Midlist Writer: Starting Book Number Seven

Thursday 31 July 2008

Starting Book Number Seven

As I mentioned way back in May, I was in negotiation with a publisher to do book number seven. I can now announce I'm working on Guerrilla Tactics of the American Civil War for Osprey Publishing. I've received the first part of my advance and am well into writing the text. Next week I'm off to Missouri for six weeks to do some research.

Osprey is a well-known publisher of military history books, and one of the reasons I wanted to hook up with them was because I noticed the same names cropping up again and again in their catalog. If they like you, they'll keep giving you work. I'm already discussing a few other titles with them.

In a previous post, I talked about when it was OK to do work for hire, meaning the author gets a flat fee and no royalties. Osprey only offers work for hire, but the contract definitely fulfills my criteria. The money they pay (in pounds sterling, not the Mickey Mouse money American publishers pay in) is sufficient for a decent wage for the time it will take to write the book, it's a reputable company that will look good on my CV, and there's a chance for more work. So all in all, I'm very happy.

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