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by James Avery.
Original Post: Getting Closer - The Book Writing Process
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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.
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