I have published three books, #3 being "The Scuba Snobs Guide to Diving Etiquette" on which there are 2 threads here on scubaboard. I am happy to share with you what I have learned. First, unless you have an agent, your best route is a "self publishing house." It will cost you from $500 to $1000 to get your manuscript to final form, including cover design, etc. Most publishing companies will then offer you promotional services for a fee, and I frankly am not impressed with their services as to marketing, but they are good at assisting with production design. You will be your own editor and proof reader, so if you make a mistake it will be there for the world to see. As to content and format, there are about 1800 books on scuba diving out there in the market, including PADI SSI and etc. manuals, plus guide books, and independent how to books. If you get on amazon, books, and search scuba diving you will get them all listed, and you can review what is out there. There isn't very much that hasn't been done. Finally, I will say that e-books are the thing now. Presently about 1 in 5 sales of books is an an e-book, and that market share will grow, so you need a publisher who will put you book in both Kindle and Nook book format and make it available. Accordingly, I would NOT go with amazon or barnes and noble as publisher. You want a paper book you can sign at appearances and send to friends, and e-book in all formats.
Most self publishing houses will take care of copyright issues, or you can hire a lawyer to do it, but that is not necessary.
As to the writing, each writer is unique in approach. The key is to write- put words on the page, and then massage them, rearrange them and order them to make the content and style better and better until someone who reads it tells you "this is good." Have 2 or more people read and comment as you go. I have a writing teacher wife and co-author and dive buddy who is our grammar and verb tense person. You need one of those too.
Good luck with your project. Know that the writing of the book is the beginning- the easy part. Promotion of it and sales is the hard part. If you want to get your book in the mainstream of scuba books that sell, the top 100 say, then you need to invest some money, 5000 to 10000 or more, in magazine ads, website development ( see for example scubasnobs.com ) and the like. Private message me or email me at
dennis@scubasnobs.com if you'd like to discuss this area in more detail.
DivemasterDennis