DIMI PRESS is a small, independent publisher of books and cassettes. At present we have published 16 cassettes and 15 books, but intend to publish many more (mostly books). Dick Lutz, President, was the 1988 President of the Northwest Association of Book Publishers. We welcome your query letter if you are a serious author with a non-fiction book manuscript or well-conceived outline for a book you want to write.
At this time we are looking for the following type of non-fiction manuscripts:
About unusual natural phenomena. For instance, DIMI PRESS has published three books of this type:
1)The Running Indians, an account of the Tarahumara Indians of northern Mexico and the huge canyon in which they live. The Tarahumara may be the world╒s greatest long-distance runners and the canyon in which most of them live is bigger than the Grand Canyon.
2) Komodo, The Living Dragon is an account of the world╒s largest lizard, its habits and habitat. Although not a scientific tome, this work is accurate and has been very well-received by the herpetologist community.
3) Komodo, The Living Dragon (Revised Edition) further extends information about this magnificent beast, specifically to include an account of the first successful breeding outside of its native Indonesia.
We are currently preparing for publication (in September, 1998) a book titled Hidden Amazon, The Greatest Voyage in Natural History. This is about two tours in the Peruvian Amazon and encourages readers to visit the Amazon and thus help support the local economy as well as the study and preservation of the rain forest.
Because of our interest in nature and the environment, we have decided (as of January, 1998) to focus on books like these. Thus, we are currently soliciting ONLY manuscripts about unique things in nature (like the Tarahumara Indians, the Komodo Dragon, or the Amazon River.)
Some suggested topics are huge disasters, such as a volcanic eruption or earthquake. A book about the coelacanth fish or the tuatara lizard might be something we would be interested in. It should include information on how to travel to observe the rare wildlife (or whatever) written about. We want books that, in a bookstore, would categorize as nature/travel.
But we do not want travel guides, although accounts of interesting trips are a possibility. If the title could be marketed other than solely through bookstores that would be a plus. Example: a subject that would be of interest to bird-watchers or some other specific interest group.
Writing should be clear, simple, and well-organized. Your initial contact with us should be a one or two page query letter accompanied by a SASE. Unsolicited manuscripts will not be read. Letters without a SASE will not be returned or answered. Simultaneous submissions are fine.
A DIMI PRESS author should have some credentials in the field in which he/she writes. An advanced academic degree, books and/or articles on the general subject, or extensive personal experience are all considered credentials.
Authors, in their query letter, must address the marketing of the book. Who is going to buy this book? How can they be reached? The author should have the poise and ability to be a good interviewee on radio and TV.
Royalties to the author will generally be 10% on net revenues. Advances are not given. (We are a small company and need all the cash possible for promotion.)
It is best that the title and subject of the book be of such general interest that it can be marketed through bookstores, libraries, and sold in other countries. Regional titles, fiction, poetry, and memoirs are not desired. Children's books are not wanted. Books that require color illustrations are a no-no. We prefer previously published authors, but do not insist on this.
It is not necessary for you to spend a great deal of time cleaning up things like spelling, punctuation, and grammar. Everything we publish is carefully edited. After the manuscript is accepted for publication, we would prefer that the author put it on either an IBM or a Macintosh disk. However, if this is difficult for him/her we can get it done ourselves. The manuscript being on a Macintosh disk will enable us to proceed with typesetting and page design immediately.
If we like your query letter (and we'll try to tell you in four weeks) we will ask to see the manuscript. The manuscript review may well take more than four weeks, but if we're reading the manuscript you can be sure that we are very serious about it.
DIMI PRESS feels that a book is a joint project of the author and the publisher and we need to have a good feeling about working with you. In other words, we're not looking for an adversarial relationship.
Copyright⌐1998 by Dick Lutz
E-mail:dickbook@aol.com FAX:(503)364-9727
Web site: http://members.aol.com/dickbook/dimi_press.html
