Question for Mike Gold and/or Mahesh Chand

Question

Hey guys I'm curious about your experience publishing the The Complete Visual C# Programmer's Guide from the Authors of C# Corner  I see that it was published by Microgold Publishing which I'm taking a wild guess in that you guys published it on your own. How difficult was this and how successful has it been? The reason I ask is that I may be interested in authoring or co-authoring a book and really don't know where to get started with regards to the publishing aspect. I'd appreciate any thoughts/advice you guys could share. thanks -James

jcity444 · Answer

I would say for your first book talk to one of the big technical publishers and see if they are willing to take on your book (APress Addison and Welsey Prentice Hall SAMS Dummies Series O'Reilley Syngress etc.). Keep in mind that if they have already covered the topic they are less likely to do it. Ask for an advance up front and negotiate a royalty (somewhere between 10-15%). They will want to see your table of contents and possibly the first three chapters before they commit to signing a contract with you. Also they often reserve the right to reject the book at any point during the process. If you want to publish the book yourself you are entering a whole new ballgame with a lot of work. You'll need to have the book printed make business relationships with wholesalers and distributors work with professional publicists to market the book and a lot more. You will also need people to proofread the book and technical edit it. (You will need a technical editor regardless if you publish it yourself or go with one of the big guns.) You'll also need to set up shipping of the book and a lot more. It can be a bit of a headache. Hope this helps you to make a decision -Mike

Mahesh Chand · Answer

Yes James. Its true. We authored and published it ourselves. However publishing (printing and editing) part was taken care by Mike. Mike can definitely guide you towards that.