Earlywood: The Dirty Secret of Woodworking Publishing

Publisher’s note: Happy Saturday! Before you begin a weekend project (building a birdhouse, perhaps?) we’re here with a free excerpt from one of the thousands of pieces I’ve written since 1996 for you to enjoy with your morning coffee. Sometimes it originally appeared in a magazine article. Or in a book. Or in this case, a couple of blog posts from 2012 and 2014. Each entry has been updated or annotated with some modern context or point of view. We hope you enjoy it.

If you want to make good money writing woodworking books, you don’t need a lot of skills, tools or primo wood. You don’t need to know a lot of joinery or be a particularly good finisher. You don’t even really need a workshop.

During my 14 years at F+W Publications, I did a long stint as a contributing editor to the now-dead Woodworkers Book Club. As part of the job, I had to read about 70 woodworking books every year and review them for the club’s bulletin. And I learned an awful lot about what makes a woodworking book sell…