4 ms·

Ask HN: Have you ever written for Packt?

9 points by aaronsnoswell 13y ago

aaronsnoswell 13y ago
I've just received (another) cold-call email from Packt Publishing asking me if I'm interested in writing a tech book. I'm actually considering doing this, but want to get some more information first. Has anyone ever worked with them as an author before? What was it like?
zzzzz_ 13y ago
Was in a similar position to you actually - I got an offer from Packt to write a book on ElasticSearch. I've learnt that if you write a blog piece about some obscure/hot tech and articulate yourself well enough; you'll get an offer from an author head-hunter from Packt shortly enough as several of my friends had similar offers! I decided not to go ahead because I'm a perfectionist - I'd want to write a damn good book and the opportunity cost loss of earnings whilst I was writing the book didn't compare to the relative prestige of saying I was a "published" author.
pmiller2 13y ago
I can't speak from personal experience, but the one piece of advice every single person I know who's written a book has given me is don't do it for the money.
stuntmachine 13y ago
I have reviewed for Packt (for free). It was not a bad experience, and the book is now available and getting great reviews (http://www.amazon.com/Git-Version-everyone-Ravishankar-Somasundaram/dp/1849517525 http://www.amazon.com/Git-Version-everyone-Ravishankar-Somas...). After this book was released and doing well, I was asked to write for Packt as well, but let's just say I would have to have done it for virtually no payment. From what I understand however, this is common with most publishers. I had to opt out after doing a cost/benefit analysis on the project. I figured, if I really wanted to write about the things that interest me, I could do so on my blog. Some of the work I had to do was non-technical. I would often find myself translating and rewording awkwardly written passages so that they sounded better (the author is a non-English speaker). That said, Packt is pretty hands off and don't micromanage (which I actually really enjoyed). Most communications that I had with them were initiated by me when I felt things needed to be pushed along during the review process. That said, in the end, a book was published, so I suppose even if the process leading up to that moment was not completely optimized on their end, the end result was a successful book.
ScottWhigham 13y ago
Another guy just posted an article - he's just written a book for Packt. Why not ask him? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6373775 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6373775

9 points by aaronsnoswell 13y ago

I've just received (another) cold-call email from Packt Publishing asking me if I'm interested in writing a tech book. I'm actually considering doing this, but want to get some more information first. Has anyone ever worked with them as an author before? What was it like?

zzzzz_ 13y ago

Was in a similar position to you actually - I got an offer from Packt to write a book on ElasticSearch. I've learnt that if you write a blog piece about some obscure/hot tech and articulate yourself well enough; you'll get an offer from an author head-hunter from Packt shortly enough as several of my friends had similar offers! I decided not to go ahead because I'm a perfectionist - I'd want to write a damn good book and the opportunity cost loss of earnings whilst I was writing the book didn't compare to the relative prestige of saying I was a "published" author.

pmiller2 13y ago

I can't speak from personal experience, but the one piece of advice every single person I know who's written a book has given me is don't do it for the money.

stuntmachine 13y ago

I have reviewed for Packt (for free). It was not a bad experience, and the book is now available and getting great reviews (http://www.amazon.com/Git-Version-everyone-Ravishankar-Somasundaram/dp/1849517525 http://www.amazon.com/Git-Version-everyone-Ravishankar-Somas...). After this book was released and doing well, I was asked to write for Packt as well, but let's just say I would have to have done it for virtually no payment. From what I understand however, this is common with most publishers. I had to opt out after doing a cost/benefit analysis on the project. I figured, if I really wanted to write about the things that interest me, I could do so on my blog. Some of the work I had to do was non-technical. I would often find myself translating and rewording awkwardly written passages so that they sounded better (the author is a non-English speaker). That said, Packt is pretty hands off and don't micromanage (which I actually really enjoyed). Most communications that I had with them were initiated by me when I felt things needed to be pushed along during the review process. That said, in the end, a book was published, so I suppose even if the process leading up to that moment was not completely optimized on their end, the end result was a successful book.

ScottWhigham 13y ago

Another guy just posted an article - he's just written a book for Packt. Why not ask him? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6373775 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6373775