Date post: | 21-Feb-2017 |
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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
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