Any interest in writing some Books? (in collaberation?)

[David_Old_Jersey]

Have started looking into both E-Books (and print on demand hard copies) as a small part of a project back in the real world (unconnected to boats, all very dull training manual type stuff ).

The plan is that various folks contribute chapters (whether in full or part), contributions are peer reviewed (and argued over!)........and someone (me? ) acts as overall Editor / Publisher..........my project does not have to worry about selling on it's own (nor have to pay the contributors in cash )...........as will be simply a tool for the use of each Contributor, however they see fit (in full or part) - the basic idea being that together we can come up with something better than one individual and most importantly will save time writing / creating (and in fact the time factor alone would preclude most from creating their own full version)..........and whilst the content has to be good, it won't need to be high street polished ......the Project has a name. It's called "The Bible"


But, anyway, was thinking that the basic concept (a group written book (or 2), peer reviewed by others) might work with the Boat Cruising malarky.....as like some others am struck by how much good knowledge gets archived on CF / is simply hidden amongst other things (but that's because CF is a forum - and that's what happens and why good info is contributed, no point moaning about it ).......but would be nice to capture that info.

Obviously the power of cut & paste would work - but am not really that bothered, as the Boat Book(s) won't make any great money (especially not spread amongst multiple contributors!)......but apart from helping others, motivation for a group effort might be to develop your own learning curve to see whether self-publishing on own would be a route for future Cruising riches ......and I wouldn't worry about being a good writer, more a case of having something to say and doing so in a style (any style!) that seems to work with other folks, just like the internet - make your own rules up . Anyway, we would not be trying to write Shakespeare (Monkey's are busy )..............me will be on a learning curve anyway with E-books and hard copies, otherwise I wouldn't bother with this Boat Book idea .

Anyone else interested?


I have been looking at these people:-

http://www.lulu.com/publish/

All very initial with me , so all thoughts (good / bad) on the collaberation Boat Book Idea / possible content / the publishing & distribution business (online & real world) would be of help

[NewMoon]

I chose Lulu to produce and publish my book, "Cruising in a Big Way" April 2009, and have been mostly quite pleased.

It's designed to inform a small power boat owner (or potential owner) on how to choose, configure and equip a trailerable boat that could work for cruising the Inside Passage, and how to plan and prepare for a successful cruise.

I took a good bit of the material from my earlier posts on bulletin boards, and had lots of suggestions and editing help from several other folks, all of whom had at least some familiarity with small boat cruising. It seemed to me that a clear and consistent writing style was quite desirable, and that including sections written by others probably wouldn't work very well. But that was for that I had in mind.

It hasn't made a lot of money - getting out the word of its existence is the hardest part - but it's sold enough to give me satisfaction. It could probably never have been published before Lulu and such tools were available - too much of a niche audience.

[David_Old_Jersey]

Originally Posted by NewMoon

I chose Lulu to produce and publish my book, "Cruising in a Big Way" April 2009, and have been mostly quite pleased.

It's designed to inform a small power boat owner (or potential owner) on how to choose, configure and equip a trailerable boat that could work for cruising the Inside Passage, and how to plan and prepare for a successful cruise.

I took a good bit of the material from my earlier posts on bulletin boards, and had lots of suggestions and editing help from several other folks, all of whom had at least some familiarity with small boat cruising. It seemed to me that a clear and consistent writing style was quite desirable, and that including sections written by others probably wouldn't work very well. But that was for that I had in mind.

That makes you the Expert ...........and kinda confirms my supposition......perfectly doable (if one wants). Cheers.

It hasn't made a lot of money - getting out the word of its existence is the hardest part - but it's sold enough to give me satisfaction. It could probably never have been published before Lulu and such tools were available - too much of a niche audience.

That is my take on it as well - but IMO not any the less worthwhile for that.

[Play Actor]

I've published print on demand paperbacks using Createspace with good results. For ebooks, I've published in the Kindle Store on Amazon, as well as Smashwords, who will distribute to most of the rest of the ebook stores.

[mario f]

Greetings all,

I have had good luck with Blurb, though most are very similar, with blurb I am not stuck on line doing anything. The program you download allows you to edit, post and see the actual layouts, more control on layout. When done just upload and print.
I have done several projects with very good results and the price is right. I did find images are a bit tricky, most need to be a few stops lighter for them to print right.
Your idea has merit and best it is doable with some preplanning and organization.

For the money matters... I don't know many writers that are in for the money. I know I barely cover cost and see it as more of a personal gratification.

Look forward to its development. Keep me posted.

Mario

[hummingway]

An interesting idea for sure David. I think for training manuals to be successful they would have to be clearly written. Is your intention that someone would write an outline then assign chapters based on the outline?

[MichaelC]

I think it is an awesome idea. Most such books have only one perspective, since they are written by one person. The tremendous value of this website is that it makes me think long and hard about my own perspectives and shifts some of it definitely. Experience is very hard to ignore [well, if you have more than a 2 digit IQ, anyway]. I don't know that I have enough expertise in any area to participate, but I am sure interested in the outcome. I have written academic books, sailing articles, and unpublished fiction. Anyway, with building I could not participate right now. The idea, however, is excellent. And these websites [lulu, blurb, createspace] are informative. Thanks.

[Noname1]

David one assumes you will write any humor and dry wit section?

[SaucySailoress]

Tell me what topic you want me to write and how many words - and I'll get cracking. Sounds like great fun!

[David_Old_Jersey]

Originally Posted by hummingway

An interesting idea for sure David. I think for training manuals to be successful they would have to be clearly written.

I wasn't particularly clear, the training manual(s) (AKA "The Bible" ) is part of my day job, which I will be doing anyway (at some point ).

The Boat Books project is entirely seperate (and not meant as commercial, at least not by me) - simply an extension of the same idea.

It's to fill my free time

Is your intention that someone would write an outline then assign chapters based on the outline?

Errrr.....I was thinking....ummm. something like that...........

..........maybe a group effort to come up with ideas for a number of books? as inspiration / vague goals - and book names

maybe not so much about assigning chapters but more looking for volunteers (settling for what we can get? )......and then building the book(s)around what we have - in the expectation that we will probably be filling in chapters later. Maybe each book could have it's own Editor (self nominate guys - don't be shy ). or several people could even edit their own version? (all using the same source material).

I am a great beleiver in making up one's own rules So I do not feel contstrained by several centuries of publishing tradition. And from my past nearly foray into the Publishing world 5 years ago (different subject) - short stories / articles by different Authors were apparently a publishing "no no" - but I disagreed then, and still do......works for Magazines and Newspapers. and on the internet - as long as the overall concept / point / theme links the subjects together..........what stopped me back then was the internet publishing / on demand printing had not developed enough........

[JDGreenlee]

Where are the graduate students when you need them? Someone could mine this for "The Best of Cruisers Forum" with chapters on anchoring, pirates, radar, etc. The trouble is prevalent lack of consensus. What if one plotted each posted key word frequency and detected cycles? Does Google have a crawler that can inventory phrases on CF?

[Cormorant]

I think we could produce a fine 1200-page tome covering two topics:

What is the best anchor?
Monohull or multihull?

By the way, I run a small publishing company, have done many print books and am now venturing into e-books, and like to write. Can't claim expert status on anything boaty . . . except maybe beachable shallow-draft lugsail yawls. . . . I could certainly help with the general workflow of bring a big book together.

[flysci]

You are very ambitious David; I think it would be a huge undertaking. Have you ever heard of the saying "too many cooks spoils the pot"? Even if you could get enough authors to write on a set of subjects with some kind of coherence, the editor's job would be daunting. There are a few books like this that work. e.g. a cruiser's magazine gathering together all the articles on safety, or on big water/storm tactics. But then all the articles were already paid for, and each had been edited to conform to the magazine's style already, so the coherence was already there.

Also, I'm not sure, but I think all the postings, the content, on a forum belongs to the owner of that forum? Maybe you could use your own postings, but a best of CF, I think is off the table.

None the less, if you are willing to be that mean old editor who wrangles all the authors into the corral of style, the singular vision for the book, it might just work. I think there are some excellent writers on this forum, funny & engaging.

Any ideas for a theme? How not to do sailboat repairs, for instance, could be funny.

Margo

[Bergovoy]

you can publish my work? but, I WOULD want royalties... hehehehe

[Noname1]

Originally Posted by flysci

You are very ambitious David; I think it would be a huge undertaking. Have you ever heard of the saying "too many cooks spoils the pot"?

Margo

I apologize but I must disagree.

One word refutation.

Linux.