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One last shot at finding publisher before self-publishing
Subject:One last shot at finding publisher before self-publishing From:Steven Oppenheimer <writer -at- writemaster -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Sat, 31 May 2003 14:05:42 -0400
Hi, all. I've been trying for several years to publish a very unusual
college hunting guide. I've had some heart-breaking near-misses: One
editor loved it, but her marketing people shot it down; just yesterday I
talked with another publisher where the editorial staff wanted to publish
it, but they sent it to outside reviewers in the education field who said
they probably recomment students buy other books instead of mine. (But my
book is *different* from the others, so why couldn't they recommend my book
*in addition* to the others!? Life sure isn't fair....)
I've tried all the major presses that specialize in the college guides,
plus all sorts of other small-to-medium sized presses. I've contacted
virtually every publisher I can find that will actually look at the
proposal/sample chapters. Of course, most of the really big publishers
won't look at the book unless you have an agent -- and the agents seem to
universally want to deal with authors who are former Senators or astronauts
or Harvard University Presidents, or have their own talk shows, etc. (Hey,
that's it -- first I'll become a United States Senator, and then I can get
my book published. No, wait, I'm not sure that's the easiest route to go...)
I still have two publishers looking at it, but obviously the odds are not
great. I'm leaning towards publish on demand, and putting up a web page
for the book. Before I do that, however, I had one more thought:
I'm looking for a list-serve where publishers communicate with each
other. I want to join, tell them a bit more about the book, and see if I
get any bites. I've tried searching Yahoo groups and the LSOFT
International site, and can't find any large list-serves that seem to serve
the major New York publishing community. Does anyone know of any such
list-serve? Or is it worth placing a small ad in the back of something
like Publishers Weekly? Any other suggestions on how I target the
publishing community?
Steven Oppenheimer
Oppenheimer Communications
Technical and Business Writing: Making The Complex Accessible
writer -at- writemaster -dot- com www.writemaster.com (301) 468-9233
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