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Editing and Writing Technical Books Robbie Allen [email protected] http://www.rallenhome.com/ January 26, 2006

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Editing and Writing Technical Books

Robbie [email protected]://www.rallenhome.com/

January 26, 2006

Bio• Technical Leader at Cisco Systems• Editor/Author at O’Reilly Media• Grad student at MIT

• For more on my books and blogs, see:http://www.rallenhome.com/

• Equal parts project manager, “information

architect”, and technologist

• Different types of editors:– Acquisition

• Sign books– Technical

• Review books for technical accuracy– Developmental

• Edit and manage books from signing to final draft

– Copy• Check for correct grammar and spelling, good

content flow, consistent use of styles, etc.– Production

• Manage the book from final draft to publication

The many flavors of Editors

Life as an Acquisitions Editor• Stay current with technical

trends• Research new book ideas• Find authors• Negotiate contracts

Life as a Developmental Editor• Work closely with authors

– Weekly concalls, frequent emails• Manage author (ever changing)

delivery schedules• Read and re-read a LOT of

chapters• Search for good technical

reviewers• Manage technical reviewers (ever

changing) schedules• Meet deadlines!

Life as a Technical Editor• Shares some of the

responsibilities with Developmental Editor

• Primary focus is on ensuring the book meets the needs of target audience– Technically accurate?– Well organized and presented?

• May help with tech review

Life as a Copy Editor• Review entire manuscript,

looking for:– grammatical errors– spelling errors– logical errors– formatting inconsistencies

• Involvement per book: 2-4 weeks

Life as a Production Editor• Manage production process• Create production schedule• Work with graphics artists on

any figure issues• Work with dev editor on front

and back cover copy and index

• Incorporate QC feedback (QC1 and QC2)

A Recent Production Schedule

3/7In-stock date

3/3Bound-book date

2/23Book to printer

2/22OTD QC

2/21Cover to printer

2/20Page estimate complete

2/14Index complete

2/9–2/10Index review

2/17Enter QC2 edits

2/16–2/17QC2

2/15Pagebreaking

2/9–2/14Enter QC1 edits

1/13Back cover copy due to Adam

1/26–2/8Index

1/26–2/8QC1/Proofread

1/16–1/25Enter copyedits

12/28–1/19Copyedit review

12/20–1/13Copyedit

DateTask

References• “The Forest for the Trees: An

Editor’s Advice to Writers”• Writing Process

– http://www.praxagora.com/andyo/professional/process.html

• Writing for O'Reillyhttp://www.oreilly.com/oreilly/author/intro.html

• Dave Taylor on the Writing Businesshttp://

www.askdavetaylor.com/cat_the_writing_business.html

Q/A• How do you get a job as an

editor?

Backup – Writing Technical Books

The Joys of Being an Author• See your name in print• Make money

– More on this later• Gain instant credibility

– Whether it is deserved or not• Educate people

The Toils of Being an Author• Writing is hard work• Writing a book is a lot of hard

work– Your friends and family may not like

you very much during the process• You'll become an Amazon addict• People will think you know it all

about the topic• Some people will be jealous• And bad reviews

Common myths about being an Author • You must be rich• You are an expert• You can write well or have

a background in writing

How to get started as an Author • Start a blog

– Short– Doesn't pay (besides AdSense)– Published instantly

• Write an online article– Short– Doesn't pay that well (per article)– Published quickly

• Write a magazine article– Longer than online articles– Pays well (per word)– Can take a long time to publish

How to get started as an Author (cont’d)

• Become a technical reviewer for a book– Lot of work (if you do it right)– Pay varies, but generally not very well for first

timers– Your name in the acknowledgements– Get a glimpse of the publishing process

• Contribute a chapter to a book– Amount of work varies depending on the content

and timeline– Pay varies, often by page or flat fee for the

chapter– Get a better understanding of the publishing

process• Write a book

– More work than you think it will be (yes, that's a lot)

– Pay is good, but not in relation to the amount of work you put in

– Long time between when you start writing and the book is in stores

Create a proposal • Some basic information:

– Summary– Target audience– Detailed outline– Page count (this is hard; give a

guestimate)– Schedule (2 chapters, 50%,

100%, final draft)– Biography– Writing sample (sample chapter if

possible)• More detail the better

Picking a publisher • Start off picky• Does the publisher have a

good reputation?• Does the publisher have a

good bookstore presence?• Is the publisher going to

publish competing titles?• Is the publisher’s contract

overly complex?

Pitching a proposal • Most proposal submissions are

by email (a few are by snail mail)

• Do you know someone in the business that can refer you?

• Agents can help• Ask for a response by a certain

date

Small sampling of publishers• O’Reilly:

http://www.oreilly.com/oreilly/author/intro.html• Addison-Wesley:

http://www.awprofessional.com/about/write_for_us.asp• APress:

http://www.apress.com/about/writeForUs.html• Peachpit:

http://www.peachpit.com/about/write_for_us.asp• SAMS:

http://www.samspublishing.com/about/write_for_us.asp• Osborne:

http://shop.osborne.com/osborne/aboutus/writeforus.shtml• No Starch Press:

http://www.nostarch.com/releases/book_proposal.pdf• Syngress:

http://www.syngress.com/authors/• Wiley/Dummies:

http://www.dummies.com/WileyCDA/Section/id-100097.html• Sybex:

http://sybex.com/sybexbooks.nsf/f8b757a5c6780f3b8825696100043e5b/0960e3fa471f4d4e88256976007d23da?OpenDocument

Do you need an agent? • The short answer is no. At least

not to get your first book published.

• Agents take a cut of your royalties (which aren't much to begin with)

• Agents are good for getting corporate whitepaper gigs and pitching large projects (like a book series)

• Agents do the following:– Shop your proposal around– Review your contract and help you

negotiate better terms

Signing a book • Publisher contracts should be

understandable to the layperson (many are not)

• Publisher generally retains copyrights, but it is a bargaining chip

• Avoid non-competes at all costs• Make sure you get a “right of first

refusal” for the next edition• Other tips:

http://www.askdavetaylor.com/what_makes_a_good_publishing_contract_for_a_writer.html

The process of writing a book • You do initial research• You start writing• You do more research• You do more writing• Your editor provides feedback on

your chapters• You incorporate the feedback• Your editor sends your chapters out

for technical review• You incorporate the feedback from

tech review• The editor may edit the chapters

one last time• You do final clean-up

The process of writing a book (cont’d) • Copyeditors make (mostly) grammatical

corrections. Your editor may ask you to address some of the copyeditor comments if he can't.

• Both you and the editor review the first quality check (QC1). This entails reading through the entire book again to look for any leftover errors.

• The editor reviews the second quality check (QC2). This is typically a quick pass through the manuscript looking for anything grossly out of whack.

• You review the index and front and back cover copy

• Your job is done!• How long does this take? 1-3 years (or

longer)

From writer to marketer• Switching hats• Go on a book tour, e.g.

http://www.scottberkun.com/blog/?cat=8• Sign books at a local bookstore• Speak at conferences or user groups• Create a website to support the book• Participate on forums• Put info about your book in your email

signature• Ask friends, family, co-workers, and

everyone else to write reviews for the book

• Engineering Amazon

What makes a book successful? • The book must be useful (duh)• Must be the top 1 or 2 in the category• Need a large audience• Need successful publisher and self

marketing• Keep writing

How much can you make? • Typical advance: $10,000 spread over a series of 4

payments• Typical royalty: 10% on the wholesale price of the

book• Wholesale price typically 50% of retail price

– $50 x 50% = $25 (publisher gets for each book – not accounting costs)

– $25 x 10% = $2.50 (author gets for each book)• Have to “earn out” your advance before you see any

royalties (can take a year or more)• Can earn anywhere from $15,000 - $60,000 over the

life of a book (2-5 years)• Can help jumpstart a consulting or training career• Book publishing cost breakdown:

http://www.oreilly.com/oreilly/author/ch03sb.html• Tim O’Reilly’s perspective:

http://www.oreilly.com/pub/a/oreilly/ask_tim/2003/salesexpect_0603.html

References• The Forest for the Trees: An

Editor’s Advice to Writers• What it’s like to write

– http://www.praxagora.com/andyo/professional/process.html

• Writing for O'Reillyhttp://www.oreilly.com/oreilly/author/intro.html

• Dave Taylor on the Writing Businesshttp://

www.askdavetaylor.com/cat_the_writing_business.html