I sent in my last chapter this weekend, and I just finished up the Preface. Some people have been asking me about the book writing process so I thought I would talk a little bit about that. This process varies from publisher to publisher and book to book, but I have a feeling most are somewhat like this one.
The first stage is the proposal, writing an outline, signing a contract, etc. This usually takes longer than it should, but at this point you will be getting a good idea of what all the book will entail. How many pages, what topics will be covered, etc.
The second stage is the actual writing. This is usually the longest phase and consists of different milestones, usually based on chapter.
The third stage is the technical review. This is when a number of your peers read through the book and leave comments, feedback, and questions. After the review the author then goes through the entire book again and makes changes based on the comments and feedback.
The fourth stage is when the editor or editors go through the book again and edit for writing, formatting, etc. The author then goes through every chapter again and edits based on comments or feedback and accepts any changes. I was lucky to have an editor who is also technical, so some parts of this were like a technical review as well.
The fifth stage is when after going through production the author is given page proofs, usually PDFs or something, that show what the book is actually going to look like. The author then gets to read through the book, probably for the 4th or 5th time by now, and check the changes. Not alot of changes are usually made at this stage.
I am right at the end of the fourth stage, the book should be in production pretty soon.
The next steps for me involve:
- Finishing the “Credits” pages.
- Getting all Code Samples and Examples together
- Working on the official website
While writing a book I always tell myself that I will never write another book, but as I get to the end I am already thinking of ideas for future books. I am definitely taking a break after this though, I have alot of work to do with the user group and other projects.. so I doubt I will start another book anytime soon.
-James
{ 9 comments }
Don’t forget the step (which I think is the hardest) that is the shopping of the proposal to the various publishers!
Unless you already have an implicit agreement to write a book witha publisher, it can be damn hard for a first-time author to be able to get that first big break with a publisher.
BTW .. Don’t you find that sketching out the code samples when writing the chapters is a lot easier? I mean, how do you write anything when you don’t know at least a sketch of the kind of code that will appear in-line?
Oh, I definitly have all the code examples and samples already in the book. What I am reffering to is packaging them all based on chapter, making sure all the examples work and are well commented. And also creating VB.NET version since I used C# for the inline.
-James
And as for the shopping the proposal part… That is true, I kind of included that in the first stage. Personally I have not had alot of trouble since for my two books I have used an agent which makes everything alot easier.
-James
Good info, and good luck on the book’s success!
I have written completely 3 books, and had a hand in another few, and the thing that is striking is that every single step takes a lot longer than you expect. I was told for my next book, I would have a contract likely by 11/1. And yes, here we are almost into next year and because of personel changes and personal issues on the part of other parties, the agent and publisher are still tweaking it (which in the end does not matter because the target product is going to be a little late anyway…).
Sigh.
I love to write and I have to agree that writing a book does take a lot longer and is a lot harder than I would wish. I have written several short stories but now I am working on a novel. I have taken the same steps and I am well on my way to getting my first book through the second stage. I can’t wait until I am finished.
I am so ready to write my book I have researched a bit and I cant seem to figure where to start when it comes to getting someone interested in the publishing. Do I write a letter and I cannot figure out how to write a proposal. Any help would be a lifesaver.
I’m shocked
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