Olf2011
- 1. So You Want to Write a Technical Book.... Dru Lavigne Community Manager, PC-BSD Project OLF, September 10, 2011
- 2. Outline ● What you should be doing before you submit a book proposal ● Should you self-publish or co-author? ● Will you become rich and famous? is it worth the work? ● How to submit a book proposal ● What to expect in contract negotiations ● What to expect when it comes time to actually write the book with a deadline looming over your head ● How to promote your book
- 3. Introduction ● based on my experience, YMWV ● technical writer since 1998, primarily on open source since 2000 ● author of 3 technical books ● currently manage documentation for three projects (2 open source)
- 4. Introduction ● the rules of the writing game are changing, making it a great time to be a tech writer ● opportunities abound: zero barriers to entry, numerous free publicity methods ● how do you get noticed in a sea of info? ● how do you make money, or launch a career, when so much is available for free?
- 5. Introduction ● noone gets paid to write docs for “free” software (not true) ●besides, if you're not a developer, you're a nobody in open source (still true, but getting better) ● writing is a skill (use it or lose it) ● writing is an art (it needs to be explored)
- 6. What you should be doing ● open source is still a Wild West of missing and incomplete documentation--pick a project and start writing! ● enough work to last a life time or two! ●you get to pick your hours, language, what to write about and in what style ● it's all archived and searchable ● honed writing skills are an asset to any employer
- 7. What you should be doing Get your work (and your name) out there! ● vital if you're looking for writing contracts or envision a book in your future ● don't wait til work is “polished”, but always write your best ● be anal with grammar and spelling, even with casual works (email, blog posts) ● do your research (or it will bite you back)
- 8. What you should be doing Write daily! This allows you to: ● become an expert while building a body of work ● define your style ● gain an audience ● find out what you like to write about, and whether you really do like to write
- 9. What you should be doing Tools of the trade: ● blogs (personal, work, pet project) ● book reviews (Amazon, publishers) ● articles & how-tos (gratis or paid) ● review board of peer-reviewed journal ● write one chapter of a book ● contribute to online magazine
- 10. What you should be doing What publishers want to see: ● the size of your audience ● that your expertise is currently “hot” ● the scope of your work ● a well-thought out proposal ● that you (and your topic) exist in Google
- 11. Co-author? ● one way to get your foot in the door ● allows you to share the workload (and the proceeds) ● ideally, you already have a working relationship with the co-author ● ideally, the co-author has been published before or is deemed an expert on the topic
- 12. Self-publish? ● IMHO: use a big publisher for your first book, do what you want for the rest ● this establishes your reputation and you benefit from publisher's experience ● if first book is a hit, your bargaining power increases with that publisher ● learn from the publisher's editing cycle, layout
- 13. Self publish? Self-publishing may be better when: ● market is small or topic is too niche to interest mainstream publishers ● you're the expert in that market and your audience is aware of your promotion avenues ● you want to cut out middle-man and control revenue cut, promotion, and production
- 14. Self publish? Dead tree or e-book? ● publish on demand systems (e.g. Lulu.com) allow you to create soft or hard cover bound books in small batches ● most publish on demand systems allow you to create a storefront and/or sell through Amazon as well as provide an ISBN
- 15. Self publish? Dead tree or e-book? ● the epub/Kindle market is growing http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-05- 19/amazon-com-says-kindle-electronic-book- sales-surpass-printed-format.html ● retail price is lower (usually less than $10) but proceeds can be higher than a book royalty (35% or 70%, depending upon country of sale)
- 16. Self publish? e-books make it easy to self-publish: https://kdp.amazon.com/self-publishing/help http://pubit.barnesandnoble.com/pubit_app/bn ?t=support (US only)
- 17. Is it worth the work? What you should know beforehand: ● for technical books, 10,000 hard copies is a “best seller” ● 3 months f/t (50+ hrs/wk) is considered fast ● a very small % of books gets promoted by mainstream publishers and small publishers have less resources ● publishing is a gamble--this is reflected in the contract
- 18. Is it worth the work? ● don't expect to make a lot of money: you could probably make more working the hours you put into the book ● don't expect to become famous ● write as if your book is the tech best-seller of the year ● even if the book doesn't make money and you don't become famous, the process can be very satisfying and result in unexpected gains (e.g. future employment, speaking engagements)
- 19. Submitting the proposal Research before you write the proposal ● every mainstream publisher has specific instructions on their website: find them and follow them to the letter ● a proposal isn't something you whip up in an hour
- 20. Submitting the proposal ●proposals are detailed: typically the entire table of contents, the first chapter of the book, a synopsis, proof that you understand who the audience is and which books compete with yours ● you basically need to envision the entire book in your mind ● publishers know that books evolve as they are written, you should understand this too
- 21. Contract negotiations ● if this is your first book, the publisher is gambling on your success ● don't expect to get a sweet contract for the first book ● royalties are on the net (not the retail price) of the book ● ask friends who are published if they have a recommended lawyer to review the contract
- 22. Contract negotiations ● is the time frame realistic? ● who retains copyright? it should be you ● do you get distribution rights? (aim for these after a period of time e.g. after first year) ● do you want translation rights? what are the translation royalties? ● what are the royalties for non-print distribution? ● can you live off of the advance while writing the book?
- 23. What to expect What you should know beforehand: ●default is still Word template with no revision control--ask to gauge flexibility ● you will learn a lot working with your editor--aim for daily feedback and push if your editor becomes AWOL
- 24. What to expect Writing is hard work: ●expect to put in a full day, every day: the amount of time available seems like a lot, it's not ● ideally you are getting regular feedback and fixing edit requests will be in addition to your writing ●you will literally have no life if you attempt to write a book while working f/t--aim to get enough vacation days, flex time, reduced hours, etc.
- 25. Promotion ●don't expect the publisher to care as much about your book as you do ● make sure your book has a Kindle version ● make sure your book is on Google: http://books.google.com/googlebooks/tour/
- 26. Promotion ●approach reviewers for a review and try to get a good one on slashdot; check with the publisher for policy on review copies ●use social media (blog, tweet, FB, LinkedIn, etc.) and use book cover as your profile image ●Amazon, Google, Lulu, etc. have guides on promoting your book
- 27. Contact Slides: http://slideshare.net/dlavigne/olf2011 Contact: dru@freebsd.org