So, you want to write a computer book...

So you want to write a computer book?

Eric Gunnerson's C# Compendium — Thu, 31 Mar 2005 22:39:00 GMT

re: So, you want to write a computer book...

Jim Beveridge — Thu, 31 Mar 2005 21:51:00 GMT

Great article. I wrote Multithreading Application in Win32 many moons ago, and your experience mirrors mine. One interesting discussion I heard on authoring technical books is that you need to be a beginner or an expert. If you are a beginner, you can effectively document your learning experience. I started out with a deep background in operating system design but minimal experience in Win32 multithreading, so I was both an expert and a beginner. That combination worked very well for me.

I would strongly encourage potential authors to get a couple articles published in magazines. First, these pay pretty well (often over $1000 per article.) Second, you'll find out what it's like writing with a deadline, negotiating with acquisition editors and working with copy editors. If you can't do a successful magazine article, it's unlikely you'll be successful writing a book.

Good luck!

re: So, you want to write a computer book...

Alfred Thompson — Thu, 31 Mar 2005 21:45:00 GMT

10,000 copies is a really good run. I think a lot of books don't get half that. This is especially true if your book is very closely tied to a version of software that is going to have a major new version soon. In other words this is a poor time to write a Visual Studio 2003 based book but not a bad time for 2005. But really you want to decide that the non royalty reasons are enough for you to spend the time so you are not too disappointed if you don't sell well.

re: So, you want to write a computer book...

Sebastien St-Laurent — Thu, 31 Mar 2005 22:04:00 GMT

Being a published author myself (Shaders for Game Programmers and Artists, http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1592000924), i can share a few thoughts on the whole thing...

Economics
---------
The standard wholesale discount expected by book wholesalers is 55% off retail. The bookstores generally get 40% off. But when you do ask the publisher about what the royalty is based from, they'll usually say "about 50%".

Money
-----
Most technical books don't even sell 10,000 copies. But i think that most publishers won't take a book idea unless they think it can break their "break even" mark which is usually somewhere between 5,000-10,000 copies. That being said, my first book gave me an advance of 9,000$ which sales have not managed to exceed yet. Not much for about 15-20h/week for 6 months...

Marketing
---------
From my experience, the publisher will apply some basic boilerplate promotion plan. If your book doesn't become a bestseller, they will drop it and move on to their next title. As an author, you cannot count on the publisher to do all the promotional efforts and have to be ready to create as much exposure for your title by yourself.

My Conclusion?
--------------
Well I was writing my second title and I've decided to follow the old saying "If you want to do it right, do it yourself!" I've founded my own little publishing company (www.ParadoxalPress.com) and will be self-publishing my next title.

Will it be more profitable? Well i would effectively make about 4-5x the profit per unit sold. Of course, I did have to invest some money to get the title ready but managed to keep my costs reasonable and my break-even point is currently at about 500 copies.

My next title (The COMPLETE Effect and HLSL Guide) is set for release in September, so we will soon enough see the results of my experiment :)

re: So, you want to write a computer book...

Mujtaba Syed — Thu, 31 Mar 2005 22:09:00 GMT

Great article.

Of every ten books I purchase, only one is worth reading. Alas, I get to know that only after I have gone through a chapter or two.

I believe aspiring authors should follow Bruce Eckel's model: write online, seek feedback, and improve. Once the writing scales a particular goodness threshold (decided by the community), get a print version out. There are several benefits of this approace: any kind of writing can get published online but only great writings get published on paper; and the subject matter can be kept current online as the product goes through CTP, pre-alpha, and beta release.

Eric Gunnerson's Blog On Writing A Book

Kingsley.Tagbo — Fri, 01 Apr 2005 00:42:00 GMT

What does it take to market a book and how much does it help your consulting practice?
Read a...

re: So, you want to write a computer book...

Mike Gunderloy — Thu, 31 Mar 2005 23:20:00 GMT

I recommend that first-time authors base their hourly rate calculations on their advance, not on their royalty dreams. Most computer books never even prove out their advance.

I babbled at length about this and other topics a while ago - http://www.larkware.com/adviceforwriters.html

re: Self publishing and insider secrets

Brian Bischof — Fri, 01 Apr 2005 22:05:00 GMT

I self-published my book Crystal Reports .NET Programming and learned a lot from the experience. I posted ten pages of tips and info for anyone interested in seeing what it takes to be a publisher.

http://www.crystalreportsbook.com/selfpublishing.asp

Blog link of the week 13

Daniel Moth — Mon, 04 Apr 2005 00:37:05 GMT

Blog link of the week 13

re: So, you want to write a computer book...

Chris — Mon, 04 Apr 2005 11:11:58 GMT

"Just make sure never to point people to your book instead of answering their question - that's a sure way not to get a sale"

This is not just detrimental to a single book sale, but can affect the sales of any future books, and even destroy your reputation.

Mr "B.V." knows that only too well from his days on the VB-DATA lists when he nearly always answered questions with just "Read Chapter 3 of my book where I explain that"

re: So, you want to write a computer book...

Clinton Pierce — Mon, 04 Apr 2005 20:07:10 GMT

I've written two books ("SAMS Teach Yourself Perl in 24 Hours" and "Perl Developer's Dictionary") and tech edited a few others, and I've gotta tell you, you're right on the money.

Money: The money from one was pretty good and then fell off after a couple of years. About the point where a monthly royalty check could just barely buy a nice dinner, I did a new edition and it got new life. The other book had the misfortune of debuting in the summer of 2001, right when the tech market crashed and actually lost money. Ahh well.

I wouldn't have done it for the money though, it's not worth it. It's a *lot* of work.

Fame: No tech-author groupies. Looks really good on a resume though, and employers like the fact that they're getting a programmer and a proven tech writer in one package.

Experience: There's nothing quite like opening a box of freshly printed books with your name on the cover. Or walking by the tech section at a bookstore and "fronting" your title.

Eric Gunnerson s C Compendium So you want to write a computer book | Quick Diets

Eric Gunnerson s C Compendium So you want to write a computer book | Quick Diets — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 14:38:22 GMT

PingBack from http://quickdietsite.info/story.php?id=11383