... That said, I still feel the burn to write every now and then. Maybe I can write something significant someday. I hope to reduce my use of parenthesis and ellipsis when that time finally comes. I may write a book based on a video game. Not a fan fiction, but more of an analysis. I've been concerned about the number of people that would be interested in reading the book in addition to what sort of publisher would be interested. Witnessing the two of you churn out your book served as a bit of an inspiration and proof that it *can* be done. We'll see.
Well, it's certainly a long and often difficult process to get something published. Essentially you need a solid idea that preferably you can run by someone with industry experience. I tend to use my literary agent for that, a gentleman who specializes in technology books. If there's a germ of a decent idea, you then need to develop a convincing proposal. I've written four now either alone or with someone else, with three of them given serious publisher consideration and leading to deals on two of them (with the third a pending longshot). There's no "magic" to the proposal, but they all have certain structural and organizational elements in common. Once you have the proposal, you begin the tedious shopping around process. Certainly having a literary agent helps immensely in that case, as many publishers these days won't even look at unrepresented manuscripts.
What stinks is that as you know, the publishing business is presently in the tank. It's not just books either, but newspapers and magazines as well. Print is in big trouble. Three years back I got a deal that was considered a bit below the average with an 8k advance. These days you're lucky to get half that. The other issue is what niche you're playing in. In regards to videogame books, there are few titles that actually sell outside of hint books and walkthroughs, so that makes most publishers very, very wary of taking on new videogame projects. If you do actually get a deal, it's only because they can produce the thing at a certain page count at a certain quality that they consider safe. Certainly part of the reason Matt and I got to do Vintage Games is because the publisher was and is counting on us having "Armchair Arcade" as another sales platform and to provide support for the book. Without "Armchair Arcade", it might have not even been a sale. Who knows? The point is, the more hooks you have, the more value you can provide to the publisher, the better. And, oh yes, there is no money in this whatsoever. You've got to do it for the satisfaction of having a legitimate published book.
Let's briefly talk numbers. The best selling videogame book of all time has apparently only moved something like 16,000+ copies since 2001. Most struggle to move even a few thousand units over their lifetimes, some a few hundred. Those are not big numbers, especially in comparison to other categories. It's a tough niche to play in. The point is, you've got to do it for the right reasons, which a lot of people (and I'm not counting you in this) don't do. I'm still stunned at the number of people who think getting a book published will make you rich or that they'll even get a decent payday regardless. One gentleman I was speaking to on another forum had it in his head that he was going to write his first book (I forget if it was fiction or nonfiction) so he could help his niece pay for her college. He was planning on using an old disk based DOS word processor on a classic PC because he thought it would be fun. I informed him of the realities of the money situation with book writing (only big names get those big advances, and best sellers are few and far between of the countless thousands of books released each year) and also of the fact that every publisher I've known so far has all of their templates in Microsoft Word, which is obviously pretty much standard everywhere, like the business world. Not to discourage him, but to help him better manage his expectations and see the reality. Again, it's important to go into it realistically and with the right motivation and expectations. The reality is you can never hope to make back financially the hours of toil that you have to put into it.
CkRtech wrote:
So the odd thing about me and writing would have to be the fact I still use paper and pen. The same guy that writes software and spends so much time on the computer goes old school when it comes to writing. Hmm. Perhaps the reason I use paper and pen is because I am on the computer for extended periods of time and want to treat writing as an escape. My handwriting isn't too bad, and using a pen gives me a feeling of freedom when writing. Having the ability to easily write sideways in a margin, draw arrows, scratch something out, or add question marks above thoughts or sentences (i.e. mention this or not??) really helps free my mind and fuel the brainstorm. When I reach a point where the thoughts are a bit more coherent, I hit up the computer and transcribe the notation-based paragraphs into what I hope to be legitimate ones with some sense of order. From there, it evolves exclusively via computer.
I'm faster typing these days. Writing longhand would just slow me down. Regardless, the important thing is just to write, so if that's how you're most comfortable then that makes the most sense. I remember experimenting many times over the years, most significantly with my NEC Mobile Pro 750C Windows CE handheld that I got back around 1996, with handwriting recognition, so I could essentially write comfortably in bed (since typing is not always convenient). It had pretty sloppy recognition (modern systems, like my Gateway Tablet PC are rather better) and I eventually gave up the idea, though I'm set up to type comfortably in bed now if I so chose. I also have a full Fly Fusion setup, though I have yet to implement it, and there are lots of more professional solutions to capture handwriting and optionally convert it to computer text. My big thing is convenience, so whatever the solution I prefer to cut down transfer/translation time as much as possible.
Vintage Games book!
Xbox 360: billlog | Wii: 1345 2773 2048 1586 | PS3: ArmchairArcade Bill Loguidice, Managing Director | Armchair Arcade, Inc.
*************************** Bill Loguidice, Managing Director
Armchair Arcade, Inc.
... That said, I still feel the burn to write every now and then. Maybe I can write something significant someday. I hope to reduce my use of parenthesis and ellipsis when that time finally comes. I may write a book based on a video game. Not a fan fiction, but more of an analysis. I've been concerned about the number of people that would be interested in reading the book in addition to what sort of publisher would be interested. Witnessing the two of you churn out your book served as a bit of an inspiration and proof that it *can* be done. We'll see.
Well, it's certainly a long and often difficult process to get something published. Essentially you need a solid idea that preferably you can run by someone with industry experience. I tend to use my literary agent for that, a gentleman who specializes in technology books. If there's a germ of a decent idea, you then need to develop a convincing proposal. I've written four now either alone or with someone else, with three of them given serious publisher consideration and leading to deals on two of them (with the third a pending longshot). There's no "magic" to the proposal, but they all have certain structural and organizational elements in common. Once you have the proposal, you begin the tedious shopping around process. Certainly having a literary agent helps immensely in that case, as many publishers these days won't even look at unrepresented manuscripts.
What stinks is that as you know, the publishing business is presently in the tank. It's not just books either, but newspapers and magazines as well. Print is in big trouble. Three years back I got a deal that was considered a bit below the average with an 8k advance. These days you're lucky to get half that. The other issue is what niche you're playing in. In regards to videogame books, there are few titles that actually sell outside of hint books and walkthroughs, so that makes most publishers very, very wary of taking on new videogame projects. If you do actually get a deal, it's only because they can produce the thing at a certain page count at a certain quality that they consider safe. Certainly part of the reason Matt and I got to do Vintage Games is because the publisher was and is counting on us having "Armchair Arcade" as another sales platform and to provide support for the book. Without "Armchair Arcade", it might have not even been a sale. Who knows? The point is, the more hooks you have, the more value you can provide to the publisher, the better. And, oh yes, there is no money in this whatsoever. You've got to do it for the satisfaction of having a legitimate published book.
Let's briefly talk numbers. The best selling videogame book of all time has apparently only moved something like 16,000+ copies since 2001. Most struggle to move even a few thousand units over their lifetimes, some a few hundred. Those are not big numbers, especially in comparison to other categories. It's a tough niche to play in. The point is, you've got to do it for the right reasons, which a lot of people (and I'm not counting you in this) don't do. I'm still stunned at the number of people who think getting a book published will make you rich or that they'll even get a decent payday regardless. One gentleman I was speaking to on another forum had it in his head that he was going to write his first book (I forget if it was fiction or nonfiction) so he could help his niece pay for her college. He was planning on using an old disk based DOS word processor on a classic PC because he thought it would be fun. I informed him of the realities of the money situation with book writing (only big names get those big advances, and best sellers are few and far between of the countless thousands of books released each year) and also of the fact that every publisher I've known so far has all of their templates in Microsoft Word, which is obviously pretty much standard everywhere, like the business world. Not to discourage him, but to help him better manage his expectations and see the reality. Again, it's important to go into it realistically and with the right motivation and expectations. The reality is you can never hope to make back financially the hours of toil that you have to put into it.
So the odd thing about me and writing would have to be the fact I still use paper and pen. The same guy that writes software and spends so much time on the computer goes old school when it comes to writing. Hmm. Perhaps the reason I use paper and pen is because I am on the computer for extended periods of time and want to treat writing as an escape. My handwriting isn't too bad, and using a pen gives me a feeling of freedom when writing. Having the ability to easily write sideways in a margin, draw arrows, scratch something out, or add question marks above thoughts or sentences (i.e. mention this or not??) really helps free my mind and fuel the brainstorm. When I reach a point where the thoughts are a bit more coherent, I hit up the computer and transcribe the notation-based paragraphs into what I hope to be legitimate ones with some sense of order. From there, it evolves exclusively via computer.
I'm faster typing these days. Writing longhand would just slow me down. Regardless, the important thing is just to write, so if that's how you're most comfortable then that makes the most sense. I remember experimenting many times over the years, most significantly with my NEC Mobile Pro 750C Windows CE handheld that I got back around 1996, with handwriting recognition, so I could essentially write comfortably in bed (since typing is not always convenient). It had pretty sloppy recognition (modern systems, like my Gateway Tablet PC are rather better) and I eventually gave up the idea, though I'm set up to type comfortably in bed now if I so chose. I also have a full Fly Fusion setup, though I have yet to implement it, and there are lots of more professional solutions to capture handwriting and optionally convert it to computer text. My big thing is convenience, so whatever the solution I prefer to cut down transfer/translation time as much as possible.
Vintage Games book!
Xbox 360: billlog | Wii: 1345 2773 2048 1586 | PS3: ArmchairArcade
Bill Loguidice, Managing Director | Armchair Arcade, Inc.
***************************
Bill Loguidice, Managing Director
Armchair Arcade, Inc.