Any one in the publishing business?

[Dingbat]

My wife and I have been discussing the publishing of memoirs of her decesed grandfather; A russian infantryman during ww2.  

I just wondered what I should be looking for in a good publisher?  What to avoid? etc.

[DmdNexus]

Originally posted by Dingbat
My wife and I have been discussing the publishing of memoirs of her decesed grandfather; A russian infantryman during ww2.  

I just wondered what I should be looking for in a good publisher?  What to avoid? etc.

There are books on this - go to Barnes and Nobles.

You have to find a publisher who publishes the genre of book you are writing.

For example Adison and Wesley publish text books.
Black lace publishes women's romance novels.
Penguin publishes fiction and SciFi.

[Airhead]

Dingbat, for discussions' sake there's two types of publishers- commercial publishers, which will print, distribute and promote your book, and vanity publishers, which basically are selling you a print job.

Are these memoirs in book form? Is it a manuscript, or merely a diary?At any rate if it's a manuscript then get a literary agent and ask him to look at it and submit it for you. No publisher will even read a manuscript solicited by someone they've never heard of- they'll return it to you unopened. LOL Get an agent- that way you at least get a rejection slip along with your returned manuscript.

If you use a vanity publisher you are basically buying a print job. How will you market it? Shelfspace is at a premium anywhere, and nonexistant for the self published at mainstream bookstores.

Get an agent, might save you some time and money or he might make you some.

Good luck

[Dingbat]

Airhead, thank you for the informative response.  Indeed it's in manuscript format, but in russian (surprise, surprise).  We intended on getting it professionally translated and I'll begin looking for an agent.