Publishing your first book?

Gerardo · Post by **Gerardo** » February 24th, 2011, 6:43 pm

I bet a couple of creators here dream of someday publishing their first origami book, in case they haven't already

. I do!

I'm hoping members that already have published their own book or books can tell us the story behind the first one. How hard was it? What did you do to make it happen? Where did you start? Did you consider it worth it and how come? What do you suggest to us dreamers? That kind of stuff

.

I hope we can get to know a couple of stories

.

joshuaorigami · Post by **joshuaorigami** » February 24th, 2011, 7:23 pm

Yep, i've only made one book... So far.

Diagramming the actual models was a little tricky, but it wasn't majorly hard. The hardest part was to put it all together, making sure every page number was right, and that every page itself was there! What did i do to make it happen.... Well, the main reason of making it was for other people to fold my models. I also had alot of support from my family. I started diagramming a few models, to submit to convention books, but when i had a few drawn up, i thought of the idea, and kept going until i had 11 models, and i then just couldn't wait to get it published, so i did!
I think it was worth it, because quite a few people have already folded my models, and it's given me the experience - So my next book will be 10 times better! To all you dreamers out there, i say stop dreaming and get down to work!

When it was finally published, it was really awesome!

And that's about it... Anything else i should add?

orislater · Post by **orislater** » February 24th, 2011, 11:23 pm

ive got some plans like this... how do we actually get it published though?

steingar · Post by **steingar** » February 25th, 2011, 11:04 pm

The hardest part of writing a book is selling it to a publisher. Their main goal is to make some money, so you have to convince them that with your work they will.

First, can they produce the book inexpensively. If they need to dump hours and hours into fixing your crappy diagrams, probably not. If you can send them a CD with diagrams in EPS files and scripts in a .doc format, probably.

The biggest question you have to answer is "why would anyone buy your book?" What have you got that no one else has? If you say a bunch of unique models, you might as well give it up and self publish. If you have some notoriety in the field and can prove it, that might increase your chances some, provided they buy into your proof. Otherwise, what's so great about your collection? If you tell them that its a collection of the hardest and most advanced models ever seen, they will probably reject you out of hand. The number of people who can fold those things is vanishingly small, thus the number of customers smaller still. Moreover, there are already books from noted authors with complex models. What sets yours apart?

If you are lucky enough to score a publisher (it isn't easy!) be prepared to promote your work. It is expected, and you'll want to anyway, since its your book you'll be selling.

There are lots of houses that will help you self-publish, but you must remember that you'll be paying for the books which will sit in your living room/attic/basement until you sell them all.

Or you can contribute your diagrams to places like OUSA and the Tanteidan. There are plenty of them, and they always need new diagrams of high quality models. You don't get rich (you don't from selling books either, I still haven't reached minimum wage on my first) but you will become better known to the community.

Post by **origami_8** » February 26th, 2011, 9:58 am

My publisher found me. The publishing house asked me whether I'd make a book for them and I agreed.
The book is almost done now getting published middle of the year.

joshuaorigami · Post by **joshuaorigami** » February 26th, 2011, 10:08 am

That's cool!

redheadorigami · Post by **redheadorigami** » February 26th, 2011, 11:20 am

I agree with josh.
How many models do you guys think is acceptable for a book?

joshuaorigami · Post by **joshuaorigami** » February 26th, 2011, 11:36 am

redheadorigami wrote:How many models do you guys think is acceptable for a book?

How ever many as you want, i guess. My next one will have up to 30 for sure.

redheadorigami · Post by **redheadorigami** » February 26th, 2011, 12:12 pm

do you think 20+ will suffice?
Or maybe 700?

joshuaorigami · Post by **joshuaorigami** » February 26th, 2011, 12:51 pm

20+ would be great. Are you thinking about publishing one?

karan62 · Post by **karan62** » February 26th, 2011, 12:56 pm

ive got about 32 designs . My only worry is that other folders out there would be able to fold my models better than me which is a bit shameful if you agree

its just my models are of easy to high intermediate and im not sure wether people would want to buy a book without any complex models in by high intermediate i mean about 80 - 90 steps

redheadorigami · Post by **redheadorigami** » February 26th, 2011, 1:09 pm

joshuaorigami wrote:20+ would be great. Are you thinking about publishing one?

Hopefully!

joshuaorigami · Post by **joshuaorigami** » February 26th, 2011, 1:13 pm

karan62 wrote:ive got about 32 designs . My only worry is that other folders out there would be able to fold my models better than me which is a bit shameful if you agree its just my models are of easy to high intermediate and im not sure wether people would want to buy a book without any complex models in by high intermediate i mean about 80 - 90 steps

Don't worry about that. My models are folded better by others than me, all the time. If anything, i see it as a positive, that my models can be folded to a even higher level than before. High intermediate models are normally the most fun to fold (for me anyway), so that's great! Keep going at your own pace, and don't worry about your models being complex or not - It's the final result that matters!

joshuaorigami · Post by **joshuaorigami** » February 26th, 2011, 1:14 pm

redheadorigami wrote:
joshuaorigami wrote:20+ would be great. Are you thinking about publishing one?

Hopefully!

Awesome!

redheadorigami · Post by **redheadorigami** » February 26th, 2011, 1:33 pm

Thanks!