Maybe not.

[urbpan]

From literaryagents (not directed toward me--I'm only lurking there so far):
No publishing company will want to publish something that can be got for free by anyone who knows how to use a search engine.

I don't know that this is 100% true, but I can see potential problems down the line.

Comments

[artemii.livejournal.com]

i definitely don't think that's true.

[cottonmanifesto.livejournal.com]

Make that shit friends only! Bwwwwaaaahaaaaa.

[brush-rat.livejournal.com]

Something to think about, but just as a rough guideline. They'll pay to have fact sifted from internet gibberish fiction.

Two words: Health column.

[cottonmanifesto.livejournal.com]

Could you supply some helpful words as opposed to two seemingly random words?! :p

[brush-rat.livejournal.com]

I do a lot of research on the internet for my column. I sort out the crazy gibberish from the useful facts. I get paid for that sorting, and some off line research and for presenting the information with some humor. The point is, at least some of it could be done by anyone with access to a search engine and some time, so the statement Urbpan cited isn't completely accurate, but it is something to be aware of.

In Urbpan's case, I've never doubted anything he's written, because I know he writes with authority, and even if he pulled information of the internet, he'd do it with good judgment.

Actually, the last time I doubt him on anything involving nature was probably 18 years ago when we we're at some Connecticut beach and he started eating the rose hips. Apparently they're edible and tasty.

[cottonmanifesto.livejournal.com]

Mmmmm, salty rose hips.

Yeah, I think having a resource handy is a bonus for some people. Wifi isn't so prevalent that you can take your laptop with you on hikes.

[wakarusa.livejournal.com]

what crap! they want what will sell, and one can re-package things ad infinitum. You may need to friends-only the posts, but big deal.

[turil.livejournal.com]

Yeah, and no record company will make a CD if you can download it from the internet...

Riiiiight...

I see field guide books being published all the time. Not a lot of people are going to want to carry around a wireless computer all the time when they are exploring.

But I would suggest making your book unique, not just in subject, but in style, too. These days consumers are looking for style and personality, along with their facts.

[momomom.livejournal.com]

Pure encyclopedia / dictionary / wikipedia typ stuff maybe.

[markurock.livejournal.com]

Truth of the matter, there is nothing in print that has ever not been in print, it's all a matter of regoranizing any saying it more clearly, cosicely, with a new angle ,or twist.

[brush-rat.livejournal.com]

What's the range on your 365 urban species? Is it Boston specific or does it cover most urban American cities?Would there be a reason to do regional or even city-specific editions? If you could find two or three hundred species common to most cities, then you just need to write up some regional species to fill it out and you've got a series of books.

Of course you're pretty screwed on the southwest, but we don't read books anyway.

[cottonmanifesto.livejournal.com]

I think a reasonable percentage of stuff that he's covered is only relevant to the northeast.

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

The range is wherever I happen to be. Alas, that's Boston only, so far. I'll have a week's worth from Antigua, more'n likely. I'll try to get something from urban connecticut this weekend. Hopefully what I write about is at least a little relevant to everybody (every city has house sparrows, mice and pigeons)and hopefully my writing is interesting to read.

I think a big part of what makes the project interesting is that there is so little available in our very long winter. It's forced me to make some interesting choices.

A global (or even national) urban nature field guide would be impossible and meaningless. There is at least one available (a Peterson's first guide--for kids) but it's quite thin. Maybe not impossible and meaningless, that was flip, but it wouldn't cover much. The logical thing to do (if I wanted to do an urban field guide) would be to do a northeast version, since more of the region is urban than any other (it could cover the triangle from Chicago to DC to Boston) and there is a bigger market covered than any other ecological region.

In other words, I'm not looking to cover everything, I'm looking to report on what I know and where I'm at. My fantasy would be to travel from city to city writing and getting expense accounts and such.

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

I wasn't responding to your whole comment, obviously. Yes that could constitute a series of books. There's a series like that for birds: http://www.powells.com/biblio/61-1551051826-0
Maybe I should see if powells wants to expand?

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

or lone pine, as that's the publisher, now that I look at it.