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.

Charles Carroll on Writing

The Scott on Writing blog led me to an article on Charles Carroll giving his two cents on whether it is worthwhile to write a book:

My conclusion was that unless someone negotiates and rewrites their entire contract, and makes an exceptional multi-book deal so they can write for all future software versions and re-use some writing the economics are awful and the chance for fame not so good.

Well, I am not as pessimistic on the industry as Charles is. Of course, you don't make great money. But there are many more non-monetary benefits. And if you have the proper vision, you can create a brand, like "Chicken Soup for the..." or "... for Dummies". There are many other ways to do this.

The Economics of Book Writing

How many book writing blogs can there be by a guy named Scott? At least two. I recently stumbled upon a blog called "Scott on Writing", who is also a book author.

Scott on Writing has an interesting piece on the economics of book writing - how much you can expect to make. I have written about that here as well.
* June 2003
* August 2003

While magazine writing is definitely more profitable, don't totally discount book writing. There's something cool about being able to stroll into a bookstore and see your book(s) on the shelf. Nothing makes a resume look better than having authored a book or two on the technology that you're being hired to work with. And book writing and book publishers are a great way to move into magazine article writing.

Self Publishing

In some respects, this is a truly amazing world we live in. I can understand why the major computer book publishers are scrambling to adapt to the changing market.

For one, there is the Internet. Who needs to buy a $50 computer book any more, when there are tons of free resources out there? Of course, there are still plenty of reasons to buy books, but the competition is fierce - it's hard to compete with free. Only the best books can compete.

The other reason for change is the coming boom in self-publishing. Self-publishing is easier now than it ever has been. Sure, this segment makes up a very small percentage of the total market, but in 5 years that share could be 10 times larger than it is today. And in 10 years? Who knows.

There are two major ways to self-publish. E-books and on-demand publishing.

E-Books

The appeal of e-books (from both the publisher and consumer side) is easy to understand. With e-books, the per-unit cost of publishing is near $0. That is, your cost to create the e-book is the same whether you sell 1 or sell 1 million. With traditional paper books, each book costs anywhere from $5-$10 to print. The low cost of printing appeals to publishers because it reduces the up-front investment required in printing. Consumers like this too because it lowers the retail cost of a book.

The cost of distribution also is near $0. Physical books have to be packed into a box, put onto a truck, delivered to a warehouse, put onto another truck, delivered to a store, and unpacked. E-books are downloaded. So again, reduces costs, which makes e-books cheaper still.

You can also get into issues such as inventory -- the cost of storing the book in either a warehouse or a store shelf. And what about the cost of shipping that consumers pay when they order books off the web? There is also the risk, of course, that a book sells copies less than the number of copies printed. "Returns", as these are called, are shipped back to the publisher -- more costs. And so many books end up losing money for the publisher.

So whereas an in-store book can cost $25, and one purchase online can cost $30 (taking into account discounts + shipping costs)... an e-book can cost $9. And that is almost all profit for somebody.

You can choose to create an e-book yourself, or there are several online services that will help you for a small fee. E-books can be purchased through online bookstores such as Amazon.com, or you can sell them directly from your web site (no middlemen).

On-Demand

There is a trend in book publishing called Print On Demand (POD). As with e-books, there are several options.

There are full-service publishers that act like a regular publishing house, in that they have editing, proofing, sales and marketing services available. You work with an editor (of sorts) who takes you through the process from beginning to end. This process can be expensive, but if you take the risk, you get to reap all the reward.

Full Service POD Publishers
AuthorHouse - http://www.authorhouse.com/
BlitzPrint - http://www.blitzprint.com/

Then there are publishers who allow you to self-publish. That is, they provide the tools for you to get your book printed, but almost everything is up to you. These services are typically cheaper. Getting a single book printed could cost less than $10.

Do It Yourself POD Publishers
Lulu - http://www.lulu.com/

I'll update this list as I do more research. Stay tuned.

Being Defined By My Books

Today, at work I was ushered into a room mostly full of people I hadn't met before. It was obviously a team meeting for this large project I just started working on.

Big Boss: "OK, Scott. Before we begin, why don't you tell everyone a little bit about your background."

Me: "Hi there. My name is Scott. I have been a software developer for more than 13 years. I've been a consultant for more than 8 years." Blah, blah, blah.

I wasn't entirely sure which version of my life story they wanted: the geek version, the history of my career, highlights of my personal life, what I do for fun... I ended up with the "whatever quickly came to mind" version.

Big Boss: "You also wrote some books didn't you?"

Me: "Yes, I've written four books. Two of them are on .NET, which will be extremely helpful for what we're doing on this project. And two have been about web development, which might also be relevant here."

Big Boss (to one of the project managers): "Someone should send out an email to everyone announcing who Scott is, and what he will be doing for us on this project. Be sure and mention that he's written some books. That's important. They'll be impressed by that!"

Just Friday, I had written on this blog about how being an author serves as a good calling card for my consulting work. But is it possible that there can be a downside to it? Do people hire me ONLY because they think it would be impressive to their bosses and clients to have an author working on the project?

I guess I shouldn't even be worrying about that. As long as they pay my invoices, and I get to do interesting work with great people, what do I care that they originally hired me partly because I had written a couple of books? I really think the skills and experience I will get working on this amazing project will help me land the next one in no time flat.

Writing Books Just For Fame

I had my first book published in late 2002. Although I had written another book in 2001, it never got published so it was kind of hard to say I was an author.

But I am discovering recently that having written some books helps me land contracts. Last year, during the interview for a job, my future boss introduced me to the owner of the company. "This is Scott Duffy. He's written some books, and he is going to be helping us on this project." That impressed the owner, and it gave me my first lesson in how being an author can impress someone (especially if they are not technically inclined).

Recently, I got another dose of this type of introduction. Again, I was at a new client, and one of my fellow team members introduced me to a group of other programmers by saying something like, "He's written a few books.". I could tell that this comment was meant to impress my new co-workers, and I can also tell that it apparently did.

I find that actually having one or both of the books on me during the interview makes the "author" credential 100 times more effective. Without the actual book, most interviewers discount the importance of having written a book. But when I bring the actual book, and people see it was published by a well-known publisher (Osborne) and can be purchased in almost any book store, the interviewer appears to be genuinely impressed. I can tell that they didn't totally understand that when I said I had written a book, I meant a "real" book, until they saw it. Bringing the book is key.

I also often give a free copy of the book to interviewers who I think might be able to use it. So if I am being interviewed by a technical project manager, I offer to let them keep the book to give to their full-time staff. If they keep the book around the office, my name is on the cover and they will always remember how they got it. Even if I don't get the contract right away, having that book on someone's bookshelf might one day result in something good.

Although I can't prove it, I think giving the book during the interview helps me get the job. Not that someone would be swayed by a $20 book as a bribe. But again it keeps my name in their head. Think of it like this. Most companies interview 5 to 10 people these days to fill one job. The problem is, after interviewing so many people, only 1 or 2 candidates from the bunch will stand out and be remembered. The rest will be easily forgotten. I plan on being one of those easily remembered candidates. And I will pay the cost of 1 of my books for that shot.

Anyways, ultimately, there are many reasons to write a book. One of the reasons I wrote my first book was for the impression it would make on potential clients. That has worked out very well for me. In fact, I should buy a few more books to ensure I can keep doing that for quite some time more.

Busy Again

I'm glad to say that I am busy again, having landed another contract. This company is extremely interesting, and the project will be a lot of fun.