Having written one book and a bunch of web content, I can tell you that (IMHO) it's great to be able to keep updating and tinkering around with what you've done. Once something is printed on the page, it can haunt you forever - electronic documents, on the otherhand, can evolve over time to become better and better...
I don't know if this is univerally true, but the best thing about writting a book for me was to be able to say "I wrote a book"... Getting a pat on the back from your mom, being able to send copies to a few old friends, monitoring the comments on Amazon, and getting e-mail from people who said it was useful; those were are the highlights for me. The actual process of writting is always painful, and that big a project can seem to take forever. That said, I'd do it again if I found a topic that interested me enough to spend four or five months buried in it... Just my $0.02 --- Dennis ----- Original Message ----- From: "Priscilla Oppenheimer" To: Sent: Wednesday, January 29, 2003 12:31 PM Subject: RE: Richard A. Deal Books [7:62027] > Mossburg, Geoff (MAN-Corporate) wrote: > > > > I know a lot of people on this group have been published, some > > multiple > > times, and I hope I'm not offending anyone by asking this > > question: How well > > does a book publisher pay for the books you write? I'm not > > expecting any > > specific figures, but a ballpark figure would be interesting. > > Thanks! > > They don't pay you to write the book, but they do pay you royalties on the > sales. So, how much you make depends on how well the book sells. Regardless, > though, it's only a few dollars per book. We don't do it for the money. We > do it because we have a lot to say! :-) > > The publisher gets most of the money made on sales. They incur costs > printing the book, of course. They also incur many other costs. Personally, > I think that they incur a lot of costs that they shouldn't. They redraw our > figures, with the end result looking exactly the same except with numerous > errors; they edit the material, with the end result being incomprehensible > sentences in some cases; they layout the book pages, wrecking the flow in > many cases, and so on. > > Some publishers, rumor has it, are trying to streamline this and are letting > authors work with a WYSIWYG template that requires less messing with by > non-technical people. > > People often complain about the quality of books. Someone said it was > because it's easy to get a book deal these days. That's not true. (Maybe it > was true during the boom?) The quality problem is due to the processes > currently in use for producing books. > > I think Web-based training materials are much better in many ways. Now, I > have done some work for CertificationZone, so I'm a bit biased, but I loved > what they said in a recent e-mail about the advantages they have over books > (more up-to-date, more accurate because they can more easily fix any errors, > more interactive with color graphics, etc.) > > Priscilla > > > > GM > > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: Richard Deal [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] > > Sent: Tuesday, January 28, 2003 7:24 PM > > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Subject: Re: Richard A. Deal Books [7:62027] > > > > > > Mark, > > > > Thanks for the kudos. I worked really hard on the book and I > > know, after > > having written 6 books, that you can't please everyone. > > However, of all of > > the books that I've written, I'm proudest of this book. Yes, > > there are some > > errors that slipped in during my last review of the book and > > when it went to > > production, which does, unfortunately, happen. But as I > > discover these, I > > put them on my web site. > > > > As to my MCNS book, which is what the first poster asked, I had > > finished it, > > but before it went to print, the publisher (The Coriolis Group) > > went out of > > business. Since the MCNS has changed, I've decided not to > > create a new book. > > I'm getting a contract this week to write a CCNA book for > > McGraw-Hill and > > have been desparately trying to convince them to write a Cisco > > VPN book--one > > that covers ALL aspects of VPNS with Cisco products--PIX, > > router, > > concentrator, and their software clients. > > > > If you have any questions about my PIX book, please don't > > hesitate in > > shooting me an email. Thanks for your support! > > > > Cheers! > > ""Mark Smith"" wrote in message > > [EMAIL PROTECTED]">news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]... > > > I think his PIX book is very good. I've not found many errors > > in it but > > then > > > maybe I've not looked at it in as much depth as you have. If > > I have a > > gripe > > > about it it's for one thing. I use it as a desktop reference. > > Sometimes > > I'm > > > looking up how to accomplish "X" and find out that before I > > can do that I > > > need to accomplish A, B and/or C. The instructions will > > simply say "That > > > process was covered earlier and won't be repeated here. Now > > to accomplish > > > "X"....." Earlier? Where....EXACTLY? I've spent more time > > looking for > > > "earlier" sometimes than I do accomplishing the task at hand. > > "Earlier in > > > this chapter under the blah heading" or "this was covered in > > the chapter > > on > > > blah blah" would be helpful. As far as the info in the book > > goes I've > > found > > > stuff in there that I can't find at CCO (it may be there but > > I can't find > > > it) or anywhere other than maybe from tech in a TAC call. > > Either that or > > > I've had to look for it in a dozen different places and now > > it's all > > > together in one book. > > > It's the best book I've found on using a PIX. Beats the Cisco > > Press book > > on > > > the PIX by a long shot. > > > Don't know about any others he's written. > > > > > > IMHO. > > > > > > Mark > > > > > > > > > > > > -----Original Message----- > > > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On > > Behalf Of > > > Sam Sneed > > > Sent: Tuesday, January 28, 2003 9:57 AM > > > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > Subject: Re: Richard A. Deal Books [7:62027] > > > > > > > > > His PIX firewall book is OK. It does have a lot of errors in > > it though. > > Hope > > > his other books have proofreaders. > > > > > > > > > ""Joseph R. Taylor"" wrote in message > > > [EMAIL PROTECTED]">news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]... > > > > Hi Everyone, > > > > I'm interested in knowing how good Richard A. Deal's > > books are. > > > > Especially in reference to MCNS. Thank you in advance. > > > > Joseph R. Taylor > > > > MCSE, CCNP Message Posted at: http://www.groupstudy.com/form/read.php?f=7&i=62162&t=62027 -------------------------------------------------- FAQ, list archives, and subscription info: http://www.groupstudy.com/list/cisco.html Report misconduct and Nondisclosure violations to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
