Writing a duck book...

Not to try to put you off, or demean what you are trying to achieve, but writing a book with very limited experience of duck keeping is a advantageous goal. It may be best to wait until you have had your ducks longer then a few weeks and you have much more experience with the care they need. Relying on using what others have already written, second or third hand accounts of experiences, trying to decipher what is actually useful and factual over what is just kind of made up as someone else goes along, are issues you will face without having experienced things for yourself.

While the likes of a book such as Storeys Guide to Raising Ducks, doesnt need to be virtually the only book out there, it is already so comprehensive, and comes from many years of experience and research.

If I wanted to buy a book about Fishing, I would only buy one written by someone that has spent a great deal of time fishing, in different types of waterways, in different seasons, in different areas of the world, not just from someone who went fishing once with the father on holidays. No offence meant, but when it comes to the care and raising of animals, it is extremely important to ensure the information is correct, as it is an unfortunate fact that people can misinterpret the written word, which can lead to the ill health and the death of an animal. I am sure you would not want that on your conscious, which is why I suggest that more experience is needed for you to successfully produce a book that doesnt rely soley on basically rewriting into your own words information you read somewhere else.

 

I've worked in publishing for 25 years, and the first thing I want to know when I receive a nonfiction manuscript is, What does this person know about the topic? The second thing I want to know is, How long has he been at it? The third is, What's the competition? The fourth, of course, is Can he write?

Ironically, "Can he write" is the least important with this brand of how-to: the breadth and depth of first-hand knowledge is paramount. Even if there's a lot of competition, a wide knowledge of the topic might tempt an acquiring editor to buy.

But with ducks, it's hard to imagine who will have more breadth and depth of knowledge than David Holderread, whose Storey's Guide to Raising Ducks is just out in a revised edition. And Harvey Usury (if that's how it's spelled) is due out with a backyard livestock book sometime this year that promises ample coverage of ducks, and its publisher, Chelsea Green, is a dominant force in this particular market segment.

But Ducks/Waterfowl isn't a particularly immense market segment. Backyard poultry is a hot topic, but it's primarily chickens, and it's already verging on over-published. Ducks I would rate as Sufficiently published, with possibly one or two sometimes-a-homesteader-book publishers as possibilities, and slim ones.

Not to be a wet blanket, but it's a good idea before writing a nonfiction book to first assess the market for it. But you never know: publishers stay in business by publishing new books, and everyone's always looking for something.

 

I agree with Ahab, you have to check the market, especially. I have also been in the writing business and one of the main reasons why manuscripts get rejected is that the publisher doesn't think there would be much of a market for it (which may or may not be true).

However, if you want to write your own book, self publish it and distribute it to your friends and neighbors, that's up to you. Self publishing can be expensive, especially if you want to produce a quality product. Just don't sink too much money into it and make sure you have some "pre-orders" before publishing more than a small amount.

ETA: Also, if you can't find a duck book in your town, many stores will find one and order it for you.