The clouds enveloping the foreign world of non-fiction publishing are breaking up a little - I'm getting glimpses of the landscape...  Thanks to everyone who's responded with ideas and contacts.  And Google is still my friend.

Two new concepts:

1. Book Proposals.  According to Nonfiction Book Proposals Anybody Can Write (which I've ordered): 
   
   

   "A book proposal is a marketing tool used to describe your book idea and sell it to a publisher.  Virtually all nonfiction books are sold by proposal.  It serves as the conventional means of communication between writer and agent/editor.  In addition, it serves as a powerful aid to you, the writer, by helping you refine ideas, clarify organization, and speed the eventual writing of your book."

   Looks like I have a new Task One.

2. Literary Agents.  Product managers for books.  According to www.writers.net:

"There is more to being a writer than stringing words together. Even great writers have to do more than write. Unless you can persuade someone to publish the words you slave over, your writing will remain unknown and unread and writing will drain rather than fill your bank account.

That's where a Literary Agent comes in. Your literary agent is the book-marketing expert who can sell your crafted words to jaded publishing professionals...  ...Your job, which isn't easy, is produce writing that an agent can believe in."

Looks like I have a new Task Two.