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From: gh@utai.UUCP (Graeme Hirst)
Newsgroups: net.books,net.wanted,net.research
Subject: Re: getting a book published
Message-ID: <2024@utai.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 23-Jul-86 22:00:40 EDT
Article-I.D.: utai.2024
Posted: Wed Jul 23 22:00:40 1986
Date-Received: Wed, 23-Jul-86 22:34:29 EDT
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Organization: CSRI, University of Toronto
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>   1. What are the respectable publishers for computer reference
>      books?  What is your experience with them?

If you don't know the answer to this from your own reading and observation,
then are you sure you should be writing such a book?

However, almost any large publisher is likely to be interested.
Addison-Wesley, McGraw-Hill, Prentice-Hall, . . .  (and even some without
hyphenated names).   Avoid Springer-Verlag.  Morgan Kaufmann are building an
excellent list, though they concentrate mainly on AI and databases; they make
a point of being author-friendly, and are rapidly gaining a reputation in their
(narrow) domain.

The text-book reps who stalk college halls pressing their wares on professors
are also always on the lookout for books to publish.  If you aren't working at
a college, ask an instructor you know to tell you who his local reps are.

>   2. When should I contact these publishers?	Should I wait until
>      the first draft of my book is complete?

No.  (1)  You are unlikely to present a publisher with exactly what they want
unless you find out in advance.  (2)  The publisher will offer you lots of
helpful advice as you work.

Send out a prospectus that tells what the book will be like, and who the
potential readers are.	Include a draft table of contents and a few sample
pages, or an outline of the book (100-200 words per chapter).

>   3. What are the things that I can negotiate with the publisher?

Anything, but unless you are dealing with a small publisher (or they want you
very badly), you will mainly talk about royalties (as a percentage of
publisher's net receipts -- 15% is about normal), the number of free copies you
will get (ask for 20 and hope for 10), who will pay for copyright permissions,
research expenses and the like (normally, you), how much of your royalties you
receive in advance, etc.

If you foresee big bucks or tough negotiations, you could try to find an agent
who will (in return for a cut of the action) take you on.  Unlikely to be a
good idea in academic or technical publishing (or any other time if the agent
is no good).

> Any other advice/suggestion is welcome.  Thank you for your help.

The smaller the publisher, the more help you will get and the more clout you
will have -- but you may also get poorer distribution.	On the other hand, a
large publisher may, despite their better distribution and sales reps, fail to
give your book the attention it deserves if they feel they have other items
they want to push harder.
-- 
\\\\   Graeme Hirst    University of Toronto	Computer Science Department
////   utcsri!utai!gh  /  gh.toronto@csnet-relay  /  416-978-8747