Mastodawn

davey Jan 5, 2023

Another rejection of my current #book_proposal: the #agent was fast, courteous, even friendly. Tomorrow I figure out whom I want to query next.

I was so fortunate to be solicited by the publisher for my first two #books, and for my magazine #columns. (I've always had to pitch #articles, whether #feature or #filler.)

Nowadays, I imagine only celebrities find #publishers come knocking.

All this just means more hard work up front. All right. This morning I got another fan letter: I helped him.

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Alan Langford 🇨🇦🧤🧊摏 Jan 13, 2023

@davey This seems like an opportunity for covering the basics on YouTube and self publishing. I suspect your audience is going to be searching for the information. If you're in the search results, one would think that you've got a good chance of closing a sale.

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Alan Langford 🇨🇦🧤🧊摏

@davey Heck, you're in P2 in a search already for an out of print book (only C$77 for the paperback!)

IMO you don't need no stinkin' publisher. Maybe someone to walk you though the self-publishing process (for a fee, not a % of sales) and some marketing interns to get your social media game tuned up, but that's it.

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davey Jan 14, 2023

@alan I appreciate your thinking. My third book was self-published; I wasn't satisfied with the one deal I was offered. However, it was produced as an homage to my dead mentor and co-author, not as an attempt to sell widely.
Many successful #authors_guild colleagues self-publish. I don't trust well enough that if I think X is a good idea, but agents and traditional publishers don't see it as viable, I'm right and they're wrong. It happens . . . people do come upon zebra hoofprints/droppings. . .

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Alan Langford 🇨🇦🧤🧊摏 Jan 14, 2023

@davey Like everything else, publishing has changed so much over the past 20 years. Now everyone is looking for big hits and there's little room for those mid-range performers. All they're interested in is the things with the potential for a wide audience (hence the emphasis on celebs). Unless you can find a publisher with a focus that fits your niche (O'Reilly and Packt for IT stuff as examples) it seems to be a much harder sell these days.

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Alan Langford 🇨🇦🧤🧊摏 Jan 14, 2023

@davey And I have to say that as someone who prefers to do his own electrical work (and who has seen/fixed some mind-boggling disasters) if I knew your book existed, I'd pick it up. I know some very old Canadian code and some less old NY state code, but I'm not going to buy a new code book just to add a circuit. A guide like yours fills a need. Supplement with stuff like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmiG4KzZ4sg

6 MISTAKES DIYers Make When Wiring Outlets

YouTube

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davey Jan 14, 2023

@alan Fortunately, my first two books, though dropped by McGraw-Hill, are still available.

Also, happily, the NEC is available free to leaf through online: WWW.NFPA.org/70. (I don't know about the CEC.) Register free, say "No" when NFPA invites you to buy a copy or subscription, agree to "I won't be a bastard" legalese, and you can look through any recent edition as long, and as frequently as you wish. No searching for terms; for that you need to pay. But looking is free. Plus TOC page links.