About Asklepiad

"Every retired doctor thinks he can write a book."

That statement was posted recently on an internet mailing list devoted to small publishers. There is probably a lot of truth to it. Some of those books might even be worth reading.

The publishing world has changed radically with the development of new technology in recent years. There is a plethora of books on small publishing and self-publishing. Many provide the essentials of how to apply for a copyright, how to register the book manuscript with the Library of Congress, and a list of book printers, designers and editors. Print-on-Demand technology allows a would-be author to print small quantities at manageable cost.

There is a large group of "vanity publishers" who will publish anything, well written or not, so long as the author is willing to pay the expenses. The expenses may be quite high and the author is often disappointed with the result. We are not in that business. If an author wants a fair estimate of a project's viability, we are happy to oblige.

This small company was formed to publish non-fiction with a medical or health care theme. Medical schools are emphasizing creative writing. Some of this is intended to remedy obvious deficiencies in the literary skills of doctors; deficiencies that may even risk harm to their patients.

The owner of Asklepiad Press spends hours each week correcting and annotating the patient histories, and essays on clinical subjects, produced by first and second year medical students. Most pre-medical students are well educated in the sciences but may have a sketchy background in the humanities. College humanities courses may not be as useful in learning English composition as they once were. Many medical students, and physicians, are immigrants for whom English is not the native language. The recent emphasis on composition is intended to remedy some of these deficiencies and to permit medical students to express themselves in literate composition.

Asklepiad Press begins with a single book, as it was once said that "The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." We are interested in authors who may wish to submit their work to critical appraisal. If it seems worth publishing, and there is a chance of finding a market, we will provide objective advice to the author. We are not interested in vanity projects although advice is cheap and some may learn enough here to avoid serious mistakes with other publishers.

Many doctors and nurses live lives of drama and may wish to set episodes from their lives to paper. We are interested in their projects although we make no promises. Other health care professionals may have stories worth telling and helping them to develop those anecdotes into a manuscript with potential for publication would be worthwhile. In some cases we may offer advice beyond publishing and contacts with the junior college located in Mission Viejo will be developed. The college has nursing and Emergency Medical Technician programs that might benefit from collaboration. There are courses in composition that might be interested in cooperation.

We are not interested in fiction at this time although that might be a project for the future, perhaps under another imprint. There are other small publishers in Orange County and cooperation might be possible, sharing some resources.

The manuscripts that we will consider include:

• Medical and nursing history

• Memoirs from medical practitioners and patients

• How-to books on health topics

• Textbooks for local faculty members of the junior college or even university. Textbooks are far too expensive and there are ways to make them more economical. Some of this could employ Print- on-Demand technology.

• Business books on medical subjects

Asklepiad Press has distribution agreements with:

• Baker & Taylor and Amazon Advantage.

• Quality Books, Inc.

• American College of Physicians Book Shop

• Blackwell's Book Services

• Coutt's Library Services Inc.

• JA Majors

• Mathews Medical Books

The following are pending:

• Rittenhouse Book Distributors, Inc.

Others are in negotiation.

Marketing support is available from an affiliated company.

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