1. Editing and Writing Technical Books Robbie Allen rallen@rallenhome.com http://www.rallenhome.com/ January 26, 2006

2. 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/ http://www.rallenhome.com/

3. 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

4. Life as an Acquisitions Editor Stay current with technical trends Research new book ideas Find authors Negotiate contracts

5. 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!

6. 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

7. Life as a Copy Editor Review entire manuscript, looking for: –grammatical errors –spelling errors –logical errors –formatting inconsistencies Involvement per book: 2-4 weeks

8. 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)

9. 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

10. References “The Forest for the Trees: An Editor’s Advice to Writers” Writing Process –http://www.praxagora.com/andy o/professional/process.htmlhttp://www.praxagora.com/andy o/professional/process.html Writing for O'Reilly http://www.oreilly.com/oreilly/author /intro.html Dave Taylor on the Writing Business http://www.askdavetaylor.com/cat_ the_writing_business.html

11. Q/A How do you get a job as an editor?

12. Backup – Writing Technical Books

13. 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

14. 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

15. Common myths about being an Author You must be rich You are an expert You can write well or have a background in writing

16. 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

17. 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

18. 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

19. 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?

20. 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

21. Small sampling of publishers O’Reilly: http://www.oreilly.com/oreilly/author/intro.html Addison-Wesley: http://www.awprofessional.com/about/write_for_us.asphttp://www.awprofessional.com/about/write_for_us.asp APress: http://www.apress.com/about/writeForUs.htmlhttp://www.apress.com/about/writeForUs.html Peachpit: http://www.peachpit.com/about/write_for_us.asphttp://www.peachpit.com/about/write_for_us.asp SAMS: http://www.samspublishing.com/about/write_for_us.asphttp://www.samspublishing.com/about/write_for_us.asp Osborne: http://shop.osborne.com/osborne/aboutus/writeforus.shtmlhttp://shop.osborne.com/osborne/aboutus/writeforus.shtml No Starch Press: http://www.nostarch.com/releases/book_proposal.pdfhttp://www.nostarch.com/releases/book_proposal.pdf Syngress: http://www.syngress.com/authors/http://www.syngress.com/authors/ Wiley/Dummies: http://www.dummies.com/WileyCDA/Section/id-100097.htmlhttp://www.dummies.com/WileyCDA/Section/id-100097.html Sybex: http://sybex.com/sybexbooks.nsf/f8b757a5c6780f3b8825696100043e5 b/0960e3fa471f4d4e88256976007d23da?OpenDocument http://sybex.com/sybexbooks.nsf/f8b757a5c6780f3b8825696100043e5 b/0960e3fa471f4d4e88256976007d23da?OpenDocument

22. 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

23. 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/w hat_makes_a_good_publishing_co ntract_for_a_writer.html http://www.askdavetaylor.com/w hat_makes_a_good_publishing_co ntract_for_a_writer.html

24. 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

25. 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)

26. From writer to marketer Switching hats Go on a book tour, e.g. http://www.scottberkun.com/blog/?cat=8 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

27. 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

28. 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 http://www.oreilly.com/oreilly/author/ch03sb.html Tim O’Reilly’s perspective: http://www.oreilly.com/pub/a/oreilly/ask_tim/2003/sales expect_0603.html http://www.oreilly.com/pub/a/oreilly/ask_tim/2003/sales expect_0603.html

29. References The Forest for the Trees: An Editor’s Advice to Writers What it’s like to write –http://www.praxagora.com/andy o/professional/process.htmlhttp://www.praxagora.com/andy o/professional/process.html Writing for O'Reilly http://www.oreilly.com/oreilly/author /intro.html Dave Taylor on the Writing Business http://www.askdavetaylor.com/cat_ the_writing_business.html