It’s become pretty clear that the technical book-writing business is not worth the time and effort—not to mention the years of time that I could have been contributing elsewhere. But is there a better way? This article explores the mechanics of writing technical books and the alternatives.
Drawing a Portrait When the Subject Won't Sit Still
The problem with writing about Microsoft technology is that it’s constantly in flux. It’s like trying to paint a picture of a new airplane as it comes in to land. The beta versions are akin to rumors about what the plane is supposed to look like—what the aircraft designers intended, promised or promoted in the years before it made its first flight. As the plane comes in you can start sketching out the plane and as it taxies in you can really add in the detail. With technical books, every bit of that detail is what your readers want. Sure, they want to hear about the new features, but Microsoft provides lots of information about these. Readers really want to know how well the new version meets the hype and their specific needs. It’s only when one can get onboard and get a close look at what’s been done behind the pull-up plates that a writer can figure out if they’ve done a good job of meeting their promises. Unfortunately, given a 12-18 month ship schedule, about the time one’s finished with the book, the plane takes off and its replacement is about ready for alpha testing back at the plant.
Book Publishing is Unchanged Since Gutenberg
The other problem with paper book publishing is that the publisher can’t print the book a chapter at-a-time. They want the whole manuscript bundled together in one or more volumes of 700-1000 pages and they want them the second the plane lands—when the product hits RTM. This is impossible. Given that we don’t really know what a product will really be like until we test the final version it’s impossible to meet that deadline. Understand that while Microsoft has started giving out Community Technical Previews (CTPs), these versions are often trial balloons to see how well a feature is received and to see if it works with other features. If the critics pan it or it simply doesn’t work, Microsoft either fixes it, drops it or delays it until the next release—which can only 20 or so months away from the early CTPs. I can’t write books on vaporware—on features that they hope to be present in the final product. It’s just a waste of time.
Given this reality, authors have to hide the new chapters for over a year to prevent their innovative ideas and insightful examples from leaking into other authors’ books and articles (which frankly pay much better). At this point I have over 700 pages of content waiting for Addison Wesley to edit and get published. They hope to have it done before the next version ships. I hope so too.
Perhaps, Just Perhaps EBooks Are an Answer
I think a solution to this problem is EBooks. The problem here is that those who would rather steal the content and profit from it themselves are sucking the life out of the business. Try as we will to harden the content, there are those that still find ways to reproduce and even translate the content in China, India and elsewhere. The publishers are often powerless to do anything about these thieves who don’t mind stealing from Americans or others. Their governments are often in on the profits and turn a blind eye to these activities. I interviewed a number of Chinese that deny it even happens—they say it’s those people in Hong Kong. They forget that they are Chinese too. Whether or not it’s done in Hong Kong or New Delhi or Cleveland it’s still theft.
Regardless, I think I’m going to try to publish updates to my new book as EBooks. We have not decided on a “publisher” as we can actually do this ourselves and get a far higher rate of return. Yes, there are some expenses involved—I would need a high-speed uplink installed, buy a license for some IP-protection software and manage the incoming payments and customer support calls. But these all seem doable. Addison Wesley and SQL Server magazine have both promised to give us quotes on EBook publishing—they have yet to do so. It’s a new business for most folks so it’s important that we try to get it right the first time.
If you have an EBook publishing experience, let me know. I would love to hear about what works, what doesn’t and what you have learned. Perhaps I’ll write an EBook on the subject… maybe not.
The guys at www.pragmaticprogrammers.com are offering their books in PDF as well as paper, which is cool.
What I really like is the idea of being able to be on the "beta" of a book, seeing the chapters as they are written, even getting a chance to contribute to them to make them better!