Introduction
Writing a book is not easy, but it can be a hugely rewarding experience. Your enjoyment out of writing a book, and your audience's enjoyment out of reading the book depend a lot on a lot of factors, including who you have to guide you through the process. Below are some brief words of wisdom for those who wish to become authors or reviewers.
Finding the right person
If you are interested in participating in computer technical
books�whether as a lead author, a contributor, tech reviewer, or peer/audience
reviewer - your initial challenge lies in finding the right person within a
publishing company who will help you pursue your interests.
Publishers appreciate being contacted directly�whether about
an idea for a title, or even criticism of a current book. Your contributions
will only help us build better books, and even when the news is painful we appreciate
this. Most publishers will have a catch-all way for you to get in touch with
us�typically through our web site (links such as "do you want to review?," or
"do you want to write?," or just "contact us."). The person culling through
these messages will make sure that your note of interest is forwarded to the
appropriate editor.
This raises some good questions�"what is an editor?", and
"how do I know which editor I should talk to?" If you�re interested in writing
or reviewing, you want to talk to an Acquisitions Editor.� The Acquisitions
Editor is a first-line editor who is out in
the community and whose role it is to figure out what books should be
published, at what time, and to make contact with the people who can write
them. If you make initial contact through a web site, your message will be
forwarded to the editor who follows your area of interest. Some publishing
houses feature a listing of their editors on the front insides of their books;
chances are if the book�s subject comes close to your area of interest, the Acquisitions
Editor listed here will be the person with whom you want to speak. And not least, ask
your friends, coworkers, or post on trusted newsgroups. In this industry,
chances are one of these folks will either know an editor, or know someone who
knows an editor. You will also want this person�s recommendation and personal
opinion on what it was like to work with the particular company and individual.
Experiences vary a great deal from one book-writing experience to the next, and
the best way to ensure that you will
have a good experience is to talk with someone who has travelled down that
road, with that editor and their team.
Contacting a Publisher
In contacting a publisher or specific editor, include as
much information as you can in your initial message. Your editor, assuming they
are thorough and that the general topic fits the type of books produced by that
publisher, will work with you to develop your idea. Ultimately this process
will lead to a book proposal, outlined below.
Let�s say you now know you want to write a book, you have a
pretty good idea on which subject you�d like to write, and have found an
editorial contact name and want to get things going. What happens next? Once
you contact that editor to voice your interest, more than likely he or she will
want you to submit a formal book proposal. This kind of document is requested
not just to help us make a publication decision, but to help us all better
understand who your audience is, what they would want to learn (or code they
would want to lift) from your book, and what if anything you can do with your
content to better serve that audience. It is worth thinking in advance about
some of the things an editor will be looking for in that proposal, such as�
"what approach are you going to take to this topic, how is that different from
other resources available," "what kind of information is your audience seeking
on this topic, and how do you intend to provide it," "why this topic, and no
other," "why you as the author, and no other," etc.� Most editors will have proposal guidelines built around such
questions, and in the end you�ll want to wrap all of this information around a
proposed table of contents.� In return,
your editor should be willing to supply the information you need � ie, how will they (we) work with you and support you throughout
the writing process and beyond. Your future will involve many hours of writing;
what will your publisher be doing during this time?
Writing the book
Writing a book is not
easy, and if your editor tells you it will be or that "you can write those 500
pages in two months, no problem," run, don�t walk. But it can be extremely
rewarding, in terms of the recognition you may receive as a result, your
ability to market yourself to potential clients or employers, and ideally a
sense of personal accomplishment (you probably will not have to set up an
off-shore account for all the cash, unless you are writing romance novels).� Be
prepared:� people will respond to you. They will approach you at conferences, or send
you emails�possibly to say you�ve got it all wrong�but equally as possible to
say that you inspired them in some way or gave them an indispensable piece of
knowledge that saved their neck at just the right moment.
