but as an author with No Starch Press (http://nostarch.com/masteryourmac http://nostarch.com/masteryourmac), I can tell you that publishers probably put more wo

but as an author with No Starch Press (http://nostarch.com/masteryourmac http://nostarch.com/masteryourmac), I can tell you that publishers probably put more work into the books than the authors themselves. Believe me, this is because you're an author with perhaps the best tech publisher out there (Pragmatic Bookshelf being another, and then O'Reilly and Addison Wesley probably as the best 'big' ones). Most tech publishers simply try as rapidly and cheaply as they can to get as many books out into the market as possible whether that means cutting corners, screwing over authors, or whatever. No Starch (to whom I have no real connection other than being a fan of their books) was founded by someone with a desire to publish high quality geek-oriented books and who is still heavily involved in this process. This is also certainly true for the Prags, and slightly less so for O'Reilly (I don't think Tim is heavily involved in editorial now but he's still a huge and active figure), but don't believe the glut of tech publishers out there are like this! :-) All that said, you are broadly right. It is better if a publisher can do what they do best and authors do what they do best, rather than authors try and do everything. It's like an entrepreneur doing their own legal and accounts. But on the flip side I'd say self publishing still beats going with a crappy publisher.