Book Publishing

[PostalWookie]

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I was wondering if any of you guys know anything about publishing a book. I helped one of my profs write a biochemistry course packet that essentially covers all of human metabolism. He told me that it would probably make a good review book, and that if I find a publisher, he'll transfer over all copyrights to me. So now I basically have a somewhat decent manuscript, but I have no clue where to go from here. Any suggestions

 

[jwtaylor]

I was wondering if any of you guys know anything about publishing a book. I helped one of my profs write a biochemistry course packet that essentially covers all of human metabolism. He told me that it would probably make a good review book, and that if I find a publisher, he'll transfer over all copyrights to me. So now I basically have a somewhat decent manuscript, but I have no clue where to go from here. Any suggestions

it depends how you want to do it. im sure you're talking about a conventional publishing company and distribution, but it's relatively inexpensive to do it yourself (again this depends on what you would like to get out of this, if you're looking for professional validation this obviously may not be the way to go). if you're just looking to get your work to people it only costs a couple hundred bucks to get a book pressed, then you can set up your own www.whatever.com site and take orders from it, set up an account on amazon.com and sell them( either way you make all your money back eventually) itd be great if you're looking to keep prices down for people on a student budget and taking care of the orders yourself could be relatively easy. just thought id offer my own unorthodox idea. Also if you're feeling altruistic you can just put the stuff up on the web.

 

[deuist]

There are two approaches. The first is to go at it alone. A website called www.authorhouse.com specializes in this method. You pay the publisher to print your book and then you sell the copies at a higher rate than the publishing costs. This system is very difficult for first time authors since you will not have the fame to get stores to stock your book. This approach is ideal, however, for people who want to print only a few copies and then sell them or give them to a niche group.

The second method of finding a publisher is to look in a publishing guide. Since I have no experience with your field, I'll have to point you to the 2005 Writer's Market by Kathryn Brogan or Jeff Herman's Guide to Book Publishers. Both books are available through amazon.com. They list the contact information of various publishers so that you can find the right company for you. The most popular companies for printing scientific texts are John Wiley & Sons, Prentice Hall, and Addison Wesley.

One caution: rejection is the norm amongst publishers. You may easily talk to a dozen companies before finding one that will work with you. Second, the pay for a first-time author is paltry at best. Usually, you will get a few hundred dollars for your final text, followed by $2 in royalties for each book sold. You can quickly imagine that getting rich from writing takes a long time and a lot of effort.

 

[Ursus Martimus]

I have published 4 sets of flashcards with lippencott williams and wilkins, the BRS series (path, micro, pharm, and anatomy) with the contract for the next edition of the BRS Biochemistry book and accompanying flashcards on the way. Publishing with a large publisher can be interesting but also very frustrating. But it is worth a try with someone like them. Check out their instructions for submitting a proposal by clicking on the "basic sciences link" at the following
http://www.lww.com/resources/authors/books-proposals.html#

Good Luck-

 

[PostalWookie]

Thank you guys. You've all been very helpful