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!