Research, Reaserch, Research

     Today I spent many hours sipping juice, (sorry, I am not a coffee drinker) and eating cookies, oh yeah I could not decide between the peanut buttercup and the oatmeal raisin cookie so I had to get both, in the café at Barnes and Noble. Boy, those seats are hard! I don’t think they really want you to stay there for long periods of time. I am sure the idea is for you to get your, half calf mocha latté chino frappe thingy and down it in 2.5 seconds and go boppin on your way as you float out of the store on a sugar and caffeine rush from hell. Well anyway, I had a couple of hours to kill and I did not want to go home and be faced with the dirty dishes and laundry that needs to get done so I went there to get some research done.

     I poured through many books, which I did not buy just perused, to learn about the world of publishing. The irony of me sitting in a bookstore trying to get information about publishing a book that I actually want people to buy and not just look through was not lost on me. I got to the section called Publishing and there was a sticky note on the shelf that said start here.

      I figured it was a sign from god and was as good a place to start as any. I found many, many books that covered all aspects of the publishing field. I learned all about query letters, what they are and why I need to learn how to write them. I even read two different books that showed me bad examples of them. I learned that I really know less about the subject then I realized I did. I do not know that I am any closer to getting my book done then I was last year, (FYI- I had no plans of doing a book last year.).
      Mike did some research online for me last night about the company Bob represents. Remember Bob? (Refer to blog post: the book is becoming a reality.) Now I am not so sure anymore. His research turned up some not so encouraging things about self publishing, actually today I learned the services they offer are not really self-publishing but is called vanity publishing. Now, does that have a bad connotation to it or is it just me? Depending on who you listen to, it is the best or worst thing a person can do to get a book printed and into the hands of the public. I read today that companies like that sell more books to the authors, at a discounted rate but no royalty, then they do to the general public. That is not the news I wanted to hear!! Oh well I guess I will keep writing the patterns, working up the samples and see where this all takes me.
     The moral of my day is this; after several hours of reading and thumbing through books that I thought might help me, I left for work with a numb butt, a sugar high, at least I think that is why I can’t stop tapping my foot, more scared and confused then I was before I started doing research. If you find yourself in a Barnes and Noble café for several hours perusing but not buying books, bring a pillow to sit on and just go for the peanut butter cookie. The oatmeal raisin was good but it suspiciously resembled something healthy.