How did you publish your martial arts book? Did you self publish? Did you find an agent? The market is rather small. What was the process you followed?
How did you publish your Martial Arts Book?
- Thread starter Makalakumu
- Start date
OP
- Thread Starter
- #2
Does anyone have much experience with this self publisher?
http://www.lulu.com/
What was your experience?
http://www.lulu.com/
What was your experience?
I always cringed at the idea of self publishing... you know visions of a garage full of boxes of worthless books that you can't sell for their weight as used paper pulp. But, with the new technology where you can order books made up as you need them, it's a whole different world. I checked out the prices for small orders on this site (Lulu) and you could easily put together a series of training manuals and begin by selling them to your students, and make a fair profit to boot.
Anyway, what kind of book are you planning to write?
OP
- Thread Starter
- #4
It's already written and in the editing phase. The book is about teaching bunkai in TSD hyung. Typically, an author looks for an agent and the agent markets the book to major publishers. However, the martial arts niche is so small, I have been unable to find a single agent who represents such books. I wonder how some of the big name authors got published? Did they just approach the publishers directly? What am I missing?
i'm giving you second hand information here, hope you don't mind.
my coach steve scott has published many books, most through turtle press as well as a few self-published. he probably has more than a dozen out all together.
anyway, he doesn't have an agent, he just submitted manuscripts until turtle picked him up under contract. however he has the advantage of having been in the martial arts world for a long, long time at a pretty high profile. so the publisher knew that they it was at least a break-even investment just based off of what he could sell to his students, friends, & associates. even though he has access to a publisher, he still self-publishes certain books so that he doesn't have to make any compromises.
like i said, all my info is second hand but i'll be happy to tell you what little i do know.
now here's the obligatory plug for steve's latest book:
http://www.amazon.com/Tap-Out-Textb...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1241563741&sr=8-1
jf
my coach steve scott has published many books, most through turtle press as well as a few self-published. he probably has more than a dozen out all together.
anyway, he doesn't have an agent, he just submitted manuscripts until turtle picked him up under contract. however he has the advantage of having been in the martial arts world for a long, long time at a pretty high profile. so the publisher knew that they it was at least a break-even investment just based off of what he could sell to his students, friends, & associates. even though he has access to a publisher, he still self-publishes certain books so that he doesn't have to make any compromises.
like i said, all my info is second hand but i'll be happy to tell you what little i do know.
now here's the obligatory plug for steve's latest book:
http://www.amazon.com/Tap-Out-Textb...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1241563741&sr=8-1
jf
marlon
Master Black Belt
I am mustering the courage to write a book on sk. I will try some publishers but if that does not work i will post it on my website and here(if allowed). i have a printer who will bind it by order and we will see. If it does well, then i will try some publishers again. Consider, though that you have the world wide web here to start with...
best of success to you
Marlon
best of success to you
Marlon
I have been approached several times by publisher's to write for them and each time they just wanted to much creative control. A good friend of mine actually went down that route and they butchered at least two of his martial books to the point where he was very upset. (he is now self publishing) So I decided to create a publishing company and self publish and well it was the best choice ever. (at least for me) Full creative control and the ability to work at my pace and publish when I want. Really it was a great decision and yes financially it was a very, very good choice!
OP
- Thread Starter
- #8
I have been approached several times by publisher's to write for them and each time they just wanted to much creative control. A good friend of mine actually went down that route and they butchered at least two of his martial books to the point where he was very upset. (he is now self publishing) So I decided to create a publishing company and self publish and well it was the best choice ever. (at least for me) Full creative control and the ability to work at my pace and publish when I want. Really it was a great decision and yes financially it was a very, very good choice!
Create a publishing company? How?
Well I am always interested in publishing new books Jarrod. 
Currently I am working on an IRT practitioner's book and in talks with a couple of FMA's to get them to write and then I will publish their book's. As to creating a publishing business that is simple go through all the applicable state regulations and set up your business and walla you are there. Then you just have to get going and begin publishing. Really it is not that hard. Will it rival the large publishing firms? No! But it certainly does allow you to have creative control and the ability to be compensated well if you work hard at it!
Currently I am working on an IRT practitioner's book and in talks with a couple of FMA's to get them to write and then I will publish their book's. As to creating a publishing business that is simple go through all the applicable state regulations and set up your business and walla you are there. Then you just have to get going and begin publishing. Really it is not that hard. Will it rival the large publishing firms? No! But it certainly does allow you to have creative control and the ability to be compensated well if you work hard at it!
