Woodworking Book Project

Wally wrote:
> I'm considering to write a book on woodworking. The intended book will
> be about the wood itself (mechanical properties, types of finishes,
> some botanic info to identify the trees, variety of usage, etc).
>
> The reason why I'm interested in writing this book is because I've
> never found any book that have all this together with a reasonable
> amount of info. Basically this book would be a blend from
> "Understanding wood from Bruce Hoadley, Woodworker's Guide to Wood
> from Rick Peters, and some other books like the botanic stuff (for
> identifying wood) + finishing.
>
> If I attain my objectives, my book would provide all the information
> necessary about identifying a tree, harvest it and dry it for
> woodworking usage. You would also have all the mechanical info about
> wood properties (shrinkage, resistance, spans, etc). You would also
> get sample pictures with all those species with various finishes and
> stains. At last, you would have pictures of furniture or objects made
> by each specie.
>
> My questions to you wreckers:
>
> 1. Do you see a significant value in such a book?
>
> 2. Would you suggest additional chapters on other subjects?
>
> 3. What are the pitfalls with publishers?
>
>
> Thanks for any useful information!

Some problems with your approach: the U.S. Forest Dept. has already
done it...Encyclopedia of Wood. Best job of publishing has been done by
Lee Valley. Other tomes you seem to have missed: Know Your Woods,
Albert J. Constantine, Jr.; World Woods In Color, William A. Lincoln;
Useful Woods of The World, Flynn & Holder,and a few others.

Next up, if you can differentiate the book enough to give it value
enough for people to add it to their libraries, is to find a publisher
BEFORE you write the book.

Good luck.

Andy Dingley wrote:
> On Sat, 03 Sep 2005 14:56:30 -0400, Wally <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> >Basically this book would be a blend from
> >"Understanding wood from Bruce Hoadley, Woodworker's Guide to Wood
> >from Rick Peters, and some other books like the botanic stuff (for
> >identifying wood) + finishing.
>
> Can you really do a better job than "Understanding Wood" and
> "Identifying Wood" ? There are already far too many woodworking books
> in the world (usually very poor ones) and only a few areas where there
> isn't a good one. I see this particular niche as one that's already
> pretty well covered.
>
> I like the idea of "from tree to furniture" coverage (which Hoadley's
> two don't quite cover), but that limits itself to local timbers. I
> already have books from the UK forestry commission that do this pretty
> well for UK broadleaf species.
>
> I would _love_ a European edition of "Identifying Wood", with our local
> species in it, rather than all this hickory and osage orange.

Talk to Taunton's acquisitions editor. Who knows? They may be in the
market for just such a supplementary book, especially if you can find
someone to cover the Aussie versions that are gaining popularity in the
U.S., along with one or two or twenty Asian woods, and a good, deep
look at some S. American species. That might just expand the market to
where a publisher can afford to do a good job.

Andy Dingley wrote:
> On 4 Sep 2005 06:44:27 -0700, "Charlie Self" <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> >Talk to Taunton's acquisitions editor.
>
> Oddly enough, I have done (although not about that subject). They were
> the _least_ helpful of any publisher I've spoken too, and the most US
> isolationist. They're not interested in books of limited interest to
> their core US market, and they're pretty uninterested in working with
> non-US authors. I was disapointed, quite frankly, although I found the
> similar UK publishers to be much more encouraging (and when I have the
> projects finished to get the photographs done, you'll maybe see the
> results).

Sterling Publishing used to have a pretty close relationship to British
and Aussie publishers. One of their top guys now runs Barnes & Noble,
which now owns Sterling, so lord knows what's up there. Storey
Publishing used to do some good stuff, though they are more lighter
crafts oriented than they are woodworking. I'm not too impressed with
Storey's responses to queries in recent years, and Sterling and I came
to a parting ot the ways about a decade ago, but both might be
possiblities.

On Sat, 03 Sep 2005 14:56:30 -0400, Wally <[email protected]> wrote:

>Basically this book would be a blend from
>"Understanding wood from Bruce Hoadley, Woodworker's Guide to Wood
>from Rick Peters, and some other books like the botanic stuff (for
>identifying wood) + finishing.

Can you really do a better job than "Understanding Wood" and
"Identifying Wood" ? There are already far too many woodworking books
in the world (usually very poor ones) and only a few areas where there
isn't a good one. I see this particular niche as one that's already
pretty well covered.

I like the idea of "from tree to furniture" coverage (which Hoadley's
two don't quite cover), but that limits itself to local timbers. I
already have books from the UK forestry commission that do this pretty
well for UK broadleaf species.

I would _love_ a European edition of "Identifying Wood", with our local
species in it, rather than all this hickory and osage orange.

Wally wrote:
> I'm considering to write a book on woodworking. The intended book will
> be about the wood itself (mechanical properties, types of finishes,
> some botanic info to identify the trees, variety of usage, etc).
>
> The reason why I'm interested in writing this book is because I've
> never found any book that have all this together with a reasonable
> amount of info. Basically this book would be a blend from
> "Understanding wood from Bruce Hoadley, Woodworker's Guide to Wood
> from Rick Peters, and some other books like the botanic stuff (for
> identifying wood) + finishing.
>
> If I attain my objectives, my book would provide all the information
> necessary about identifying a tree, harvest it and dry it for
> woodworking usage. You would also have all the mechanical info about
> wood properties (shrinkage, resistance, spans, etc). You would also
> get sample pictures with all those species with various finishes and
> stains. At last, you would have pictures of furniture or objects made
> by each specie.
>
> My questions to you wreckers:
>
> 1. Do you see a significant value in such a book?
>
> 2. Would you suggest additional chapters on other subjects?
>
> 3. What are the pitfalls with publishers?
>
>
> Thanks for any useful information!
>

You're going to need a really good proof reader. Good luck.

On 4 Sep 2005 06:44:27 -0700, "Charlie Self" <[email protected]> wrote:

>Talk to Taunton's acquisitions editor.

Oddly enough, I have done (although not about that subject). They were
the _least_ helpful of any publisher I've spoken too, and the most US
isolationist. They're not interested in books of limited interest to
their core US market, and they're pretty uninterested in working with
non-US authors. I was disapointed, quite frankly, although I found the
similar UK publishers to be much more encouraging (and when I have the
projects finished to get the photographs done, you'll maybe see the
results).