4 ms·

Based on the amount of money he can generate , he should in future negotiations have more pull.

by datums 17y ago

tptacek 17y ago
I don't believe that to be the case, unless Ruby and JS books work very differently from other technical topics. There are probably people like the late Richard Stevens who could call the shots, but big-name tech people I know who've written multiple books have gotten crappier deals than the one Cooper is describing here. What mystifies me is, if you have a successful first book, the career argument for writing a second book is much weaker. Under no circumstances will the money ever work out in your favor. Why do people write multiple books? I guess they must just love writing; I can understand that.
- datums 17y ago
  I think Ruby and other techbooks now have more channels of distribution. So the author does have an option of not going with Apress. Why settle if the deal is crap ? It would be interesting to have other authors tell us about there experiences. The transparency could put pressure on publishers.
  - tptacek 17y ago
    This topic always makes me think of "Getting Real": http://37signals.com/svn/archives2/75day_getting_real_book_stats_update.php http://37signals.com/svn/archives2/75day_getting_real_book_s... Yes, you are not as well-marketed at 37signals. On the other hand, $175,000 (!!!) is a very very very long shot from $19,000.
percept 17y ago
When I was still involved with writing, published technical authors were able to negotiate better royalty rates for subsequent deals, particularly if they had representation (but not exclusively--as always it depends on your negotiating skills).
- tptacek 17y ago
  That's interesting; how much more do you think Cooper could have gotten?
  - percept 17y ago
    It's been a while but for some reason the numbers 10, 12, and 15 came to mind. Checking Peter's post I see 10% so I guess some things never change, including the advances (come on publishers, inflation here?). IIRC authors with a track record could start off in the 12-15% range, and could sometimes get higher advances, possibly $10-20k. This is my dated info from personal experience and reading the experiences of others on the HN-equivalent technical book writing mailing list (can't remember the name and it may be gone now; the listserv was run by an agency). I don't want to seem overly pessimistic. Someone may want to write a book for the experience and someone else may figure out how to work it to their best advantage as part of a larger portfolio of offerings. As always it's up to the individual.

Based on the amount of money he can generate , he should in future negotiations have more pull.

by datums 17y ago

Based on the amount of money he can generate , he should in future negotiations have more pull.

I don't believe that to be the case, unless Ruby and JS books work very differently from other technical topics. There are probably people like the late Richard Stevens who could call the shots, but big-name tech people I know who've written multiple books have gotten crappier deals than the one Cooper is describing here. What mystifies me is, if you have a successful first book, the career argument for writing a second book is much weaker. Under no circumstances will the money ever work out in your favor. Why do people write multiple books? I guess they must just love writing; I can understand that.

datums 17y ago
I think Ruby and other techbooks now have more channels of distribution. So the author does have an option of not going with Apress. Why settle if the deal is crap ? It would be interesting to have other authors tell us about there experiences. The transparency could put pressure on publishers.
- tptacek 17y ago
  This topic always makes me think of "Getting Real": http://37signals.com/svn/archives2/75day_getting_real_book_stats_update.php http://37signals.com/svn/archives2/75day_getting_real_book_s... Yes, you are not as well-marketed at 37signals. On the other hand, $175,000 (!!!) is a very very very long shot from $19,000.

percept 17y ago

When I was still involved with writing, published technical authors were able to negotiate better royalty rates for subsequent deals, particularly if they had representation (but not exclusively--as always it depends on your negotiating skills).

tptacek 17y ago
That's interesting; how much more do you think Cooper could have gotten?
- percept 17y ago
  It's been a while but for some reason the numbers 10, 12, and 15 came to mind. Checking Peter's post I see 10% so I guess some things never change, including the advances (come on publishers, inflation here?). IIRC authors with a track record could start off in the 12-15% range, and could sometimes get higher advances, possibly $10-20k. This is my dated info from personal experience and reading the experiences of others on the HN-equivalent technical book writing mailing list (can't remember the name and it may be gone now; the listserv was run by an agency). I don't want to seem overly pessimistic. Someone may want to write a book for the experience and someone else may figure out how to work it to their best advantage as part of a larger portfolio of offerings. As always it's up to the individual.