I wrote a book a while back; 62,000 words under the title "TECHNICAL ALPINE CLIMBING FOR TWO-PERSON TEAMS".
I spent several weeks locked in my apartment to do this. (I have now put this book on my Climbing Page).
I printed the manuscript and sent it off to several publishers, and then forgot about the whole affair. For me, half the satisfaction came from having said to myself "I will write down everything I know about this type of climbing," and then actually doing it.
A while later I was amazed to find that ICS Books, of Merrilville Indiana, was interested in the title.
After some negotiation I signed a contract in which I would recieve 10% of all royalties and a co-author, a big-name climber (Jim Bridwell, the living legend) would edit the manuscript, applying his 30 years of knowledge and experience. I was elated...JIM BRIDWELL of all people!
I sent a copy on disk to Jim, then went off to Alaska for a summer of climbing.
When I returned, I called ICS to find out if they had a list of illustrations for me to complete, as I had agreed to do these (I'll scan in some in when I get a chance...).
Surprise! Jim Bridwell dropped the project. Too much work; he had other things to do.
And that's the end, for now. I don't have the time to mess with it any more. So my manuscript sits idle. Any other publisher willing to take a look at this manuscript, please feel free to contact me!
The book is an advanced 'how - to' for climbers with more than 5 or 6 years' climbing experience. In the book I discuss the equipment, judgement and decision-making processes required for adapting steep and technical rock climbing techinques (including aid climbing) to the alpine environment.
I'm thinking of putting this whole production on the net....but it will have to wait until I begin my doc program...not enough time...