Three books in print

Currently, I have three books in print, one on Lladró Spanish porcelain and two on Fenton Art Glass.

Publishers were keenly interested in my first Lladró book proposal because Lladró was very popular among collectors in the 1990s and early 2000s. I went with Krause Publications, then one of the big names in publishing on antiques and collectibles (It later became F&W Publications before going bankrupt and being bought out by Penguin Random House in 2001).

I was limited in what I could write, by that publisher’s infatuation with the “price guide” format in its books and by the Lladró company’s initial resistance to having my book include any of its brands other than the core collection. Not until my current book, brought out by Schiffer Publishing in December 2019, The Lladró Guide; A Collector’s Reference to Retired Porcelain Figurines in Lladró Brands, could I write the book I wanted.

The first publisher, in 2012, for my two Fenton Art Glass books (one on animal, bird, and insect figurines and the other on fairy lights) was Old Line Publishing, which later went out of business. In 2020, I was contacted out of the blue by Lemur Press, which was interested in reissuing these books. That relationship has been both rewarding and challenging, as this start-up publisher could not print revised editions but only reproduce the originals under its own imprint. While I had trouble promoting the books in their original publication back in 2012, sales of the Lemur printings with the same content have been brisk as the collecting market in Fenton glass has heated up.

What’s involved in publishing

Getting a book published in antiques and collectibles poses many challenges, not the least of which is the contraction (fewer publishers) in the publishing field. Here’s what I learned about the steps in the process.

Finding a publisher. How broad is the interest in the field you want to write about? What kind of/how broad of a reputation does the writer have among other collectors? How strong is the publisher’s business? That is, is it a startup, or does it have a reputation based on many years in business?

Reviewing the contract. What percentage of the total cost of book sales is reserved to the author? (10% is about standard for this). Most publishers will be open to negotiating some aspects of the contract. For example, who retains the rights to the work? As a writer who wants to be published, I nevertheless have a nonnegotiable bottom line: I avoid contracts that do not leave with me, as the author, the basic rights to the work.