On Writing a Book » Chapter Section

2.3 Proposal Review

Alexis Leon — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 18:14:02 +0000

Once the author submits the book proposal to the publisher, it undergoes two types of reviews—technical and editorial. The aim of the proposal reviews—both technical and editorial—is to decide whether to publish the book or not.

The technical review is usually done by three technical reviewers. Sometimes the publisher will decide to get the book reviewed by a single reviewer. The technical reviewers would be experts in the author’s field and would be familiar with the publishing process and the market. Most technical reviewers would also be successful authors or people who command respect in their field of specialization and who can verify the technical accuracy of the author’s claims and make sound predictions and estimates regarding the book’s sales.

The main objectives of the technical review are to determine whether:

the author is qualified to write the proposed book.
the book will have a market as indicated by the author.
the book covers all the relevant topics that the target audience need.
the author’s claims regarding books salient features, USPs, competing titles, etc. are true.
the author’s writing is clear, error free, and is suitable for the intended audience.

The technical reviewers would also give suggestions for improving the marketability of the book—addition of new topics or more coverage of existing topics, omission of certain topics, inclusion of illustrations, etc. They will also comment on the organization and may suggest reorganization for better clarity and continuity. They will be sometimes asked by the publisher to guesstimate the minimum and maximum number of copies the book would sell, the ideal price for the book, etc. Usually the publisher will give a questionnaire which the technical reviewers have to complete after reviewing the book proposal.

The publisher will also do an editorial or internal review. The internal review will be done by the commissioning editor with inputs from the production and marketing departments. Here the editor will consider the factors like number of page, number of illustrations, type of binding, paper quality, cover details, cost of production, competition, marketability, etc.

After completing the editorial review and after getting the feedback from the technical reviewers, the commissioning editor will collate the information and present it during the editorial meeting—a meeting attended by the publisher, editors, production personnel, designers, marketing personnel, etc. One purpose of the editorial meeting is to discuss the various book proposal reviews and reach a decision about publishing them.

The fate of a book will mainly depend on the inputs given by the technical reviewers regarding the quality, price, and sales volume. Once the editorial board is sure that the book will make money or at least break-even, the decision in most cases would be to go ahead with the publication. But many times the predictions have been proven wrong! Published books with huge expectations have fared poorly in the market while books that were rejected by many publishers before getting published become bestsellers. So, the ultimate purpose of the reviews and editorial meetings is to mitigate the risk as one cannot, like in any other situation, predict future with absolute certainty. Thus in the publishing industry also, all one can do is do the homework well, estimate as best as one can, and hope for the best.

If the decision is to publish the book, the publisher signs a contract with the author(s) and if the decision is to reject the proposal, then the author (in most cases) will get a rejection letter. Sometimes, if the reviewers have commented on the potential of a book in a new format with major revisions/additions/omissions, the publisher will convey the details to the author and ask him to submit a revised proposal.

[Note: This is the first draft of the book. I would require your comments, suggestions and feedback to make the book more useful, interesting, and as error free as possible. Please send your comments, suggestions and feedback to me.]

2.2 Book Proposal

Alexis Leon — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 15:31:58 +0000

Almost all publishers will ask the author(s) to write the book proposal. In fact, when the author approaches the publisher with a book idea, it would look much more professional and effective to have a well-written book proposal than a single page write-up about the book. Even in cases where the publisher commissions an author to write a book, it is a good idea and a best practice to write the book proposal and submit it to the publisher.

In this section we get an overview of what all goes into a book proposal. Even though, different publishers would have different requirements, all them will need to know certain basic facts. These form more than 90% of the book proposal and we will concentrate on those. To get an idea about what the different publishers need in their book proposals you can go to the publishers’ websites and download their book proposal forms (BPF).

The book proposal will contain the details on how the author would like to go about writing the book. It will contain a synopsis, detailed table of contents, expected time for completion, approximate number of chapters, pages, and artwork. In many cases the proposal will also contain sample chapters of the proposed book. The book proposal will also contain the authors resume and will explain why she is the best person to write the book. It will also contain the unique selling points (USPs) of the book, the targeted audience, and other marketing information.

We will see how to collect information, collate and organize them, and how to convert the information into a winning book proposal later. We will also see the structure and contents, the dos and don’ts, tips and tricks and more. We will also see a few sample book proposals.

2.1. Book Idea

Alexis Leon — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 17:32:13 +0000

Every book starts as an idea. In this section we will see how and where the book idea originates. We will see how the idea becomes a book later.

The idea or spark for the book usually comes to the author. It can be the desire to share your knowledge or to teach others the things you have learned the hard way. You might have seen many books on your area of expertise and have the confidence that you can do a better job. You must have collected information for your own use which you think might be useful to others like you. We will see some typical scenarios.

You are an expert on a subject. You have spent years learning the ropes, becoming proficient and mastering the subject. You have years of real- world experience. You are considered as a guru in that subject by your colleagues and peers. You are consulted whenever there is a problem. In the years you have learned and practiced the subject you have encountered almost all situations and challenges that possibly could occur. You know that you can contribute to the field by sharing the knowledge. You know that you can write an interesting book as you have more than enough funny and interesting anecdotes that will hook the readers. You know that you can explain things in a jargon free manner which people understand, as you have been doing that all along. You have enough credentials and professional standing to make people want to read your book when they hear you are the author. So you decide to write a book on your subject of expertise. A book idea is born.

You have completed several projects that involve developing high-technology products. You know how to successfully manage such projects where new advances happen every day. You know how to hire brilliant people and how to manage them, and how to make them work as an efficient team. You have experienced the challenges, fallen into the traps and pitfalls, faced the obstacles—human and technological, and you have learned how to look for them, steer clear of them and bring the projects to successful conclusion. Your experience—both successes and failures—could help young project managers to avoid the traps, pitfalls, and obstacles. You think you can write a book that will shorten the learning curve for beginners. Another book idea is born.

You are a teacher and you are not satisfied by the textbooks that are available in the market. In your opinion they don’t do justice to the subject and don’t explain the concepts clearly. You know that your combination of practical and teaching experience makes you an ideal candidate for writing a book that will explain the concepts with the help of real-world projects. It will be a textbook that will help the students to learn both the theory and its practical applications. So you decide to write a book mainly to teach your students, but could be used by other teachers and those who want to learn the subject. Yet another book idea is born.

You might have collected a lot of information during the course of your career. The information is hard to find and is from many different sources which are not readily accessible. You have collected, collated, and organized the information so that it is easy for people like you to get all the information needed to complete your job from your compilation. You know that no such book exists in the market. You are sure that it will be well received by people in your profession. You decide to turn your work into a book. Another book idea has come to life.

You have written a book on a general subject. But each chapter of that book is broad and deep enough to be a separate book. For example, you have written a book on Database Systems. But the different chapters of the book like Relational Database Management Systems, Data Normalization, Relational Algebra, Data Mining, Data Warehousing, etc. are topics can be written as separate books. In the general book, you have given a condensed view of the important topics. But in a separate book you can be more comprehensive and include all the advanced and complex topics that you have left out. The audience of the general book and the advanced book will be different. But writing one general book can ignite the spark for several books. Similarly, writing an advanced book can kindle the idea for a general book or a book on the same topic for a different audience.

Once the author has an idea and has the confidence of turning the idea into a book, then he/she will have to find a publisher who is willing to publish the book. With the popularity of Internet and WWW and the availability of new publishing media and technologies, one can write, publish, market, and sell the book. We will see about this later.

Sometimes the idea for a book will come from the publisher or one of the commissioning editors or the editorial board at the publishing house. While browsing the catalogue the publisher or editor finds that he/she does not have a book on a particular subject or for a particular market segment. For example, a publishing company who specializes on Computer Science books might want to publish a book on Software Project Management or Software Configuration Management, if it doesn’t have a book on that subject. Sometimes the company might have a book on a particular topic but it is targeted at advanced readers. So the company might want to publish books for the beginner and intermediate markets. If the book idea has idea occurred to the publisher, then the publisher will have to find a suitable author.

3.1. The Author

Alexis Leon — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 18:10:07 +0000

The author of the book is the most important person in the creation of the book. But becoming an author is not easy. In fact, it is one of the very difficult tasks. It is tougher than getting a job; it is more difficult than teaching kids; it is tougher than selling a product; it is harder than making a presentation.

You will become an author only after you get your book published. For getting your book published, first you will have to convince a publisher or an acquisitions editor at some publishing house that your idea is worth their time, effort, and money. You will have to make them believe that your manuscript or idea, once published will at least recover the money they have invested in the project.

If you can convince the publisher or acquisitions editor that your idea will make a bestseller, then you have more options. If you are a published author with a list of bestsellers, your job is easier and you have got more bargaining power.

In this aspect, in convincing that you have a bestseller, the author of a technical book has an advantage over the author of a fictional work (for example, a novel). In your case, you can leverage your claim with your knowledge and standing in the technical community. You can find out the competing books and do a comparison and explain how your book is different and superior. Your educational qualifications, your knowledge, your work experience, and your professional affiliations will help you in winning your case.

But for a writer who has completed his first novel, neither his educational qualifications nor his work experience is going to help him. He has to persuade the publisher by his manuscript. He cannot compare his work with competing books as in the case of fiction each book is unique. Good books get rejected while mediocre ones get accepted. Getting you fictional work published involves a lot of luck, timing and meeting the right people. But the rewards are also significantly better. Once the novel makes into the bestseller list, then the money he earns and the publicity he gets is overwhelming.

Coming back to technical books, the money is not bad if not great, you will get publicity, but not in the scale of a fiction writer. Doug Lowe has written more than 45 books on various computer-related topics. Jerry Weinberg has written more than 22 exceptional books on computer programming, programmer productivity, quality assurance and consulting. But none of them come anywhere near Elizabeth Gilbert [1] who must have made more money and who is definitively more famous with just 5 books among which only one is a major bestseller. Steig Larsson [2] who has published just 3 books (all after his untimely death) is more popular and his books have made more money than either Lowe or Weinberg.

Why is this? Why are writers of fiction more famous? The answer lies in the size of the target audience. If you compare the number of people who read legal thrillers with the number of people who read books on software quality you will realize why. Writers of fiction and non-fiction (memoirs, travelogues, etc.) enjoy have massive markets, while technical writers have a limited audience.

But only a fraction of the thousands of fiction writers becomes successful and famous. Many fail to even publish one book. And of those who have succeeded publishing their first not many publishes more, especially if the first one failed. So the life of the non-technical writer is more challenging, adventurous and risky. So it is only fair that the successful ones get rewarded handsomely and become world famous.

So, what is there for the technical author or writer of technical books? Is he wasting his time? Of course not; he also gets paid; he also becomes famous. But his earnings are far less and his fame is limited to his area of specialization. But he still have a well-paying job; he will get promoted; he will become a subject expert; he will gain the respect of his peers; he will get invitations for presentations and speeches at various seminars and exhibitions; he can go on a lecture tour where he can meet people and dine and stay in style. This too is exciting and the bonus is that you still get to keep your privacy!

You have seen the advantages and benefits of becoming an author. So if you have expertise in a technical subject and you feel that you can contribute to the existing body of knowledge, then you should seriously think about writing a book. If you love your subject, like writing, and can explain the highly technical subjects with real-world examples, anecdotes, and figures, then do give a shot at writing the book.

To all the non-technical writers: we are aware of your struggle, the effort you make, the nights you stay awake to bring us stories, memoirs, travelogues and so on, to entertain and enthrall us; we certainly appreciate your effort and wish you the success and fame that you rightly deserve.

References:-

[1] Elizabeth Gilbert’s memoir EAT PRAY LOVE, published in 2006, chronicled her journey alone around the world, looking for solace after a difficult divorce. The book was an international bestseller, translated into over thirty languages, with over 7 million copies sold worldwide, and a movie version in the making, starring Julia Roberts. The book became so popular that, in 2008, Time Magazine named Elizabeth as one of the 100 most influential people in the world.

[2] Prior to his sudden death of a heart attack in November 2004 he finished three detective novels in his trilogy “The Millennium-series” which were published posthumously. Altogether, his trilogy has sold more than 12 million copies worldwide (summer of 2009), and he was the second bestselling author in the world 2008.

1.1 Brooks, Humphrey, Weinberg, Davis, and McConnel

Alexis Leon — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 07:45:39 +0000

What have Frederick Brooks, Watts Humphrey, Gerald Weinberg, Alan Davis, and Steve McConnell, in common? They are all authors of bestselling books that have transformed the software profession.

Brooks is a software engineer and computer scientist, best known for managing the development of OS/360, then later writing candidly about the process in his seminal book “The Mythical Man-Month.” Mythical Man-Month changed the way software was developed and Brooks’s law became one of the most important laws of software project management and Brooks became a cult figure in the software engineering field.

Humphrey is also a software engineer, key thinker in the discipline of software engineering, and is often called the father of software quality. His books Managing the Software Process and A Discipline for Software Engineering are ‘must reads’ for software engineers.

Weinberg is author or co-author of several hundred articles and more than 30 books. In 1971 he published the book The Psychology of Computer Programming, which is considered by many the beginning of the study of software engineering as human behavior.

Davis is a software engineer and has held numerous teaching and consulting positions in various organizations and universities around the world. He has written five books and in 2006 his book 201 Principles of Software Development was voted by ACM members as one of the 20 classic computer science books.

McConnell is an author of many software engineering textbooks including Code Complete, Rapid Development, and Software Estimation. In 1998, McConnell was named as one of the three most influential people in the software industry by Software Development Magazine, along with Bill Gates and Linus Torvalds. Code Complete is considered as a software engineer’s Bible.

What is the secret behind the phenomenal success of these authors? Their books have passed the test of time and remain as bestsellers. They continue to influence the new generation of software engineers as they did the earlier generations. Their lecture tours are fully booked and they speak before jam-packed audiences.

These authors are great speakers and excellent in written and oral communication; they have the ability to explain and illustrate complex topics in simple terms that even a novice can understand; they have comprehensive knowledge of their areas of specialization; they have years of experience in dealing with real-life problems (both technical and management) and solving them; they continue to learn; they contribute immensely to the development of the profession by teaching, mentoring, and writing; and they work real hard.

If a person has all these attributes and if he or she decides to write a book, the chances of that book becoming a success are very high. The reason is that the book such a person write will be interesting, easy-to-read and understand, engaging, and will give practical know-how and wisdom that a professional can right away apply to his/her work.

In this book we will see how to write a book that will be interesting, engaging, readable and of practical value. We will examine the successful authors and their secrets and will find out how some people continue to write bestsellers while majority of the professionals do not even think about writing a book.