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I was a reviewer for a Packt book (http://droppdf.com/v/UTl8X http://droppdf.com/v/UTl8X). The review process was terrible, they ended up not taking my feedback

I was a reviewer for a Packt book (http://droppdf.com/v/UTl8X http://droppdf.com/v/UTl8X). The review process was terrible, they ended up not taking my feedback into account and the book was published with lots of technical mistakes. The final book is essentially a random tutorial from pre-existing web content. Avoid them.

halfdan 10y ago
While I was working on a video course for Packt, someone from their company approached me and asked whether I'd be free to review a video course.. (mine) They are badly organised and most of their communication happens through Word docs randomly spread over multiple Dropbox folders.
gaustin 10y ago
I will second this. I have had several bad experiences with Packt.
erroneousfunk 10y ago
Yes, Packt is awful. Do you enjoy spending hours on the phone with overseas tech support employees who speak very little English, don't care about their jobs, and have no actual skills? Now just imagine that, but you're trying to edit a book with them, and you're doing it around their local office hours. That's what writing for Packt is like.
GrinningFool 10y ago
Indeed. They contacted me to provide technical review on a Chef book that was factually incorrect in so many places that I could see no way it could go to print. After turning in the review of the first chapter I was told this wasn't the kind of feedback they were looking for. Far as I know, the book was published - factual inaccuracies and all.
asadjb 10y ago
I just published a book with Packt (https://www.packtpub.com/web-development/django-project-blueprints https://www.packtpub.com/web-development/django-project-blue...) and I'd like to add that what happens in the review process mostly depends on the author. The way it worked for me was that they got the first draft of the chapter reviewed by a technical reviewer, and I got the comments. After that, it was all up to me. I chose to fix those mistakes, and some things I chose to ignore. I asked my editor to forward my comments to the technical reviewer, but I doubt that ever happened, since I never heard anything from the reviewer again. Like it's mentioned in a couple of places in this thread, Packt isn't the best publishing company out there. Their editorial and review standards can be improved a lot, but I'm happy that I got a chance to get my name on a published book because of them.

halfdan 10y ago

While I was working on a video course for Packt, someone from their company approached me and asked whether I'd be free to review a video course.. (mine) They are badly organised and most of their communication happens through Word docs randomly spread over multiple Dropbox folders.

gaustin 10y ago

I will second this. I have had several bad experiences with Packt.

erroneousfunk 10y ago

Yes, Packt is awful. Do you enjoy spending hours on the phone with overseas tech support employees who speak very little English, don't care about their jobs, and have no actual skills? Now just imagine that, but you're trying to edit a book with them, and you're doing it around their local office hours. That's what writing for Packt is like.

GrinningFool 10y ago

Indeed. They contacted me to provide technical review on a Chef book that was factually incorrect in so many places that I could see no way it could go to print. After turning in the review of the first chapter I was told this wasn't the kind of feedback they were looking for. Far as I know, the book was published - factual inaccuracies and all.

asadjb 10y ago

I just published a book with Packt (https://www.packtpub.com/web-development/django-project-blueprints https://www.packtpub.com/web-development/django-project-blue...) and I'd like to add that what happens in the review process mostly depends on the author. The way it worked for me was that they got the first draft of the chapter reviewed by a technical reviewer, and I got the comments. After that, it was all up to me. I chose to fix those mistakes, and some things I chose to ignore. I asked my editor to forward my comments to the technical reviewer, but I doubt that ever happened, since I never heard anything from the reviewer again. Like it's mentioned in a couple of places in this thread, Packt isn't the best publishing company out there. Their editorial and review standards can be improved a lot, but I'm happy that I got a chance to get my name on a published book because of them.