OT: Reasons to NOT write an Oracle book
- From: Iggy Fernandez <iggy_fernandez@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "oracle-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <oracle-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 6 Oct 2014 07:28:25 -0700
Dear list,
I've revising my beginner DBA book for 12c and can' t help thinking about the
reasons to NOT write a book. Here are a few.
It's not worth the effort. The market is saturated with books; so much
information is available online that nobody buys many books nowadays; your book
will be pirated on the day it is published; it will be obsolete very quickly;
prices are low unlike college textbooks and much lower in emerging markets; the
royalty is 10% of the wholesale price--not the list price--and has to be shared
by all the co-authors. You'll be lucky if your book sells 5000 copies over a
five-year period. Assuming that the list price is $40 and the wholesale price
is $20 and that you have one co-author, and that you spent 500 hours writing
and researching, you are literally getting paid minimum wage for your effort.
Writer beware.
You will make terrible mistakes that will haunt you for ever. In my case, I
made a horrible mistake on page 22 of my book that was soon discovered by a
beginner who was testing every line of code for himself.
Some of the reviews will make you cringe. You will wish that you had reviewers
BEFORE you finished the book, not after the book was printed.
To you work and family commitments come first but, to the publisher, the book
comes first. To you quality is everything but, to the publisher, the schedule
is more important and I quote "It is better to go to market first with a good
enough book than to be months late with a perfect book. A successful good
enough book can be improved in a second edition. A failed perfect book is
simply a failure. Schedule matters to your publisher. Variable pay is the norm.
Missed quarterly and yearly targets can cost your editor and others whom you
work with hundreds, even a few thousands of dollars. Those same missed targets
hurt the business too."
On the plus side, you can send a copy to your mom and she will show it to all
her friends.
That off my chest, I would appreciate any help in reviewing the first drafts so
that I can put out a better book. Comments on accuracy as well as clarity and
readability would be very welcome. I will post the finished chapters to Google
Docs so that anybody can make comments inline. I will be very grateful for help
and will acknowledge all those who helped in the preface. Please let me know if
you can help.
Kindest regards,Iggy
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