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Thread: Ask the technical author

  1. #1
    Naked with head flowers threnody's avatar
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    Default Ask the technical author

    Not sure if this will generate any interest, but I know we have a bunch of writers here, both professional and aspiring....

    I have two books on bookshelves as well as am currently in negotiations with my publishers for a third. I write books about technology, my most recent is about Flash CS4 and my first was about Adobe LiveCycle Design 8.1.

    I'm here for any questions anyone has, if anyone has any questions!
    Australians are like those little island tribes from logic puzzles where everyone lies all the time ~ Exy.

  2. #2
    Banned
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    LOOK WHY IS CS3 ALWAYS UPDATING ITSELF

    WHY DOES IT HAVE TO DOWNLOAD HUNDREDS OF MEGABYTES OF STUFF ON MY OFFICE COMPUTER ALL THE TIME

    :Shake: ADOBE :Shake:

  3. #3
    AWESOME SAUS Elyanna's avatar
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    How'd you get started in the industry?
    "There are no ordinary people. ... It is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit." C.S. Lewis

  4. #4
    Naked with head flowers threnody's avatar
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    Quote Originally posted by Exy View post
    LOOK WHY IS CS3 ALWAYS UPDATING ITSELF

    WHY DOES IT HAVE TO DOWNLOAD HUNDREDS OF MEGABYTES OF STUFF ON MY OFFICE COMPUTER ALL THE TIME

    :Shake: ADOBE :Shake:
    Exy I'm not 100% sure, but it might have something to do with Adobe's release schedule - they build the program and release it to beta and then onto the public. And then they find issues, which they have to fix. And then those fixes cause other issues and they need to fix those too. And so on and so forth.

    Quote Originally posted by Elyanna View post
    How'd you get started in the industry?
    My degree is actually in journalism, but I fell in love with the internet when I was about 20. I was working as a journalist for a magazine at the at time, and completely disallusioned with the industry. I quit my job and jumped on the Y2K bandwagon as a researcher and moved into corporate website producing and then into the publisher's side. This is relevant, because it was only being so entrenched in the online industry that led me to the books. A friend of mine who has published 12 books was actually writing my first one but she got really sick before she finished the first draft of the first chapter. She recommended that I step to pick it up and voila! I wrote my first boo and it was published in August 2008.
    Australians are like those little island tribes from logic puzzles where everyone lies all the time ~ Exy.

  5. #5
    like Gandalf in a way Nrblex's avatar
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    What's the process of writing these sorts of books like?

  6. #6
    Naked with head flowers threnody's avatar
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    It's pretty full on.

    First of all you approach the publisher with an idea, and they'll tell you if they like it or not. Sometimes they might like it, but want to see a different spin on it (ie. my Flash CS4 book had a marketing spin).

    Then you work up an outline document, which states the purpose of the book, the demographic, what gives it differentiation in an already saturated market etc.

    Then if they like that, and the board of editors approves it you work up a chapter summary, outline what each chapter will delve into etc, and determine number of pages.

    Once that's approved, you commit to a delivery schedule. if you are working on it full time you are looking at about 4 days per chapter. Since I work full time aswell, i get 10 days a chapter.

    Once you have written three, and they accept it, you get paid 33% of your advance.

    Once the first three chapters have been handed in, the tech editor comes in and begins to review them for technical honesty, while your every day editor keeps you grammatically honest.

    So you work through like that. When 2/3s of the chapters are submitted they release the next 33% of your advance and once the entire book is put to bed, they release your final payment.

    After the first 3 chapters of the first draft is written, you move into the second draft (which as I said is when the tech author comes in), and then when they've been signed off, the copy editors come in, and when the copy editored chapters have been signed off laid out pdfs come in. So at any given time you could be writing a chapter, rewriting another, proofing another and reviewing a pdf to go to publication.

    But it's so worth it.
    Australians are like those little island tribes from logic puzzles where everyone lies all the time ~ Exy.

  7. #7
    like Gandalf in a way Nrblex's avatar
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    Do the books you write have any graphs/figures/screenshots/etc? If so, how are those decided on? Is there like a special graphics editor or something? Are you aware of whether or not that stuff is going to be in the book?

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