book writin' update
This week, my
Plone book hit the streets, which means that I have a copy in my hands to review for printing/other errata. The book is very small (by techie book standards), only 224 pages of actual content. As such, turns out they had to make it a one-off and not part of the "development" series (which means no gargoyle cover). I
told them it was going to be short. So, it's name is
Plone Content Management Essentials, because when you write a short book just put "essentials" in the title and no one will expect it to be long! Seriously though, I didn't intend for it to be long, because I don't really cover technical development or reference-guide material. Others have already written that book.
Call me crazy, but I like to write books with full sentences and (gasp!) lengthy paragraphs. This book is all about how a manager might go about implementing a system, including the all-important "why" as well as the "how". Anyway, it's a short book so I should get through it fairly quickly. Then again, I still have a book sitting on my desk from May that I haven't reviewed (and it's gone into a second printing already, I hear. Oops!).
Yesterday, I got the e-mail that the
PMA AiO 2e PDFs are ready for review, which is the last step before printing/shipping/raking in the dough (I'm kidding about that last part). This book is 2x the length of the Plone book, so....ack! I have to review the files by Tuesday AM. It's cool though, because the Sams folks are usually really good at layout.
On the
blogging book front, my proposal/TOC has been through three revs since I sent it—a good sign, because it means they're talking it over and trying to improve it before it goes up for approval. It shifted in scope from blogging in general/platform independent to blogging in general/Blogger-specific, which is fine with me! So, if it is approved, it will be
Sams Teach Yourself Blogger in 10 Minutes instead of
Sams Teach Yourself Blogging in 10 Minutes. Whoop de do. My proposal/TOC is being externally reviewed now (which means that my editor sends it off to other people in the field and they answer some questions about the viability of the book, the validity of the TOC, etc. I've done this for them, for other people's books, and I am hoping that this isn't a karma issue—I've given proposals the thumbs-down before!) and hopefully would go up for approval on Nov. 8th. Notice that I keep saying "approval"...just trying to be positive.
What am I really stressing about, though? A silly little 4-page essay for my Victorian Lit class, due on Thursday.
PS If anyone actually wants a 224-page book on Plone, I have seven extras to give away.
Really, don't everyone jump at once. :)
