Your not alone in noticing this trend. There is certainly an increase in masonic books coming out. Amazon has made it fairly easy to upload a book. There are alot of platforms that help for free to typeset and format a book cleanly. AI art is being used for book covers. Love it or hate it, it does it well. I certainly use AI art currently for my cover art as its good and what I can afford. Someday, I would love to make enough from the books to justify the cost of a good digital artist.
There are quite a few books on history of masonry and estoric side coming out now as well. Ken Peck and Burx Norrod come to my mind for that.
I have written 3 books so far on masonry. One is very much a "how to" on leadership and management though a masonic lense and setting. The other is for masons to learn and grow (meaning of masonry). the last is useful for honestly anyone and looks at society and how masonry can improve not just the lives of masons, but shows how anyone can use the framework to improve themselves.
for myself, the idea of writing of "this is why im a mason and whats it done for me" is that i struggle with the idea that people would want to hear that story. I consider myself to be a good man and good mason, but outside of my small masonic corner of the world no one knows me. I write mostly because I want to. But I also want to ensure there is a market for said books. Maybe there is one. Maybe a common average guy writing about it might resonate more with a person picking up the book then if it was a well known national figure who wrote it. Something to consider.
Lastly. One your topic of book sales. By nature, I am in competition with every masonic writer. Brothers only have so much money and time to spend on books. They must choose one writer over another. But masonic writers also support each other and promote others books. I would love to see more masons support by sharing our books as well. There are only 2 real masonic publishers. Lewis and Macoy. They are very hard to get your book with them. So we must write, self publish and market ourselves. I would love to see a new book publishing company come out of all this, with a new book store to put all of the self published stuff together in one spot.
I'm looking at it from the outside. I've written a novel, but I've never actually published a book. Said novel has remained locked up in my basement for probably a dozen years now. So, the thoughts below might be complete nonsense.
But, I have noticed a couple things about selling books that could be of help.
Through the modern history of our Craft, since Anderson in the 1720's anyway, Masons have been really keen on writing books, and publishing them, as any of our good Masonic libraries will show. Freemasonry produces books! Loads and loads of books!
But, they have never sold very well. If at all. Mackey famously complained about this so very long ago, and I know that sales haven't increased since his time. Not even when Freemasonry was at its shockingly huge membership numbers.
So that's the tough part.
But I don't think it is all tough.
Yesterday I saw a book for sale, at auction, in a Masonic Facebook group. The opening bid was 300 bucks, and from what I saw at least that opening bid was going to be met, if it didn't go higher.
The thing was, I have that particular book. I received it, just a few short years ago, basically for free as a part of my membership in the SRRS. Guys are willing to pay a super premium for it now.
That makes me remember a writer named Vin Suprynowicz. He was, for a really long time, a super prominent journalist with the big newspaper in Las Vegas. And, he wrote books. Fictional books with a political message. Not popular books, but important books. I was, and am, really fond of one of those books, and he published at least the early ones long before publishing on Amazon became a thing.
I've always been fascinated by how he published. It wasn't through a publisher. He did two things:
1. He would find investors to bankroll the printing of his books. People would invest their money to manufacture the product, and when the product sold, they would get a return. In much the way that lots of things other than books are brought into the world. I seem to recall reading long ago that no one ever lost money investing in one of his book printings.
2. He would make a super fancy edition to sell at enormous profit in order to pay for his work writing the books. That's how it worked with me. I bought one, a paperback, read it and loved it. So then I bought the fancy edition. Hard back in real leather, handmade endpapers from India, gold plated edges, the best of everything. That was a really long time ago, but even then I think it was around 100 bucks. Probably be double that today. But the point is, he was never going to sell a big number of his books, so he figured out a way to massively increase the profit per book.
My hunch is, when it comes to Masonic books, that is what needs to be done to make the work of creating them actually pay off. Big sales aren't in the cards, so there has to be enough profits where sales are actually made.
And in both the auction I saw yesterday, and in Vin's case, that was accomplished through rarity.
I certainly dont plan on getting rich writing. But covering the costs would be a great thing. I use sales as a metric, to determine if people are interested in what I have to say. I figure it will take a good amount of time for it to organically spread or alot of money to push advertisments on social media.
I think, in my case, if i build up a cataloge of books, put out good quality consistently, eventually, they will sell well enough on their own.
I think i saw that $300 book. Old masonic books do get a great price point. Maybe my great grand kids will see my books for for 100's lol
“for myself, the idea of writing of "this is why I’m a mason and what’s it done for me" is that I struggle with the idea that people would want to hear that story.”
I hear you, but not once, but twice I’ve been approached that I need to author a book in that manner. One for my travels as a Freemason, and one for my experiences as a small business owner in downtown Centralia. I have TONS of stories, but 99% of the time I’m telling them at work, at a Lodge meeting, over a campfire, etc. I can’t wrap around someone wanting to read the stories in a book by themselves on their spare time. There’s a difference between the two.
Now, to be honest, I do think someone who would read either of these hypothetical books would learn something from them, as I learned important lessons over the years and if someone read the book and learned the lesson, it’d be a good head-start for them if they were seeking to join a Fraternity or start a small business. So I can be convinced that authoring such books wouldn’t be a waste of time from that standpoint. But from a capitalist standpoint? That’s why I haven’t bothered to write anything down. If you change someone’s life for the better by telling them your experiences, that’s wonderful, but getting paid to share that knowledge via book sales? Yeah, that isn’t going to work because ALL of us have experiences that others can learn from. There will be some who might be interested in shelling out some money to purchase a book, but it can’t be more than a side-hack for most of us. Yeah, yeah, I know that’s cynical, but it’s like trying to start a business in general. Most of them fail after a year. Not so much cynical as it’s realistic.
Not advising to stop dreaming of success and attempting to make those dreams come true, but just being aware of the odds. After all, our business is going on 31 ½ years next month.
Perhaps it is in the value of the manner in which you presented it? Not everyone can convert life experiences to lessons, or the inverse. In many cases we assume everyone knows something just because it is common knowledge to ourselves.
Look to the Roman concrete mix. A common method so simple it was never written down, only now being rediscovered because it was "commonly known" information.
Undoubtedly, some people buy books primarily to learn things. As I read your words here (forgive me if I'm reading them incorrectly) you are assuming that your potential readers would only be buying a book you may author because they want to learn things.
But that is a very limited view, in my opinion. Sure, people buy nonfiction in order to learn things, but even more importantly they buy it to experience the writer. To learn those things from a particular writer's distinctive voice. That's why books are primarily bought. For the writer's voice.
That said, yep, you are right. A guy has a much better chance getting rich by trying to become a professional football player than he has by writing. Hell, most bestselling authors don't even make a living with their writing.
“You are assuming that your potential readers would only be buying a book you may author because they want to learn things. But that is a very limited view, in my opinion.” Which fits in with my “I’m telling them at work, at a Lodge meeting, over a campfire, etc. I can’t wrap around someone wanting to read the stories in a book by themselves on their spare time.” You’re correct, my view is limited because I couldn’t get past that limit – at least at the time I made the post.
Then I had the “DOH!” moment. “To learn those things from a particular writer's distinctive voice. That's why books are primarily bought. For the writer's voice.” Kind of embarrassing to not see this, as that’s why we have teachers! If we learned everything the way I was thinking when I made the comment, we could have 100% teacherless education. Just purchase the textbook and work your way through it. Everything from ABC’s and 123’s up to Calculus and Literature. As we all know, that can’t happen. Someone has to explain the material to us, and not every teacher is a good match to every student. Then we get that teacher where everything just “clicked.” All of a sudden with this teacher we’re getting “A’s” instead of a “C minus.” We’ve all experienced that as well, usually well before adulthood. Hence the different books by different authors on the same subject, regardless of what that subject is. Thank you for that little kick over the top for clarity!
This is also why when I reached a point in my delivery of Degree Lectures, I can kick back and watch other Brothers deliver the same Lectures and get a different take on the material. I don’t deliver the lecture BETTER than they do, we just do it DIFFERENTLY. And there’s nothing wrong with that. In fact, it’s what we really need. The same applies to the other ritual parts, such as the Charges, and also the Drama parts.
Sooo… back to writing that book… I might consider the idea now, should I find the time to actually do it.
Yesterday Melinda and I watched a lengthy interview with Dean Koontz. I know that it is pulp, but I love Koontz's fiction. It's fast paced, so fun. Strongly anti authoritarian, which I think we need a lot more encouragement for. And he so obviously lacks knowledge about guns that he always gets the guns wrong, and that's kind of fun too. This is a long way of saying that I've read a hell of a lot of Dean Koontz through the years.
In the interview yesterday, he explained that when he was quite a young man, his wife told him that she would work and support him for five years so that he would have time to make it as a writer. If he did, all would be well. If he didn't, he'd have to stop writing and get a real job.
He published his first book just before her deadline.
And of course has gone on to write book after book after book since.
He explained that he spent those first five years, and a few years after his first publication working to find his Voice. That he has arranged to have all of his earliest books pulled out of print, because those books didn't have his Voice. That he only wants people to be able to buy those of his books that do have his Voice.
That's how important Voice is.
At least according to a fellow who has sold over 500 Million copies of his books!
That's what I find so fascinating about the AI guys. If they 'write' with AI, they are intentionally using a tool that by definition has no Voice. If they work and edit their text with AI, they are using a tool that exists to remove their Voice from their text. No one will read that stuff. At least not for long.
I think people are prone to writing and talking about what is relevant to their time and their lives. Artists need to earn a living and we have an entire generation of "lost" people just looking for answers or to make sense of it all. It stands to reason that either through monetary or social influence that creative works would follow these trends.
As a species we have a tendency to flow from one extreme to another. I imagine in a couple decades we are likely to have the reverse problem. As long as the story is relatable, maintains a valuable lesson, or meaningful insights I am here for it.
I think Brother Rob is right though, fighting for limited resources is a challenge. I wonder what might happen if we broadened our reach to the greater public. Would we gain a larger return on our efforts if we were to focus on Masonically aligned works, rather than Freemason specific ones... Not that we don't need both, but it might help us find our next generation of Builders, Seekers, and Teachers if we slightly adapted our approach.
Good timing. I happen to be publishing my first Masonic work later this month. I did not do it for the money, or the prestige, but to share light with others.
I think it's a good time for all Masons to share their voice, at whatever level of contemplation or scholarship they are at.
But we should be sure to remember that quantity isn't quality. The Craft will have to sift these books over time and see which ones speak to future generations.
I am currently publishing two Brothers' works, and the content is between decent to excellent. But I've also read a book that truly wasted my time, and had me wondering of they took a single paper and asked AI to stretch it into a book ...
We are certainly in a golden age of publishing, in that it is accessible to everyone. Anyone can start a Substack, create a website, publish a book on Amazon... Things that were unthinkable just a few decades ago. And that is such an amazing and wonderful thing. Opportunity for all, replacing opportunity for a few.
But, it certainly means that there is a great deal of slop out there.
And that means, I think, that we must learn to differentiate between things better. Is that story about some famous politician actually true? Is that pizza place truly a human trafficking hub? Should I believe this conspiracy theory?
I fear that right now we aren't, as a society, very good at discovering the difference between truth and lies. I think we've got to get better at it, and fast.
Couldn't agree more. Knowledge is ubiquitous and therefore almost worthless by itself, whereas wisdom is the rare commodity that separates the expert from someone who "did their own research".
Another comment after reading some of the others here...
Writing is primarily about giving witness to personal experience and discovery of knowledge.
Never apologize for that; never think it's a waste of time unless you keep it hidden in a drawer.
This is why I became a publisher, and often charge nothing outside of commissions, even if I know it will have a small audience. It doesn't matter. What matters is it exists, and someone, someday will be changed by it.
Your not alone in noticing this trend. There is certainly an increase in masonic books coming out. Amazon has made it fairly easy to upload a book. There are alot of platforms that help for free to typeset and format a book cleanly. AI art is being used for book covers. Love it or hate it, it does it well. I certainly use AI art currently for my cover art as its good and what I can afford. Someday, I would love to make enough from the books to justify the cost of a good digital artist.
There are quite a few books on history of masonry and estoric side coming out now as well. Ken Peck and Burx Norrod come to my mind for that.
I have written 3 books so far on masonry. One is very much a "how to" on leadership and management though a masonic lense and setting. The other is for masons to learn and grow (meaning of masonry). the last is useful for honestly anyone and looks at society and how masonry can improve not just the lives of masons, but shows how anyone can use the framework to improve themselves.
for myself, the idea of writing of "this is why im a mason and whats it done for me" is that i struggle with the idea that people would want to hear that story. I consider myself to be a good man and good mason, but outside of my small masonic corner of the world no one knows me. I write mostly because I want to. But I also want to ensure there is a market for said books. Maybe there is one. Maybe a common average guy writing about it might resonate more with a person picking up the book then if it was a well known national figure who wrote it. Something to consider.
Lastly. One your topic of book sales. By nature, I am in competition with every masonic writer. Brothers only have so much money and time to spend on books. They must choose one writer over another. But masonic writers also support each other and promote others books. I would love to see more masons support by sharing our books as well. There are only 2 real masonic publishers. Lewis and Macoy. They are very hard to get your book with them. So we must write, self publish and market ourselves. I would love to see a new book publishing company come out of all this, with a new book store to put all of the self published stuff together in one spot.
Just touching a part of this. Book Sales.
I'm looking at it from the outside. I've written a novel, but I've never actually published a book. Said novel has remained locked up in my basement for probably a dozen years now. So, the thoughts below might be complete nonsense.
But, I have noticed a couple things about selling books that could be of help.
Through the modern history of our Craft, since Anderson in the 1720's anyway, Masons have been really keen on writing books, and publishing them, as any of our good Masonic libraries will show. Freemasonry produces books! Loads and loads of books!
But, they have never sold very well. If at all. Mackey famously complained about this so very long ago, and I know that sales haven't increased since his time. Not even when Freemasonry was at its shockingly huge membership numbers.
So that's the tough part.
But I don't think it is all tough.
Yesterday I saw a book for sale, at auction, in a Masonic Facebook group. The opening bid was 300 bucks, and from what I saw at least that opening bid was going to be met, if it didn't go higher.
The thing was, I have that particular book. I received it, just a few short years ago, basically for free as a part of my membership in the SRRS. Guys are willing to pay a super premium for it now.
That makes me remember a writer named Vin Suprynowicz. He was, for a really long time, a super prominent journalist with the big newspaper in Las Vegas. And, he wrote books. Fictional books with a political message. Not popular books, but important books. I was, and am, really fond of one of those books, and he published at least the early ones long before publishing on Amazon became a thing.
I've always been fascinated by how he published. It wasn't through a publisher. He did two things:
1. He would find investors to bankroll the printing of his books. People would invest their money to manufacture the product, and when the product sold, they would get a return. In much the way that lots of things other than books are brought into the world. I seem to recall reading long ago that no one ever lost money investing in one of his book printings.
2. He would make a super fancy edition to sell at enormous profit in order to pay for his work writing the books. That's how it worked with me. I bought one, a paperback, read it and loved it. So then I bought the fancy edition. Hard back in real leather, handmade endpapers from India, gold plated edges, the best of everything. That was a really long time ago, but even then I think it was around 100 bucks. Probably be double that today. But the point is, he was never going to sell a big number of his books, so he figured out a way to massively increase the profit per book.
My hunch is, when it comes to Masonic books, that is what needs to be done to make the work of creating them actually pay off. Big sales aren't in the cards, so there has to be enough profits where sales are actually made.
And in both the auction I saw yesterday, and in Vin's case, that was accomplished through rarity.
I certainly dont plan on getting rich writing. But covering the costs would be a great thing. I use sales as a metric, to determine if people are interested in what I have to say. I figure it will take a good amount of time for it to organically spread or alot of money to push advertisments on social media.
I think, in my case, if i build up a cataloge of books, put out good quality consistently, eventually, they will sell well enough on their own.
I think i saw that $300 book. Old masonic books do get a great price point. Maybe my great grand kids will see my books for for 100's lol
“for myself, the idea of writing of "this is why I’m a mason and what’s it done for me" is that I struggle with the idea that people would want to hear that story.”
I hear you, but not once, but twice I’ve been approached that I need to author a book in that manner. One for my travels as a Freemason, and one for my experiences as a small business owner in downtown Centralia. I have TONS of stories, but 99% of the time I’m telling them at work, at a Lodge meeting, over a campfire, etc. I can’t wrap around someone wanting to read the stories in a book by themselves on their spare time. There’s a difference between the two.
Now, to be honest, I do think someone who would read either of these hypothetical books would learn something from them, as I learned important lessons over the years and if someone read the book and learned the lesson, it’d be a good head-start for them if they were seeking to join a Fraternity or start a small business. So I can be convinced that authoring such books wouldn’t be a waste of time from that standpoint. But from a capitalist standpoint? That’s why I haven’t bothered to write anything down. If you change someone’s life for the better by telling them your experiences, that’s wonderful, but getting paid to share that knowledge via book sales? Yeah, that isn’t going to work because ALL of us have experiences that others can learn from. There will be some who might be interested in shelling out some money to purchase a book, but it can’t be more than a side-hack for most of us. Yeah, yeah, I know that’s cynical, but it’s like trying to start a business in general. Most of them fail after a year. Not so much cynical as it’s realistic.
Not advising to stop dreaming of success and attempting to make those dreams come true, but just being aware of the odds. After all, our business is going on 31 ½ years next month.
Perhaps it is in the value of the manner in which you presented it? Not everyone can convert life experiences to lessons, or the inverse. In many cases we assume everyone knows something just because it is common knowledge to ourselves.
Look to the Roman concrete mix. A common method so simple it was never written down, only now being rediscovered because it was "commonly known" information.
Yes, you have it dead on here.
Undoubtedly, some people buy books primarily to learn things. As I read your words here (forgive me if I'm reading them incorrectly) you are assuming that your potential readers would only be buying a book you may author because they want to learn things.
But that is a very limited view, in my opinion. Sure, people buy nonfiction in order to learn things, but even more importantly they buy it to experience the writer. To learn those things from a particular writer's distinctive voice. That's why books are primarily bought. For the writer's voice.
That said, yep, you are right. A guy has a much better chance getting rich by trying to become a professional football player than he has by writing. Hell, most bestselling authors don't even make a living with their writing.
“You are assuming that your potential readers would only be buying a book you may author because they want to learn things. But that is a very limited view, in my opinion.” Which fits in with my “I’m telling them at work, at a Lodge meeting, over a campfire, etc. I can’t wrap around someone wanting to read the stories in a book by themselves on their spare time.” You’re correct, my view is limited because I couldn’t get past that limit – at least at the time I made the post.
Then I had the “DOH!” moment. “To learn those things from a particular writer's distinctive voice. That's why books are primarily bought. For the writer's voice.” Kind of embarrassing to not see this, as that’s why we have teachers! If we learned everything the way I was thinking when I made the comment, we could have 100% teacherless education. Just purchase the textbook and work your way through it. Everything from ABC’s and 123’s up to Calculus and Literature. As we all know, that can’t happen. Someone has to explain the material to us, and not every teacher is a good match to every student. Then we get that teacher where everything just “clicked.” All of a sudden with this teacher we’re getting “A’s” instead of a “C minus.” We’ve all experienced that as well, usually well before adulthood. Hence the different books by different authors on the same subject, regardless of what that subject is. Thank you for that little kick over the top for clarity!
This is also why when I reached a point in my delivery of Degree Lectures, I can kick back and watch other Brothers deliver the same Lectures and get a different take on the material. I don’t deliver the lecture BETTER than they do, we just do it DIFFERENTLY. And there’s nothing wrong with that. In fact, it’s what we really need. The same applies to the other ritual parts, such as the Charges, and also the Drama parts.
Sooo… back to writing that book… I might consider the idea now, should I find the time to actually do it.
Yesterday Melinda and I watched a lengthy interview with Dean Koontz. I know that it is pulp, but I love Koontz's fiction. It's fast paced, so fun. Strongly anti authoritarian, which I think we need a lot more encouragement for. And he so obviously lacks knowledge about guns that he always gets the guns wrong, and that's kind of fun too. This is a long way of saying that I've read a hell of a lot of Dean Koontz through the years.
In the interview yesterday, he explained that when he was quite a young man, his wife told him that she would work and support him for five years so that he would have time to make it as a writer. If he did, all would be well. If he didn't, he'd have to stop writing and get a real job.
He published his first book just before her deadline.
And of course has gone on to write book after book after book since.
He explained that he spent those first five years, and a few years after his first publication working to find his Voice. That he has arranged to have all of his earliest books pulled out of print, because those books didn't have his Voice. That he only wants people to be able to buy those of his books that do have his Voice.
That's how important Voice is.
At least according to a fellow who has sold over 500 Million copies of his books!
That's what I find so fascinating about the AI guys. If they 'write' with AI, they are intentionally using a tool that by definition has no Voice. If they work and edit their text with AI, they are using a tool that exists to remove their Voice from their text. No one will read that stuff. At least not for long.
I think people are prone to writing and talking about what is relevant to their time and their lives. Artists need to earn a living and we have an entire generation of "lost" people just looking for answers or to make sense of it all. It stands to reason that either through monetary or social influence that creative works would follow these trends.
As a species we have a tendency to flow from one extreme to another. I imagine in a couple decades we are likely to have the reverse problem. As long as the story is relatable, maintains a valuable lesson, or meaningful insights I am here for it.
I think Brother Rob is right though, fighting for limited resources is a challenge. I wonder what might happen if we broadened our reach to the greater public. Would we gain a larger return on our efforts if we were to focus on Masonically aligned works, rather than Freemason specific ones... Not that we don't need both, but it might help us find our next generation of Builders, Seekers, and Teachers if we slightly adapted our approach.
Good timing. I happen to be publishing my first Masonic work later this month. I did not do it for the money, or the prestige, but to share light with others.
I'm very glad to know that you've got a book coming out, and I wish you the very best of success with it!
I think it's a good time for all Masons to share their voice, at whatever level of contemplation or scholarship they are at.
But we should be sure to remember that quantity isn't quality. The Craft will have to sift these books over time and see which ones speak to future generations.
I am currently publishing two Brothers' works, and the content is between decent to excellent. But I've also read a book that truly wasted my time, and had me wondering of they took a single paper and asked AI to stretch it into a book ...
We are certainly in a golden age of publishing, in that it is accessible to everyone. Anyone can start a Substack, create a website, publish a book on Amazon... Things that were unthinkable just a few decades ago. And that is such an amazing and wonderful thing. Opportunity for all, replacing opportunity for a few.
But, it certainly means that there is a great deal of slop out there.
And that means, I think, that we must learn to differentiate between things better. Is that story about some famous politician actually true? Is that pizza place truly a human trafficking hub? Should I believe this conspiracy theory?
I fear that right now we aren't, as a society, very good at discovering the difference between truth and lies. I think we've got to get better at it, and fast.
Couldn't agree more. Knowledge is ubiquitous and therefore almost worthless by itself, whereas wisdom is the rare commodity that separates the expert from someone who "did their own research".
Well said Brother!
Another comment after reading some of the others here...
Writing is primarily about giving witness to personal experience and discovery of knowledge.
Never apologize for that; never think it's a waste of time unless you keep it hidden in a drawer.
This is why I became a publisher, and often charge nothing outside of commissions, even if I know it will have a small audience. It doesn't matter. What matters is it exists, and someone, someday will be changed by it.