I have a short book of coin effects and moves that I've been working on for the last year or so, on and off. I still need to take photographs for it, but as I'm getting nearer to wrapping up the project I was wondering if I could find someone who could help me publish it. I'm not interested in making (a lot of) money, but I would like to find a way to actually share it, rather than just putting it on some self-publishing site where it will be ignored. Are there any such people out there?

You might look into a print on demand service like Lulu.

Bin,

I recommend publishing and selling it yourself. It may seem like alternatives to self-publishing would be easier but there is a ton of work either way, which is the main reason think many avoid it and don't end up publishing at all. You don't need the goal of making money from the project, but if your book is good, and if you do things the right way, it will find its audience, and people will buy it.

Are you considering self publishing?

I might self publish, I don't know. The problems are that I have less time on my hands than I would like, and I don't know where to get started in self publishing. More than just that, I don't know how to reach an audience in the magic community. (I suppose the way most pros get the word out is through the lecture circuit, but that option really isn't open to me.)

Regarding time, that is difficult to escape. We could all use more of it. Publishing a book successfully, self-published or otherwise, will involve plenty of your time.

All of the key ingredients to successfully publishing a book and reaching an audience, come back to two things.

1. It will take time. I don't say this to discourage you, but for your first book, writing the thing is about half of the work. The good news is that after you've done it once, any subsequent books are much easier.
2. Your book needs to add something (of value/worth) to the literature. Promoting it successfully will depend on it.

If you manage to find the time to work on it I'm happy to help you with where to start in self-publishing, and reaching an audience.

Good luck, and let me know if you need any help.

With that in mind, I don't know if it makes sense to get started exactly right now, but I would like to hear any advice you have on the topic.

Please read Brooke Wharton's The Writer Got Screwed.

This book will alert you to many of the fallacies of what a publisher will do for you. For instance, did you know that the only books that a publisher will actually spend money to promote is for authors such as Steven King? If you are not a guaranteed, big name that is sure to sell a lot of books, the promotional portion of the deal is fully your own, including the money used for promoting your book.

This book was a real eye opener for me... Highly recommended.

A while back I wrote a booklet about self-publishing based on my experiences with two books that have been successful in finding an audience in the magic world. The booklet has been on the shelf for some time waiting to find time for a decent edit, but I am planning to get it completed very soon. It should be of interest to anyone considering publishing their own material in the magic world


and I'll be making it available for FREE!

Here is a list of the content.

PUBLISHING YOUR BOOK! A How To Guide For the First-time Self-publisher
INTRODUCTION
GETTING STARTED 5
LAYOUT
ARTWORK
PRINTING
PRODUCT
PROOFREADING
EDITING
REVIEWS
WEBSITE
VIDEO
PRICING
CUSTOMERS
SHIPPING
DEALERS

If you're interested let me know here and I'll make sure to keep you updated. Shouldn't be long.

Sign me up!

Thank you!

Done. Just PM'd you.

[quote]On Oct 24, 2017, chappy wrote:
A while back I wrote a booklet about self-publishing based on my experiences with two books that have been successful in finding an audience in the magic world. The booklet has been on the shelf for some time waiting to find time for a decent edit, but I am planning to get it completed very soon. It should be of interest to anyone considering publishing their own material in the magic world

this sounds very interesting! would love to know more.

Pondering here on where I could find this book if it did get published.

I have a blog post about publishing a magic book!
Hopefully, you'll find it to be a helpful read:
https://medium.com/@roryadams/i-self-pub......35ec7a32

Update can be found elsewhere on the forum... presently L&G but may be moved if it's in the wrong spot.

Info on the booklet can be found here:

Https://www.themagiccafe.com/forums/view......orum=218