Hi there. My name is Scott Duffy, and welcome to my book writing log. I have documented the process of writing my last two books on this site, and have started my third. This book will be called Visual Studio Team System In Action, and should be available in 2005.

Publishing Existing Content

Four years ago, I put many hundreds of hours of work into a book entitled "JavaScript 2 Black Book". That book never got published, because the publisher went out of business. JS2 Black Book is still listed on Amazon.com today, although it says "Out of Print". Ha! It was never In Print!

Until today.

I've decided, as a precursor to writing a book from scratch, to release the old JavaScript 2 Black Book to the world. It is available as of now on Lulu at the following URL:

http://www.lulu.com/content/355459

I am going through the book page by page, and updating content that is no longer relevant. Some things are being deleted, and some things are being added. That will take some time, but hopefully not too much time. And so this first batch is only the first chapter, with new chapters to be added each week.

I hope by the end of August 2006 to have the entire book available. Since I am releasing it chapter by chapter, of course those that buy the book now will be entitled to the entire thing (by PDF) when it is complete. Simply email me a copy of the lulu.com receipt and I will glady email you the whole thing when it's ready.

Much thanks to anyone who purchases this book. I'll keep you updated at this blog as to the progress, as new content is being added.

Advice To New Authors

The book publishing industry is having some serious problems right now.

Five years ago, I was paid an advance royalty that equated to $7-$10 for every hour that I worked on that book. It was not great wages for the time invested, but I figured I was a new author and things would improve over time.

Three years ago, I was paid an advance that worked out to $5-$7 for every hour of work. And last year I was paid $4 per hour.

In Canada today, minimum wage is above $7 per hour. Honestly, authors are now making less than minimum wage - it's a serious problem.

Now certainly part of the problem is that computer book sales are on the decline from the pre-2000 peak. The availability of free information off the Internet is a big part of that decline. Google killed the computer book author.

So my advice to new authors is, make sure you are in it for the right reasons.

If there is a book inside you that is dying to get out, by all means write it down and publish it. But if you are thinking you can sell 100,000 books at $40 a copy and then retire in the Bahamas, it doesn't work that way.

I am a bit tired of the traditional book publishing route as it is. They push you to set aggressive deadlines for each chapter submission, and then push you to meet those deadlines. "We have to have the book on the store shelves by September 1, so that means you have to have the manuscript complete by April 1."

And they always have a target number of pages, and complain to you if you are 20-30 pages below the target. "We asked for 340 pages and you only delivered 320." To me, there is nothing worse than having to repeat yourself or stretch out an example for a page or two longer than necessary. Brevity is an art form.

I am investigating the site Lulu.com to publish my next book. I am going to pick a topic, take my time to write it, read it and reread it a few times to make sure I am happy with it, and publish it myself. I get to keep more of the revenue, so I can make more money by selling less books. There are also options to get an ISBN number, get professional layout and cover design done, and get listed on sites like Amazon.com.

I will be starting this blog again to keep you updated on the progress.

Here we go!

Chapter 3 Hour By Hour

April 14
12:52 am: 1,141 words
2:05 am: 1,730 words (8 words per minute? Ugh. 13 hours left at current pace.)
3:01 am: 2,175 words (still 8 words per minute. Seems to be average for me.)
4:02 am: 3,282 words (18 words a minute. Whoo! And time is flying.)
5:09 am: 3,792 words (8 words per minute again.)
5:45 am: 4,175 words (time for bed - i'll pick it up again tomorrow night.)

April 15
10:30 pm: 4,175 words (start writing again.)
11:32 pm: 4,391 words (but I have been working on tables and figures, which take up lots of space with very little words, so 2 full pages have been written so far tonight.)
12:56 am: 5,020 words (7.5 words per minute)
1:29 am: 5,308 words (8.7 words per minute; getting tired)
2:30 am: 6,000 words (nice round number, not on purpose though; 11 words per minute)
3:22 am: 6,433 words (final - ready for submission version)

Target: 8,000 words (well, I didn't quite make that, but that's ok since I made my page count.)

Chapter 2 Out The Door

Whoot!

Last night I decided to go to sleep shortly after blogging. I decided that it was better to delay the submission by one day than to stay up until 8am.

So tonight I finished the chapter. I even had time to go over it one more time, top to bottom, doing lots of minor edits. I love the "last proofread" edit. As an author, you want the chapter to have good continuity throughout. If you use the term "portfolio project" early in the chapter, and then settle on "team project" near the end, that final edit will catch it.

Anyays, to bed. I had an incredible night writing. Listening to New Order. I just purchased their Best Of... and Rest Of... albums and that got me through the night in blazing speed.

Chapter 2 was 8,156 words with 11 figures.

Chapter 2 Still Coming

Here it is, 3 o'clock in the morning, and I have promised my editor I would submit the next chapter by tomorrow morning (or should I say, this morning).

And so I have made the decision to keep writing until either the chapter is done, or I am done.

With 6,300 words under my belt, and a target of 8,500, I still have a way to go. At 500 words per hour, I still have about 4 hours of writing left. Can I do it all tonight (and be a wreck at work tomorrow), or should I decide to be another day late with it? I have done two nights in a row at work until 11pm, so delaying will only work if I can come home early.

I'll have to decide soon.

Rediscovering the Passion for Writing

There is no denying it... I love writing. Between the blogs that I keep, and the books that I write, I can't ever see myself giving it up.

Don't get me wrong. Writing a book is a lot of work. But once you get going - once you get into a groove - the words just come flowing out of you, and before you know it another chapter is done.

Tonight, I wrote 2,000 words in about 4 hours. That's a blistering pace of 500 words per hour. Some might think that is a fast pace, while others see that as being slow. To me, it feels fast however I am always shocked to discover that I "only" wrote 2,000 words after what felt like an extremely productive night.

Of course, many things interfere with the creating of a computer book:
* Creating figures and illustrations (typically screen shots)
* Creating sample code
* Doing some impromptu research on the topic you are writing about (ie: compiling a list of vendors that will support something)

Each of those take time, and don't count towards the 500 words per hour pace. So really I spent 30 minutes writing 500 words, and 30 minutes taking screen shots, doing research, downloading and installing extra software, and just playing with what I am supposed to be writing about.

By the way, the Team System book is coming along nicely. Chapter 2 is at 4,000 words (with 9 figures so far), and I have another 6-8 hours of work left to finish it off.

Catching Up With My Children

It feels like it's been a long time since I checked out what was happening with the two books I have already written and published. At least a year. I was surprised by some of the things that I found:

* A University course that recommends my JavaScript book as part of its syllabus (suggested references)
* Amazon.com currently ranks it as 4.5 stars, with 5 reviews. It's sales rank is 18,000 which is a lot higher than it has been in the past
* My book can be bought for as little as $3 (ugh, no royalties on that I bet)
* My JavaScript book is cited in another book, Microsoft Office Frontpage 2003: The Complete Reference

Lest you think I found the one store in all of Asia that carried it, another book store in the same mall had 3 copies! If my book is stocked round the world, where are my royalties?