In the spirit of full disclosure…

I come from something of a family of scribblers. My brother wrote a regular page for a local paper and my father wrote a book about the interactions of the native Canadians of the north-west territories and the Canadian government of the time.

I read my father’s book. It was well researched and cogently argued. The style was, I have to admit, very dry and more than a bit dusty. It was clear that he had learned to write from teachers in the 1940s and they were often older men. Many teachers were pulled out of retirement to work at the blackboard once more. That said, there was much of value in there and considerable original research.

Now, a history is not necessarily a “trade book”. If you are not familiar with the term, it generally refers to the sort of book that you would find in a big book shop and specifically not specialist books such as text books or manuals. The definition can be a bit blurred especially with the rise of online stores but if your book is called “A history of windmills in 17^th century Florence” then it is not really aimed at the general public and so not considered a trade book. It was hard for my father to believe that not everyone was as fascinated with the topic as he was. I suspect that this is a common trait among authors. Of course, I am immune from this delusion and know that everyone loves zombie survival guides and SF/religious/comedy crossovers.

Anyway, for non-trade books, an author can still approach a publisher directly without needing an agent which was fortunate. My father is still around and closer to his 86^th birthday than his 85^th but he was in his early 70s when he completed his manuscript. I have heard that agents (quite reasonably) much prefer authors who will produce multiple saleable books and my father could not be described as a prolific writer.

He approached publishers one at a time. More accurately, he approached one publisher once. The publisher rejected it saying that they did not think that it was publishable in its current form. It probably didn’t help that he had asked for a large advance. The manuscript went into a desk drawer and has stayed there for the past 10 years.

I dare say that the publisher knew his business and the book would not be of much use to a general publisher. It is a very specialist subject. However, such books are generally part of the long tail. You might not be familiar with the term but, in retail, it is where the profit comes not from large volumes of a few best selling items (for example, the Twilight books) but from many items that sell a relatively few copies. It generally costs more to handle these low volume items and that has to be figured into the retail price.

There are online publishers (and self publishers) that exist almost entirely on the long tail – CD Baby, Lulu and many others. Without the backing of a publisher and a professional editor, a lot of books and CDs are a bit rough around the edges but they can still be of value. If yours is the only book on a subject, it is by definition the best book on that subject.

If it had been my book, I would have considered the validity of the feedback, looked at what I could do to fix it and then tried again with another publisher. If that was unproductive, I would have looked at making it part of the long tail with a print on demand publisher. Hey, better to sell a few copies a month or even a year than none at all. However, my father is a proud man and it is his way or the highway.

I am not that proud. I write because I can’t imagine not writing. And I rewrite. One short story that I had published in an audiobook was rewritten from scratch 4 times without any change of characters or plot. It was worth it. The last version was greatly improved. I don’t think that more than 100 people ever heard it but I am still glad that I did it.

So, do I write just for myself? No, not wholly. If what I am writing works for someone then it is worth doing it. Of course, if it works for a lot of people and they all want to give me money then everyone wins. That said, Neil Gaiman (a fine fellow) has given excellent advice here. If you write just for the money then it won’t be worth it. If it doesn’t sell then you won’t get the money and you won’t have enjoyed the work. If you write what you love and it doesn’t sell… you still have the pleasure of writing it and something that you love. I also think that a writer will write what he knows and loves far better than what he thinks will sell.

I am away on a training course (like almost everyone that writes, I have a day job) so I am going to be off the radar for a week or so. I will post an update if anything exciting happens but it is a waiting game at the moment.

If it helps, think of this bit as the epic trek through the forests that so many fantasy heroes endure for purposes of character development. I should really have some quirky companions.