A Few Words on Specialty Books : Publishing: A Pasadena man knows all about how to get larger companies to print his works for smaller audiences. He should--he’s done it six times.

Say you’re an amateur historian who’s developed a theory on John Wilkes Booth.

Or a jazz lover who’s studied the life of some forgotten musician.

You’d like to publish a book on your findings, but wonder how.

Vance Studley knows.

His first book, “The Art & Craft of Handmade Paper,” published in 1977, has sold 40,000 copies. That book was followed by four more on artists’ tools, wooden toys, wooden kitchen utensils and left-handed calligraphy. A sixth book, on typography, will be released by Dover Press in 1994.

Studley is one of the rare unknown authors to succeed at a major publishing house, and his editor recommends that those interested in putting out a book on an unusual topic imitate his approach.

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Studley teaches at the Archetype Press, a letter-press printing and book-binding program at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. Two years before he wrote his first book, he became curious about the fine paper used in 18th-Century books that predated paper made from wood fiber.

He researched the subject for 18 months, compiled 500 pages of notes and learned to make elegant textured paper from irises, gladioli, thistles and bamboo.

He had no desire to write a book, but students kept asking about the paper.

“I felt that rather than tell the story each time, a small book would be informative and I’d be able to share my experience,” he says.

He didn’t know anyone who had published a book, but he knew which publishers specialized in art, so he formed a plan. “I just did what seemed to make the most sense,” he says.

He decided that an agent would be an unnecessary expense and worked three weeks on a cover letter, outline, three chapters, photos and illustrations.

“The publisher needs to hear whether the book will sell,” he says. “I felt I could write to the level of amateur and professional artists, rather than a narrow audience of printmakers or people who might be interested in establishing a paper mill.

“I was very organized. My photos were first rate. My proposal was clean.”

He submitted the package only to large publishers.

“What was in print from small publishers seemed poorly designed with limited circulation,” he says. “It’s important to think about, if your book is accepted, how will they market it? Do they have lists of stores and market areas, display booths and fairs and area representatives who go out and sell the book?”

Nine publishers rejected the package before New York-based Van Nostrand Reinhold agreed to publish a first printing of 3,500.

Studley began to write from 5 to 11 a.m. and from 9 p.m. to midnight daily. “My son was born that year,” he says. “The only time to have any real peace was when he was sleeping.

“The first go-around was more impulsive--capturing the ideas, the flavor, of the chapters. Finessing the book took the most time. The original manuscript was twice the published length.”

After 10 months he sent a text to the publisher.

The book “made sense to me not only as the author, but as a reader,” he says. “I had no trouble connecting the thoughts. I would re-examine what I said and ask whether I could say this more simply and more clearly. When the answer was no, I knew I had a clear concept.”

But the process wasn’t always easy, says Studley. “I was blundering through. I hadn’t had any courses or background in this form of writing. Fortunately Van Nostrand provided a patient editor to help me on more obscure points.”

The editor, Nancy Green, was the first to read Studley’s proposal and recommended it to a marketing and editorial board, which approved it.

The proposal “hit at a time when the world of crafts was growing by leaps and bounds,” Green says. “Essentially, his book was about the use of paper as an art form. We judged there would be great interest among craftspeople. And we were right.”

Art books can succeed with limited sales, and books on revived crafts “don’t go out of style if the book is solid and not a fad,” she says.

Green, who has left Van Nostrand and owns a small publishing company in Connecticut, says several of Studley’s techniques will work for people writing in an area with a limited audience.

“I’d advise them to go to the nearest bookstore and look on the shelf that has books on that area,” she says. “Pick out publishers of those books and write to them.”

Green recommends sending an outline and a proposal that describes the book and differentiates it from competition. Several finished chapters are helpful but not essential. Literary Market Place, available in libraries, lists publishers’ names, addresses and other useful information, she adds.

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Green advises against using an agent for books that have identified markets. “There’s not enough money in that kind of publishing to pay an agent,” she says. “The author is more likely (than an agent) to know which publishers are likely to print the book.”

Books such as Studley’s generally earn an author 60 cents to $1 for every $10 book sold, Green says. Agents typically earn 15% of an author’s advances and royalties, says agent Bonnie Nadell of Frederick Hill and Associates in Los Angeles.

Studley’s books “have provided an income that fluctuates, but all in all they have been profitable,” he says. “Art books in the main do not make authors wealthy.”

His first book remains special.

“I like the idea of hearing from and being in touch with other people who respond to the book,” he says. “It allows me some feeling as I get older of having a printed legacy. Something which memorializes my take or view of art.”