Dear All,
 
I'd like to add a bit more about writing shell books for those aspiring or
budding authors out there. Several people including myself have already
mentioned that shell books are expensive due to their limited print runs,
and these are often even the books on the more popular families. So what if
you want to write a book about some out-of-the-way family? I strongly
believe that all material is publishable in some form, but you have to
choose your format.
 
If you were writing the major work on the worldwide Muricidae, you may take
your work to a conventional publisher, and he or she may even be
interested. It is, of course, better to take it to a publisher who
specialises in shell books, but that aside. The popularity of such a book
will ensure good sales, and some publishers may be interested. However,
conventional publishers tend to dump their books after a very limited time,
not recognising that a work like this remains useful for a lot longer than
your standard novel. Should this concern you as an author? I think it
should, because it means that after initial good sales, there will be a
flood of cheap material on the market, after which the book will no longer
be available. Your publisher won't be interested in re-printing, because of
course they never made much money out of it. Lesson 1: Take your book to a
publisher who specialises in shell books. This will probably mean you will
have to go overseas with it.
 
But you weren't writing a major revision of the Muricidae, and you have a
large manuscript about some obscure family, that only 50 people may ever be
interested in (or so you think at least). There are still several ways to
publish this material. A CD-ROM, as Wes has pointed out, is an excellent
way. You can now quite cheaply pick up a CD-ROM writer, and copy them on
demand. It does require you to have a certain level of computer literacy,
but then again, I have seen CD-ROMs that were so badly designed that most
people on this list could easily produce something better than that.
 
But to be true, a printed text is usually more easy to look at than
something on a screen. Then how about producing a manuscript in black and
white, and taking it to a vanity press? These are usually willing to print
very limited runs, and it won't cost you the earth either. You could even
insert a few colour photocopies, or stick in a few photographs to make the
whole thing more attractive.
 
I have also seen an identification guide that consisted of one of those
plastic photo-insert books, with a photograph on one side, and a printed
sheet on the other with the information about the creature on the
photograph on the facing page. A marvellous idea!
 
Lesson 2: Be inventive, learn how to use a computer, and do a lot yourself.
It's fun! You may even make some money.
 
As an illustration:
of the price of a book you buy in the bookstore the bookseller gets 40%,
the distributor gets 20%, the author gets 7-10%, and the publisher gets the
rest. The actual production cost of the book is definitely no more than 25%
of the retail price. So in theory, if you write, and publish, and
distribute your own book, you get.... ;-) (it doesn't quite work like this)
 
Have fun
 
Patty Jansen
WWW: http://www.capricornica.com
 
Capricornica Publications               on-line natural history bookshop
P.O. Box 345
Lindfield NSW 2070
 
phone/fax: 02 9415 8098 international: +61 2 9415 8098
 
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