The Art of Writing Technical Books: The Tools, Techniques, and Lifestyle of a Published Author

Develop your technical book from idea to finished product.

Written by an author of over fifty best-selling technical books, The Art of Writing Technical Books is packed with everything you need to develop your book idea. You’ll be guided through all the steps, including identifying your book’s purpose and target audience, writing a winning proposal, finding a publisher, negotiating a contract, successfully navigating the end-to-end publishing process, and promoting your book.

Inside the Book

• Developing Your Book Idea: Identify your book’s purpose, target audience, and objectives. Learn how to validate your book idea through market research and use that information to create a winning proposal.
• Content Development: Learn the secrets of creating the first draft, developing illustrations, working with technical editors, copy editors, project editors, compositors, indexers, and proofreaders-and keeping track of it all with detailed recordkeeping. You’ll understand how to develop figures and illustrations, including using and attributing images owned by others and gaining their consent for their use.
• The Writing Lifestyle: You’ll learn how the writing lifestyle potentially impacts your life, including your relationships with family members and friends. This book will help you choose and manage your writing schedule to help you maintain your work-writing-life balance.
• The Business of Publishing: TheArt of Writing Technical Books guides you through the contract negotiation process but also discusses the merits of hiring a literary agent who will negotiate the best possible terms on your behalf. You’ll be shown the ropes about the differences in using home computers for household matters versus publishing, including writing your manuscript, protecting your manuscript and records, system and network security, and privacy.
• Multiple Authors: Since many tech books are written by two or more authors, The Art of Writing Technical Books helps you navigate the added complication of multiple authors, including the need to ensure the book is written in a single voice and style.
• Book Promotion: Once your tech book is published, you will learn how to promote your book through reviews, social media, public speaking, book signings, and promotions. You’ll also learn how to manage any errors that readers identify.
• Writing Subsequent Editions: When your tech book is successful, you’ll have an opportunity to write subsequent editions. The Art of Writing Technical Books will guide you through preparing a proposal that makes the business case and the end-to-end process of creating a second-edition manuscript.