Fragments From Floyd

This hypothetical highlights a question you may have already answered directly. If so, I missed it: Why, precisely, do you want to be (conventionally) published? There are lots of good possible reasons; I'm just wondering what yours is.

Fred, you've hit upon the "art for art's sake" versus "I need to pay the bills" paradox. Do we write to enlighten, entertain and feed the muse or do we write to enrich our bank account and feed our face?

I ponder that paradox every time I write something for the web or select a photo to appear on a web site or hang in the gallery. Am I doing this to feed my ego or my family?

If reaching the largest audience is a factor, then you will more likely to that on the web than by publishing on processed wood pulp. But books sell for money (if we are lucky).

However, I wonder if our web browsing for free culture hasn't filtered over more into the book world than we realize. I recently worked out of a Border's bookstore in the midwest for a week, using their Wi-Fi network. I noticed a number of the same people who came in each morning, took a book from the shelf, bought a coffee or a latte, and then read for a good part of the day. Over a week's time, they would finish the book and put it back on the shelf.

They read the book, Borders got a $1.75 for a latte and the author and publisher got nada.

Something to think about.

Trey,

Sometimes I know the answer to your question. Sometimes I don't.

I think one reason I want to be conventionally published is to show that I could do it. I've needed a goal these past months while I've watched my wife sell her soul to the company store, leaving the house down snowy roads in the dark. This has been something to 'sink my teeth into', a raison d'etre, a "point".

And I've needed a tangible product... Something to hold in my hands and say "this is what I've done with my energies and creativity since leaving my profession."

I've had several folks who are editors and writers give me encouragement to carry my writing efforts beyond the weblog. I'm sort of stuck in that transition. So, maybe at least going through the motions of having a book published will lead me to ideas, people, skills that will help me see 'what's next'.

Doug,

I don't even pretend to consider publication as a source of income. The returns would be the intangible kind I was describing to Trey.... An exercise in self-discipline and growth along a path. I see greater riches in the people I would meet. The friendships I've made by the blog have been wonderful. But building a "support network" (see Ripples discussion) of actual folks I can sit and have coffee with is part of the "next step" that needs to happen in my odd new life.

I'm hoping success through publication can have that kind of "payment". Failing publication, I can still succeed by keeping the desire alive and getting to know others who write, for personal fulfillment, and to pay the bills. I'm finding I am far more comfortable among writers these days than I ever was among physical therapists. Or even biology teachers. Maybe about equal to my kindship among naturalists.

It is pleasing to hear you sound very comfortable in your own skin Fred. I have been asked by my husband why I don't sell my photos. Afterall, a bit of money would help. But somehow, I feel sharing my particular brand of vision via my blog, transcends my needs for money. Perhaps one day, I will need more money and go in a different direction...

Perhaps you can point them to Cory Doctorow and the Bagdad blogger, both who have published, also have their texts on line and who find it an advantage in marketing terms to have a weblog. I find it a rather riduculous request. Because texts are on the net does not mean people will not buy the books, in fact it is to the contrary.

While you are investigating this area, do look into publish on demand (POD) publishers.

I think you may find that there are more books being produced in this way than you might think.

There is a lot of data on this at the Festival of the Book.

Fred:

I know how you feel about having something tangible. The first time something I wrote or photographed appeared in print I must have just sat and stared at the paper. When I was editing a newspaper I used to tell people that it was the greatest job in the world because, at the end of the day, you could point to the current edition and say: "See! This is what we accomplished today." Hard to find that kind of tangible satisfaction.

Keep writing and keep submitting your stuff to publishers Fred. You're a good writer. Somewhere in one of those monoliths that control the book industry is an editor/reviewer who will see that.

Doug

Fred, I think I've already shared with you my ambivalence about conventional publishing. On the one hand, I'd love to get a "real" book deal, see my book in the bookstores, be on Oprah & all those daytime shows, etc. But I also am incredibly stubborn about doing "what it takes" to break into conventional publishing.

Dave is right. Print-on-demand gives you the product without the "hoops" that conventional publishers make you go through. And with Fragments reaching as many readers as it does, it would be easy enough to sell POD copies via the blog, do local booksignings, etc.

I'm certainly not trying to turn you or anyone else off conventional publishing; I just think POD is a great option that many folks are too proud to look into. The fact is, Thoreau himself self-published his first book. And a friend of mine who just published a book via HarperCollins is still largely responsible for promoting that book in bookstores, on the web, to friends & virtual strangers, etc.

You're a good hand-shaker: you have the social networking thing down. Whether you publish via POD or a conventional publisher, that charm (and your writing style, of course) is what's going to sell books for you. Either way, you'd still have a tangible "product" to be proud of & that people will enjoy.

Baen books put most of their top authors on the web in downloadable form. This has increased the sale of their books