So I want to write a book............possibly

Hey guys, I was wondering if any of our published authors had any insight or advice to give about putting a book together to be published.

I know its a monumental task to undertake and I am thinking if I start forming the idea now, then say in 10-15 years I will have the necessary information ready to be arranged and printed. I want to do a definitive encyclopedia on a whole design and not just pick a single series from that engraver. So for instance, if I was thinking about doing the Barber coins, then the book would include a compilation of all of the known information I could gather on the Dime, Quarter, Half Dollar, and Trade Dollar. Set-up along the lines of:

Foreword
Introduction about myself and why I have the necessary knowledge to write the book and my collecting experience
Information about designer
Information about the time period and its relation to how and why the coins were made
General Info about the first design (Barbers would be dimes)
Variety and Diagnostic info about the first design
General Info about design two (barber quarters)
Variety and Daignostic info about the second design
Repeat for the following subsequent design
Conclusion

My main concerns are how do you compile the pictures of the coins needed to show the diagnostics (assuming a publication previously existed detailing varieties)? Is that something I would have to pair up with an author from a previous book, or is that something that I have to find and do myself? The numbers and the population reports and the known varieties can be gathered fairly easily from existing publications and various organizations that handle these coins, so not overly concerned there.

At any rate, it is just a budding idea and I want to sort of test the water before moving further at a break neck speed. In fact, my main goal for the moment is finding all of the pre-existing references that I can and reading through them to gather as much information that has already been written. I think the ANA library is going to be the fastest way to find those hard to locate books that I need. At least to get my eyeballs on them and see if this is something I want to tackle further.

I believe I have a good idea and know of a niche I can fill and also educate folks and give them some updated material to reference for their collection. Its just a matter of finding the old information, understanding it, and then adding my own touch and some updates along with compiling it how I want. All in all I think its going to be a winner though.

 

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I have done computer books, but no pictures.

 

You neglected to include the Liberty Head nickel which is also a Barber design.

The biggest stumbling block that I see to an undertaking like this is that the book would be either 1) so enormous that you would price yourself right out of the market, or 2) you would have to sacrifice so much information to reduce the size that the book wouldn't be taken seriously.

Chris

 

Or option 3, a two (maybe 3) part encyclopedia

 

Size is not an issue if you publish electronically.

That said, I'd make it a website, monetized either by subscription or ads.

 

This way here, it would all be published at once, and would be matching books, but if a collector wanted to pick a certain set of designs, they had that option too.

The market is another question I have, what are print run sizes typically on numismatic books? 500? 1000? 2500? More? Not talking about redbooks either, but like the VAM book or JH Clines SLQ book, how many are usually printed for a decent reference book?

 

I wish these authors would wake up to digital books. So much more profit, zero distribution cost, you can fix errors and sell every copy ordered forever.

 

Theres nothing like a good bound book though. I love em and thats one of the reasons why I want to write one. I do see how breaking it down later on for updates would be nice. Say start with an initial 3 volume hard bound set, then at 5 years break it all down to individual paper bound books updated of course, and then 5 years after than redo the hard volume with updates, and alternate something like that.

I like the idea of a website, but theres just something about holding a hard copy book in your hands

 

Barber is just an example here, I know there are coins I missed, but I was just trying to give a brief idea of how I envisioned it going

 

I used to think that way and I have so many books we have run out of shelves. I have easily spent $30,000 on books in my life so far, but in recent years I only buy digital. I have several dozen books on my iPad and iPhone and can access them whenever I am, can search them, bookmark.. It's just better!

I have no interest in hardcover unless it is the only way I can get it,

 

Im just not a screen reader and able to absorb information like I can from words on physical paper. I guess im just old school in that regards although I grew up with a computer at my fingertips

I spend enough time on electronics anyway, a good book is a welcome break from the technology

 

Yeah... until it ends up on the Pirate Bay; the die hards will cough up the money to buy while anyone else with even a remote interest can simply steal it. Please understand that I am not at all against eBooks, but am not sure, because of the subject, this would be in the author's best interest. Perhaps someone with more experience can shed more light on the matter though.

 

Since there are tens of thousands of "suitable" coins available for illustration, it should be a snap to license the rights to images for a specific book, and you will be in a position to say, regarding your terms, take it or leave it. Despite the fact that images are essential for your book, the images themselves are worth very little in the marketplace. You could make a contract with an auction house, or perhaps PCGS or NGC, or with individual buyers and sellers on eBay, using a short boilerplate contract which you pay an attorney $100 to write. Images are the least of your worries.

As for the book, start in the middle and work toward both ends. If you have, say, 14 chapters in mind, and today you feel like writing about Chapter 5, go right ahead; tomorrow, it may be Chapter 12. Authors who drag themselves to the keyboard and slog through 1, then 2, then 3, etc., in order, take much longer to tie things together.

Why do great ideas never turn into books? Because the neophyte author's afraid he'll make a mistake. The rule should be, "Get It Down, and We'll Get It Right Later..." The ideal -- splatter the book down in 48 hours, and every time you look at your tortured manuscript, you see something new to change and/or improve and/or expand. Trying to get it precisely right the first draft -- is -- insanity. That's why books never get written. I speak not as an author, not as an editor, but as a very very good proofreader. I was a proofreader for a literary magazine for over 20 years. I do not parse the creative process, I look for mistakes.

Another task you may begin, today -- collect copies of all your competition, and study them. Don't re-invent the wheel. And you may want to quote from some of them, properly attributed, of course. It is 10 times easier to write the book than to market the book.

Proofreader? Go back and look at all MY old posts, comments, and sales ads. There are no mistakes. Free $1 bill sent postpaid to the finder(s) of the first three mistakes. After $3 has been mailed out, it's over, I'm not rich, and that's coin money.

Good luck.

 

It's not at all difficult to diminish theft and to know who was responsible. The profits are far higher even with theft. The "theft" argument is more FUD from publishers than reality.

 

Doug444 gave VERY good advice. That just how I did my books.

 

Perhaps, but we're also talking about a specialized book with a very limited audience, and I am guessing that there is not a great deal of "profits" in the first place.

 

This is sort of how I already operate. A little here and a little there. I also agree with standing on the shoulders of the giants before me and using them as the base so to speak for my material. The majority of the legwork has already been done by previous authors. The trick is to keep all the different information, discard the repetitive themes, and add some updated information and a couple of new ideas or categories and I can easily see a book being published. I've just never done anything like this before and wanted some other folks' advice and opinions.

An ebook is almost out of the question at this stage. Older folks don't want the technology and the print run would be so small in the grand scheme of things that I don't see much of a problem with printing 2500 or so and most of those selling.

I will say on the proof reading side of things, that mistakes in printed, authoritative texts drives me bananas. If you take the time to put it all down, at least check your work several times over and search out the mistakes.

 

I would think the 'notoriety' is the profit. Plus once people know you as the man who wrote the book, I would imagine more folks would be calling to buy or sell and profits could be had that way, but yes ultimately eduction is the driving factor and also providing a much needed updated text of course.

 

Dick Graham and I published the definitive book on Reeded Edge half dollars and we unveiled it at the Philadelphia ANA in 2012. The first edition was only available as a spiral-bound book and was about 170-pages of fully referenced, fully imaged information on traditional 8.5 x 11 inch format.

Even though the two of us combined our efforts it was still a lot of work. If you endeavor to do something similar, be prepared to have a mighty small print run, to possibly put the money up-front for all publication costs, to arrange distribution by yourself and on your own time, to find that few, if any, publishing houses will touch the work and make certain you ask politely for use of all images. This is not an easy task.

From your first post it appears that you want to write a comprehensive review of known material instead of doing the hardcore research required to move the field forward. A review will be tough as nails while new research is even harder.

 

I look at it more as compiling the existing material, adding new material (some of my own, and some from the others who are experts in the various series), and updating numbers and what's currently known. Id like to think that not only am I presenting the material in a new, original way, but I am also contributing original content and enriching and moving forward the hobby for that particular collecting area.

I can guarantee that for who this book would be written that not only would people actually buy it, they would use it, and it would be loved. Sure the work would be tough, but I've got plenty of time in that regard and I'm hoping the community it would be written for would want to help and contribute.

I do wonder if I'm being naive about people wanting to contribute and help though. I might end up with a lot more 'NOs' then I'm thinking. Lol