Where to get the Book of Boff published?

Actually, I want a book that is called "How to do your housework to a much higher standard in much less time than you ever thought possible".

I'd've thought most publishers just go for big sellers.

My serious-face answer would be that no book on housework could make progress in this area.

Yes, indeed, pointydog. Unfortunately, publishers would probably consider that to be sexual harassment and feminist provocation - no?

A book called How to Have More Sex with your Wife with a big chapter on how women feel respected and cared for when the man pulls his weight with housely chores and thus will feel more amorous towards him.

How many threads on here complain that men don't do their fair share, or consider any housework as "helping", ie it's really the woman's job?
What sort of a book could make progress here, without being confined to the feminism section of the bookshop?

did Katherine Whitehorn ever do a housework book? She did cooking and children.

Mary Beard did The Good Working Mothers Guide in the 80s which has some good stuff on domestic management but too limited to one particular lifestyle.

BoffinMum - I think Nigella's key selling point with How To Eat was that she updated traditional recipes for the modern gadget era. I learned to cook with Constance Spry, and very useful that was; Nigella just makes it all so much easier, without forfeiting taste (as Delia does).

Nigella doesn't make me feel inadequate - on the contrary, I feel rather superior as I don't feed my family nearly as much junk as she seems to

Dirtymartini - see Boffinmums' post of 14:55:10 for a link

My favourite book for cooking is Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking. It is beautifully done, informative, but is so warm and lovely to read that it feels less like a cook book than something lifestyle-y.

Bonsoir's link is the nicest looking of housekeeping books. But the others, the pink ones, make me want to run away covering my eyes.

Now I'm pretty sure it doesn't advise pregnant women with spd to decorate bathrooms

Men who are interested in reading stuff based on business models aren't interested in doing the housework.

I'd love the efficiency angle. I'd buy something that explains me how to minimize time spent on housework and maximize impact.

I'd love a modern housekeeping manual. I'd love a subversive feminist angle. I'd love a 21st century Mrs Beeton. I don't want any management slang in something I read during my free time /buy with my own money. Boff, I think your blog uses too much passive voice and is slightly - not sure - boring or patronising. You should read very carefully Nigella's How to Eat, I think she hss mastered the style of writing deliciously about something that has been done to death (do we really need another basic cookbook?).

I went to your blog to find housekeeping shortcuts - and I found a post about how to vacuum bookshelves (something I've decided never to do, or if needed. definitely something I'd outsource). Love the menu ideas though, I think you are on to something with them. To keep reading, I'd need a how to do a quick and efficient weekly home cleaning.

I think men would buy a book on housekeeping that used models lifted from business but it would probably have to be a book aimed squarely at men

men on the whole (though I'm sure there are exceptions) have too much invested in believing there is nothing much to housekeeping. I think the people who would buy this book would be those who have tried to do it and found it hard, or at least have found that it takes some thought.

PM or link, anyone? Sorry, if there is a link above I keep missing it.

Theyoungvisiter is right, absolutely. Not your job as author.

"Last time I wrote a book I designed my own cover. It was very easy, and their designer finished it off and put it in the right format."

I can safely say, that would never happen with a mainstream consumer publisher.

At least, not unless you're Stephen King, in which case you could probably do what you want.

Authors do get to make suggestions, but the final say is with the publisher really, and there's no guarantee the suggestions will be listened to!

BoffinMum - I'm afraid that your division of domestic labour doesn't stand up to scrutiny at all - I think it is way more complicated than that...

Could your "Boffin" persona be used for the title instead?

Boffin's guide to the home, something like that?

But that's a very patronising sentence. He had to send you off to do a phd? Was that tongue in cheek?

And will any men buy a book on housekeeping? I can't see it. It's helping to perpetuate the idea that the woman does the bulk of the housework. Not only does she do most of the housework, she reads about it in her spare time.

I'm not sure how much say authors get in the final cover design, judging by the experiences of a couple of acquaintances.

Publishers think women will buy pastel-coloured books.