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.

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!