How do you go about getting a publisher interested in a book from you? Sample chapter? Who here has written real books or knows about this? Would be my ideal job - research and writng about it even better than game programming!

I'm not an expert but I would surmise:

1) Provide a brief synopsis of the proposed book and state who the target audience is. Say whether there would be source code, and whether it would be best listed, on a CD or downloaded from the internet (the publisher will most likely have their own policy on this and you may not get a choice)
2) Provide a proposed table of contents, along with a summary of each chapter's purpose
3) Provide a sample chapter so that they can see your writing style (and check that you know how to punctuate and form sentences!)

The first part is the most important. They won't read through your sample chapter, no matter how good it is, if they don't think the book is going to sell. Try to be original and cover an area seldom coverered before. Convince them why you are qualified to cover it.

This is all speculation, however, there are people on here that have written books and are in a better place to inform you [smile]

All publishers post "Author Guidelines" on their Web pages. Go to their site, find 'em, and follow the instructions.

What pan narran describes is a good summary of what you'll see listed. But it never hurts to pay attention to exactly what the publisher says they want.

-David

Also make sure you send your samples in manuscript form. You can search for how to do this, but it essentially makes it easier for the editor to look at your work. Make it easy for him and you just moved your manuscript to the top 5% of the pile.

Quote: Original post by d000hg
How do you go about getting a publisher interested in a book from you?
Sample chapter? Who here has written real books or knows about this?
Would be my ideal job - research and writng about it even better than game programming!

Well, you have to write a manuscript of promise first. Then, you can use a couple of sources. One, query agents, oftentimes they are listed online at places like literaryagents.org , or, writer's net or my personal favorites publication, The Annual Writer's Market, the 2005 edition of this should be coming out in a few months.

It's packed with names, addresses, e-mails, guidelines, formats, pay rates in many cases of periodicals, and percentages in terms of larger works that are sold on commission/royalty basis.

These ads often have a lot of specifics you need to know, as well as articles on how to write a great query letter, which is your primary tool besides the phone.

When you call an agent, publisher (acquistions is the department you want), realize that they schedule books as often as a year in advance for publication, so don't think this is a quick buck, though it can be substantial bucks.

When you are talking to a publisher, it is a chess game. You've got to convince them you've thought about their target audiences, which you gathered from research, that they've published books before like yours, that this genre is coming back into vogue, which you gathered from research, and that you have x or y publishing credits already if those exist.

Then, they may or may not ask to see sample chapters chances are better for you if they do, and if you are not talking on the phone, offer that in the query letter.

Your query letter has to sell you so sell sizzle and not steak, get them hot and excited about your intellectual propery, as selling is a big part of the writing business, in fact, it's the purpose for most writers, when artistic expression is a secondary factor in producing the work.

Write a book that you are passionate and expert in the subject matter of, even if it is fiction, you have to be the complete master of that world.

Then, manage those relationships. Rejection today is not rejection tommorrow on another manuscript, and if they don't want your work, don't crash, ask them what they do want, and can you call them back when you have something you think they could use.

Be professional and objective and mature about the timetables, the markets and the politics of intellectual property. Agents and publisher don't like dealing with a person they reject who is angry because of it. I got 496 rejection slips in over 15 years of serious writing, and 10 years of becoming one.

Don't write a book that you are not passionate about totally, unless you are a contract technical writer or a subject expert book writer, because you will have a hard time breathing the fire that makes a story shine by the fifth or sixth draft into it.

Writing is rewriting, and put the finished manuscript up on the shelf for three weeks after you are done and read it again with a distant set of eyes before you send it out, because the loss of objectivity is present in most writers.

All in all, it's quite a formulaic process, just like the marketing of any other IP, and, manage the process of submissions so nobody hangs onto your story for too long without optioning it or recognizing you have to move on to other prospects because they have not gotten back to you in a reasonable enough time.

Keep cordial and emotionally detached from the process, because it can take a couple of years to sell fiction here in the trenches where you are not a big name because of a reason yet, and have fun with the work, there is nothing judgemental about creativity while you are doing it, unless you heap that on yourself.

Never judge a first draft, it is merely ingredients on one counter for you to process into the final dinner, and give yourself the wisdom and life experience gift only writing a book length manuscript can give you.

Good luck,

Addy

Thanks for the replies. Would anyone reading care to throw in publishers who spring to mind for the game-programming genre in case I've missed some?
Also who here has written/are writing books - nominate yourself or other members.

As someone who hasn't written any books before, will it add much weight to my proposal if I had some articles published online (here for instance) on the same topics or general areas?

Cheers.


[Edited by - d000hg on July 2, 2004 6:54:52 AM]

Quote: Original post by d000hg
Thanks for the replies. Would anyone reading care to throw in publishers who spring to mind for the game-programming genre in case I've missed some?

Course PTR, Charles River Media, Addison Wesley, Morgan Kaufman, and SAMS are the names I see on my shelf.

Quote: Original post by d000hg
As someone who hasn't written any books before, will it add much weight to my proposal if I had some articles published online (here for instance) on the same topics or general areas?

This is ALWAYS true. More previous experience is better previous experience. In most cases, you would be even better served to have articles in print magazines, since these are still considered slightly elevated above the online form.

ld

Quote: Original post by d000hg
Thanks for the replies. Would anyone reading care to throw in publishers who spring to mind for the game-programming genre in case I've missed some?

The following publishers have a strong focus on game development: Course Technology PTR (formerly Premier Press, formerly Prima Tech), Charles River Media, New Riders, Wordware, Paraglyph Press

And then you have the publishers who have released game or graphics programming titles, but those topics are not their focus: Addison-Wesley, Morgan Kaufmann, A.K. Peters, McGraw-Hill, Prentice Hall, O'Reilly, Focal Press, IDG Books, No Starch Press, and APress.

I've gotta run right now, but I'll check later and see if there's anything else I can answer. I'm working on my 4th book right now, and I know quite a bit about most of the publishers I mentioned.

Cool, thanks. Feel free to PM me anything you want to share (I like that new feature)!