Anyone have experience publishing political nonfiction?

[Plaid Adder]

I have sometimes thought abotu trying to get the DU columns out as a book. Clearly no mainstream press will touch them, but I know there must be small presses out there who might. Anyone got suggestions about presses that publish left-wing political commentary and suchlike things?

C ya,

The Plaid Adder

[revree]

1. My agent is having one hell of a time...

selling my two books - one is a bio of Mae Brussell, conspiracy theorist who predicted the rise to power of Bush family, voter fraud, etc... the other is a book about the religious right vs. the spiritual left. The trend we have been seeing is "this stuff is great, but doesn't fit our list for the next year..." My agent is focusing on big publishers first, then on to mid-size and smaller publishers because they take more risks. Book deals aren't as lucrative at the smaller houses, but I as a writer will no doubt have more control over content.

It is a rough situation right now, but when Publishers do see how well Left-leaning books sell, they do consider them. Put together a great book proposal with samples of your essays and start sending out queries, or think about self-publishing to keep total control... I don't have the money to do that, but if I did, I would!

My first book, "Looking For God In All the Wrong Places," won awards for its social commentary, but was written more from a spiritual standpoint, with humor to take the edge off. My main focus is harder hitting stuff, so I would love to know more about you and perhaps we can help each other find our voices out there!

MARIE JONES
www.mariedjones.com
[e-mail]

[revree]

2. Oh, check out SCB Distributors

they are a catalog of books like you are thinking of...and you can get the names of some risk-taking small publishers from their list of books...Google SCB Distributors... see if they will send you a catalog. Great resource!

I'll pass on more as I come across stuff.

MARIE

[Coyote_Bandit]

3. Throw Me A Bone

If you find such a publisher please let me know.

I spent seven years studying history, business, poly sci, education and law sat Six Flags Over Jesus. Some of my professors and classmates have penned some of the inspirational tomes of the religious right. I should have the educational pedigree to write the rebuttal. And I'm already working on it.

[soupkitchen]

4. Self-publish

Plaid,
I don't say this lightly. You're a very good, a professionally good writer.
I would buy a collection of your columns. And I think many people on DU would. And then there's plenty of other sympathetic web-sites out there through which to market your book via links and word of mouth.
I certainly don't think with the advent of desk-top publishing it would prove to be prohibitively expensive, even if you had to hire an experienced hand.
On the other hand, I've always thought that marketing some "Best of DU" publications might be the next logical venture for the Underground to pursue. Certainly you would be one of their most marketable contributors.

[SteppingRazor]

5. Yeah...

Self-publishing's not expensive at all/ In fact, it can be done for almost zero coast in this day and age. It is also, however, at zero profit and zero marketability.

Publishing has bbecome like the recording industry. Anyone can post an album on the Internet. The problem is, no one will ever download it. The big publishing companies, like the big recording labels, have the distribution and marketing abilities that you lack. That's the only thing that keeps them in business in this day and age. It's also the reason you must find a publishing company if your goal in publishing your work is not just to see it published, but to see that as many people read it as possible.

On edit: I would point out though that, in this post-election season, you are likely to see very little interest in your work. Political writing doesn't play right after elections. Most folks are burnt out on the stuff. Just warning you that the majority of publishers would've been interested maybe last year, but not for the next three or four.

[BigMcLargehuge]

6. Well, I know Xlibris links their POD books at Amazon

but I still stand by the advice that self publishing is, in the vast majority of cases, the best, fastest, and most thorough way to sabotage your future professional publishing prospects.

[soupkitchen]

7. But I think one of the aims of self=publishing is to create enough buzz

or exposure to get picked up by a larger publishing house.
And of course, this is a longshot, but I think Plaid has the talent to bring the longshot home.

[bain_sidhe]

8. I've been thinking about offering a P.O.D. prep service

and book store, and I was actually thinking about approaching you to see if you'd be interested. I've done one P.O.D. book (actually, it's an engagement calendar - see it here with Cafe Press, and have the software and the skills to take raw text and prepare it for print on demand publication. My idea was to either do the prep "free" and offer it in my own CafePress bookstore, and split the profits with the author, or charge a prep fee and the author can take the final ready to print file wherever he or she likes.

Unfortunately, I'm almost out the door on my way out of town (going up to see my mom for a few days). I can get to DU from her house though, so if you want to talk more, PM me or reply.

The calendar is about to be taken down - it's for 2004. My sister in law was going to be my first "service" customer, with a 2005 writer's calendar, but it doesn't look like she's going to be able to do it.

Gotta go now, but I'll check back before I leave... let me know.

[lapislzi]

9. Go to the library and check the Writer's Market

it's in the reference section. I believe they use subcategories. You can also write to publishers whose books are in line with your ethics and ask them for a set of guidelines. Many of the smaller presses (like PPP) accept unsolicited mss.

Bonne chance.

[nostamj]

10. i'm going to experiment with publishing through cafepress

i already have the store and there's NO upfront cost. i can produce a 100pp perfectbound book (with color covers) for a base price of $10 each. any markup comes back to me.

and that's the TOP of the line. you can get saddle-stitch or spiral bound too. final price depends on binding/format/size and # of pages.

i'm thinking of putting out a collection of my political parodies from the FIRST term (inc. most of the ?W revue and cut material).

i'm also thinking about using the service to publish an 'occasional' journal of poetry, rants and other writings from the left.

it's not quite random house but if you want to get something into print quickly and w/o upfront costs....

[tavalon]

11. Check with Will Pitt

He did it.