Introduction

The aim of the Publishing component of The Forrest Project is to provide creative and innovative persons with the means of bringing their work direct to interested clients or beneficiaries. Here we set out key steps in the process of publishing on the Internet through this website.

 

Creators of Works for Publication:

Creators of works for publication may be writers, researchers, teachers, musicians or others, who have typically spent countless hours working upon an aspect of their being, which remains their intellectual property. Historically, a writer has needed a printer to produce what has been written in the form of a book, ink on paper bound into a volume. The publishing house has undertaken to distribute a quantity of reproduced volumes to satisfy public demand. Inevitably, the publishing house has involved an investor who accepts the risk when putting forward capital, that there may not be sufficient buyers interested in the creator’s work. The costs and demand for profit by those involved in printing, binding, reproducing, wholesale distribution and retail selling have grown to such an extent, that the creator has become the last person to be considered. The real value of the creator’s work has often been so little understood, that an amount of no more than 10 percent of the retail price has commonly been set aside so that he/she is not left out altogether.

This situation has been encountered by all of these creators whose intellectual property is to some extent in demand by communities. Publishing can lead to the distribution of works of entertainment and as well, the results of research, which can sometimes be of significant and far-reaching value to communities.

The whim of an investor-publisher can lead to an important work not being published, simply because in his opinion there may not be enough readers interested enough to buy a book on the research topic, particularly if it runs counter to mainstream belief. Scientific journals generally rely upon opinions of reviewers, which can in the same way hinder the benefits of research from reaching the public. This was the experience of the Nobel Prize Winner, Professor Barry Marshall, who encountered that situation when he submitted research papers to journal editors on the bacterial origin of peptic ulcers, which necessitated new thinking on their treatment.

Researchers should therefore be regarded as valuable creators. Their work should be given every assistance to reach the public. Research findings should never remain hidden because of the overriding priorities of some, who seek to make a profit without regard to community needs.

If you would like to submit your research material for publication please see Refereed Research Papers by Subject.

Teachers in schools and lecturers at universities have for generations found a need to write up unique ways of presenting subject material, to enable students to better understand a syllabus prescribed by an education authority or university faculty. Very often a textbook from another country has had to be prescribed, which does not treat the subject with the emphasis required by the faculty. A conscientious teacher may now use a computer to write up a course of lessons, complete with all the coloured illustrations considered necessary. Some universities have opted to produce their own discs containing lessons or lectures for their students. Universities have in some instances even dispensed with formal lectures, instead providing students with lectures on discs.

Teachers and university lecturers who are very skilled at writing a course of lessons, should be able to publish and distribute their work, for the benefit of numerous students at their own and other schools. Likewise, sporting organizations and coaches may just as effectively produce courses, which when published can be indispensable as learning aids for athletes and performers. Musicians can be in demand by many different groups of people who want to hear not only a piece of music by a composer, but the way a particular musician can interpret it. Publishers of music have tended to focus upon world renowned concert performers, orchestras and the works of famous composers. They are less interested in reproducing and distributing CDs of musicians who are specialist interpreters of particular works.

Master classes and personal performances by individual musicians should be available to those who are interested. They should not be ignored by large networks of companies whose primary interest is to return a profit to investors. Musicians are as a result people with intellectual property, who have a need for their work to be published and shared with those who would welcome the opportunity to hear them performing.

The availability of the Internet has brought about an interest in new fields such as genealogy, assembling images of the work of particular artists and numerous other activities. Many of these new activities, which have resulted in the production of works that constitute intellectual property, may benefit from the opportunity to publish. Traditional publishing houses will tend not to consider such publications, particularly if they are too long or there is a requirement for many images in colour.

Genealogists, collators of works of art and many others are creators, who should be able to utilize the facility afforded by the computer and Internet, to bring their works to those who are interested. Since a publication being considered here is of a person’s intellectual property, then The Forrest Project wishes to emphasize that it should constitute a business opportunity for the creator. That is, this website aims to assist the creator to build his/her own business, whether writing books, publishing research of interest to groups of beneficiaries or collaborators, writing specialist classes or courses of lessons, playing music or presenting numerous works, which previously would have been beyond the resources of publishing houses.

A creator may consider this website to be a specialized mailbox, which provides assistance to help produce a quality publication. Not everybody is a skilled writer. Nor does one usually have the ability to translate works into several languages.The Forrest Project can muster expertise to overcome these limitations and others, If potential client are perhaps largely friends and members of a creator’s family, then The Forrest Project offers the opportunity to have work published for such a limited number of recipients. There is no cost to be borne except in producing the material to be published.The Forrest Project does however provide quality assurance. A partner of the Project has the responsibility to ensure that what is published is in accord with accepted standards, of which compositional design, writing and setting out are at the top of the list. As a result, every potential publisher is assisted by an experienced Project researcher. Final approval for publication rests with the partner whose team will manage the creator’s particular need.

At the other end of the scale, a book may appear to be of interest to readers in several languages, in some of which the Project may not have previously published.The Forrest Project will seek a skilled translator from among its contacts. The translator will advise upon the potential for interest in the book. Upon obtaining agreement with the author, the translator will commence writing the work in another language. Every effort will be made to have a book become available to readers in both developing and economically advanced countries. This will necessitate setting a worldwide price. There is a need for the price to be acceptable to readers in a developing country where the level of income can be quite different.

 

Working with an Editor on a Work Proposed for Publication:

It is recommended that a creator should contact The Forrest Project before commencing. An editor will be assigned to work with a writer through the full period of researching and writing a book. This can save a lot of time and avoid the need to have to go back and rewrite chapters. It can be a particularly valuable time for a less experienced writer, who can to some extent learn on the job.

The editor assigned to a writer is described in The Forrest Project as a researcher. The same person may also have the experience to assist a genealogist to conduct research more effectively. It is envisaged that a number of researchers will be university staff members who are seeking to expand their careers in different directions. They will in many instances be experienced researchers with considerable publishing histories. Other editors will be experienced writers who have worked with traditional publishing houses in having their own works published.

The experience given here at no cost to newer writers to learn publishing, is considered one of the ways that The Forrest Project may deliver its philanthropic objective. The Project hopes to encourage people who are already in employment to learn a new field, building income as sales of their works occur around the world. A writer who has successfully published will be considered for a position as a researcher.

 

Guidelines for Authors:

The Forrest Project recognizes that editors of different publishing houses have nearly always required writers to comply with the house guidelines.

We are happy for a writer who is used to a particular set of guidelines to continue using one of the standard approaches with which he is familiar. Otherwise a new writer should select for himself one of the sets of guidelines given by publishing houses on the Internet.

Planning the Electronic Manuscript.

Writing in order to have a publication appear on the Internet for downloading by clients, necessitates an understanding, that many restrictions that apply to bound books no longer exist. This can give the writer greater versatility in planning and setting out the manuscript.

An experienced writer may also benefit from an early association with an editor. This writer may welcome being encouraged to freely include coloured illustrations. As well, the writer may find it strange to not have to consider the eventual length of a work for publication. These factors can significantly influence the design of a manuscript.

Genealogical publications for example, which can easily overrun length limitations, no longer present a problem. A musical performance can quite easily accommodate a textual description with many coloured illustrations, which can provide a better understanding of the performance of a person who is a specialist in the works of a particular composer. Similarly, a research institution describing its track record in a particular field may be assisted to plan its publication, to enable funding authorities to become aware of the personalities involved. Many research publications tend often to appear as impersonal documents, which are limited to objectively describing experimental programs of work.

The Assistance Required from an Editor and the Agreed Percentage Distribution of Income from Sales. It has been proposed by the Board of Partners of The Forrest Project that a creator should receive up to 80 percent of the retail price paid for a downloaded publication. A maximum of 20 percent should be retained by the Project to cover management and administrative costs associated with operation of the website. The partner responsible for quality assurance during production of the publication, culminating in approval for its appearance on the Internet as a work for sale, should be paid out of the 20 percent retained by the Project.

The 80 percent to be paid to the creator should be shared with the researcher assigned to assist planning and production. A thoroughly experienced writer who needs no assistance whatever should receive the full 80 percent. If a writer has no skills whatsoever and needs to appear as an author in association with a skilled writer, then this peson should receive 40 percent.

In practice, a writer will require the assistance of an editor depending upon the relative skills and experience of these individuals. Negotiations should be undertaken at a suitable time, when the degree of assistance required from a researcher/editor has become clear. The researcher might then retain perhaps five or 10 percent for assisting a moderately skilled writer. For assisting a less skilled writer, a researcher might agree to retaining 15 or 20 percent, i.e. enabling this writer to receive 65 or 60 percent of the price paid by buyers. The final percentage proportion is to be agreed with the partner who has responsibility for the researcher assigned to the creator.

Where it appears that a market may be established for a publication in another language, then the writer would share the total 80 percent equally with a translator for all downloads purchased in that language. That is, the translator and writer would each earn 40 percent of the price paid upon downloading a book or other work. The researcher who initially assisted the creator only receives a percentage of the book produced in the first language in which it is published.

Sales in another language might be considered never to have been possible without the assistance of the translator. The translator is therefore a key person with literary ability who should be rewarded appropriately.

 

Writing and Editing the Manuscript:

Upon being assigned an editor/researcher, the writer should be prepared to make full use of his/her skills. The researcher should be considered to be a sounding board, mentor and backup throughout the planning phase and while writing each chapter. Writers’ block and thinking that gets off the track can often be overcome in this way.

Upon sending each chapter to the editor and receiving confirmation of one’s self-efficacy in dealing with the topic, a writer can progress with much more confidence. A manuscript written in this way can often show the signs of a writer who has confidence. A thoroughly experienced writer will not need this level of support. Even so, having an editor to follow behind the writer, who knows throughout that his task is progressing well, can make a book a pleasing experience.

 

Illustrations and Photography for the Title and Cover:

When writing about factual events and places, illustrations can enable the reader to relate far more closely to what is being described. In the electronic medium there should be no reason to have to resort to monochrome illustrations, unless historic pictures are shown from the period before colour photography had been developed.

The researcher can play an important part in this process, providing software and specialist skills to enable illustrations to appear as realistic as possible.

Photography is a highly variable skill in the hands of a non-professional. Appropriate software can often be applied to enhance poor resolution, which is often a consequence of photographing in inappropriate light. Old paintings will often appear to be dull due to a residue of oxidized material that masks the colours seen by the artist when the painting was completed. A skilled user of software may remove the masking effect and enable an image of a painting to be seen in the colours it will appear if professionally cleaned.

Designing the title and cover illustration can be critically important for the perception of a client, for whom there is in most instances an element of choosing a book by its cover. The author may have a clear idea of the cover he has in mind. Two minds are however able to access photographs from a wider range of resources, particularly if dealing with a famous event, where a photograph needs to be sourced from a national repository of historic material.

 

A Statement by a Distinguished Person in a Field or an Authority on a Musical Composition:

A forward or preface written by a distinguished person can enhance the authority of a publication in the eyes of the reader. Similarly, a statement by a conductor or a renowned authority on a musical composition, composer, can in the mind of the listener impart an enhanced sense of reality to a performance. It can be comforting for the reader or audience to know that the work downloaded is genuine and there is no doubt as to how it stands up in the mind of someone who knows the subject well.

Approaching such a distinguished person or specialist can require referrals and introductions, which an experienced researcher or partner can undertake. Such individuals are often inundated by anonymous approaches and so have secretarial staff to ensure their privacy.

 

 Estimating Potential Markets in Other Languages:

The Forrest Project has a philanthropic aim: to overcome barriers between developing and economically developed countries. Peoples living in developing countries often have limited understanding of life and conditions in an economically developed country. In the same way, there is little appreciation of the conditions and lifestyles of those who live in developing countries. A way of breaking down limited awareness between groups of people is to make published works readily available to each. Hence, The Forrest Project has a commitment to wherever possible have a work translated and priced so that it is also available to other people who may be interested.

The Project will consult with specialists in other cultures to ascertain the extent of interest which might exist in each. One of the strongest influences that exist is the hope by most parents, that their children may gain an education which will introduce to them a lifestyle of the future. There is a widespread sense by most parents in developing countries that their children will have a better opportunity in life than was available to them.

In estimating potential markets in other languages, the hopes and sentiments expressed by families and teachers will be sought in developing countries by The Forrest Project. When a translator is found, further verification of possible interest in a book will without doubt appear.

 

Writing and Editing the Manuscript in Another Language:

Where it is considered that a book should be translated into another language, there is a concern that meanings can get lost in translation. As stated above, translation is regarded as a joint undertaking between the author and translator, which should go a long way toward preventing any losses of this type from occurring.

The initial editor who assisted publication in the first language will be asked to retire, unless the work is a co-authored publication. As a result of the high level of participation by the translator, it is proposed that the author and translator should share equally in the income from having brought a publication to a market where it may not otherwise have existed.

 

Automating Percentages of Payments from Sales to be Paid Directly to Agreed Accounts:

The Forrest Project is able to structure agreed percentages of income from sales, so that they are automatically paid into the accounts of verified recipients, i.e. The Forrest Project and its partners, creators, researchers and translators.

Payments will be automatically transmitted to agreed accounts as sales occur. There will be no holding period during which the funds could be utilized by an intermediary institution.