that he’ll have a bloody fit.
Leave it up.
And hey, don’t kick yourself because I don’t like it. You wrote something and got the school to use it, which is more than most English Teachers here who think they can do better can say.
