[edwest]

Dear Richard and all potential publishers/authors,

I have been in the book publishing business for decades and it is my day job, along with our handful of staff, plus freelancers who are not on the payroll but are paid by the job, including illustrators. It can and has been done. However, for those who might produce one or a handful of books over the same time period, it's better to go with an established publisher. I am also head of research, which means if one of our fictional books is set in a certain time period or location, it's my job to track down all the necessary source material for the author. I doubt Tom Clancey would be as popular as he is if it were not by making sure that the location and all the necessary props/vehicles/weapons were dead on correct. I'm also the military/tech guy and keep up with all of the latest developments, along with my World War II interests. And by the way, I trust books over any internet source, which means we have a rather large library on location.

Now I know the whole process of being a writer and assistant art director as well. Our business started during a time period where our soon to be competitors laughed at the idea directly to my boss. And the internet seems to love bad news at one extreme and looks at a handful of big successes on the other. What is first needed, if you've never published before, is a plan, and that means research. What follows applies to the United States but is primarily true on a global level.