Has any TFF members published anything?

puppet

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
sw scotland
Wrote an article once called 'Safe Sex for Shepherds'. As ever, always finishes by saying 'further research is required '
Was actually about risk of chlamydia infection from sheep to pregnant women. How does the bug get into the women? My hypothesis was that it is sexually transmitted so shepherds should wear a condom if their partner is pregnant.
 
In the trade, it's called vanity publishing. There are printers out there who will print your book for a price and give you x copies to distribute to friends and family.

A worthwhile writer should be able to find a publisher who will pay an attractive advance, then handle all the publicity and sales with a further royalties to the author for each copy sold. He might even get commissioned to write a book, especially if he is a known expert in his field.

Most publishers will not even bother opening a book (they don't actually read them but pay someone to do it!) for their readers read unless you have an agent to represent you, so that's a first step. But to get an agent, you probably need to be known or have some sort of reputation. A good way into writing is to get published in newspapers and magazines for which you might actually be paid. Letters to the editor is one way and writing on forums like this one is another. Good practice but not very profitable.

But be prepared. In the publishing trade, the writer is the lowest form of animal life and gets treated as such. Your articles may not even get acknowledged, let alone paid for! A book submitted without an agent will probably go straight into the trash.

Yes, you can publish a book. Best get a typographer to set it up for you, then hand it to a printer of which there are many. Then pay them and set about selling a few hundred copies which may not be as easy as you think it should be. Try farming. Shove a few seeds in the ground, harvest what grows, sell it at farmers' markets and make a fortune! Piece of cake!
Call it 'vanity publishing' rather disparagingly if you must, but it did me very well indeed thanks. After many fruitless attempts to convinced assorted agents and publishers of the merits of my book (they didn't like non-woke faming), I thought "sod 'em!", and got in touch with Tricorn Books, a self-publishing company in nearby Portsmouth. The man there, Dan, did the typesetting and publishing, and he and I and another friend did all the proofreading. I paid him for that, and then pay for each batch of copies that gets printed. Three thousand copies later, all sold off my kitchen table, I've made a handy upper four-figure profit. And had a lot of fun through two wet winters packing and posting them.
 

Clive

Staff Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lichfield
@Charlie Flindt has wrote a book as well as regular pages in the FW

 

Dry Rot

Member
Livestock Farmer
Call it 'vanity publishing' rather disparagingly if you must, but it did me very well indeed thanks. After many fruitless attempts to convinced assorted agents and publishers of the merits of my book (they didn't like non-woke faming), I thought "sod 'em!", and got in touch with Tricorn Books, a self-publishing company in nearby Portsmouth. The man there, Dan, did the typesetting and publishing, and he and I and another friend did all the proofreading. I paid him for that, and then pay for each batch of copies that gets printed. Three thousand copies later, all sold off my kitchen table, I've made a handy upper four-figure profit. And had a lot of fun through two wet winters packing and posting them.

Yes, it is called 'vanity publishing' and also 'self publishing'. Both are correct, it just depends on the circumstances. Glad it worked for you. Not disparaging, just the facts. The ones it didn't work for probably won't be telling their story here.
 
Yes, it is called 'vanity publishing' and also 'self publishing'. Both are correct, it just depends on the circumstances. Glad it worked for you. Not disparaging, just the facts. The ones it didn't work for probably won't be telling their story here.
When I finished my second book, I had a long chat with my neighbour, who is one of the biggest agents in the country - his clients include Richard Curtis, Alan Bennett and Tom Stoppard; hence the big house in Hampshire! - and asked his advice on the publishing route. He was quite clear: in my case, I should stick with the self-publishing, because it has worked so well. He said that the 'heavyweights' love self-publishing. It's cheap and easy for writers to do it, and the big boys can sit and wait for the top sellers to make their way to the top of the pile, and then go after them offering proper publishing contracts. Much of the risk of publishing no-hopers has gone.
 

Dry Rot

Member
Livestock Farmer
When I finished my second book, I had a long chat with my neighbour, who is one of the biggest agents in the country - his clients include Richard Curtis, Alan Bennett and Tom Stoppard; hence the big house in Hampshire! - and asked his advice on the publishing route. He was quite clear: in my case, I should stick with the self-publishing, because it has worked so well. He said that the 'heavyweights' love self-publishing. It's cheap and easy for writers to do it, and the big boys can sit and wait for the top sellers to make their way to the top of the pile, and then go after them offering proper publishing contracts. Much of the risk of publishing no-hopers has gone.

Glad to hear it worked for you.
 

Hfd Cattle

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Hereford
Call it 'vanity publishing' rather disparagingly if you must, but it did me very well indeed thanks. After many fruitless attempts to convinced assorted agents and publishers of the merits of my book (they didn't like non-woke faming), I thought "sod 'em!", and got in touch with Tricorn Books, a self-publishing company in nearby Portsmouth. The man there, Dan, did the typesetting and publishing, and he and I and another friend did all the proofreading. I paid him for that, and then pay for each batch of copies that gets printed. Three thousand copies later, all sold off my kitchen table, I've made a handy upper four-figure profit. And had a lot of fun through two wet winters packing and posting them.
Flopping good book . Looking forward to the next one . pm me when its ready!
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

  • 0 %

    Votes: 80 42.3%
  • Up to 25%

    Votes: 66 34.9%
  • 25-50%

    Votes: 30 15.9%
  • 50-75%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 75-100%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 100% I’ve had enough of farming!

    Votes: 7 3.7%

Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

  • 1,293
  • 1
As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
Top