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visibility: public
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# Book Authoring

**repo:** [TalAter/awesome-book-authoring](https://github.com/TalAter/awesome-book-authoring)  
**category:** [[books|Books]]
**related:** [[free-programming-books|Free Programming Books]]

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# Awesome Book Authoring
A collection of [![Awesome](https://cdn.rawgit.com/sindresorhus/awesome/d7305f38d29fed78fa85652e3a63e154dd8e8829/media/badge.svg)](https://github.com/sindresorhus/awesome) resources for technical book authors.

# Table of Contents

- [Must Reads](#must-reads)
- [Book Proposals](#book-proposals)
- [Contracts](#contracts)
- [Royalties, Advances, and Other Money Stuff](#royalties-advances-and-other-money-stuff)
- [Editors](#editors)
- [Publishers](#publishers)
- [Marketing](#marketing)
- [Misc.](#misc)
- [List of Publishers](#list-of-publishers)
- [Self Publishing](#self-publishing)
- [Writing Workflows and Tooling](#writing-workflows-and-tooling)
- [Personal Experiences, Post Mortems and Campfire Stories](#personal-experiences-post-mortems-and-campfire-stories)

## Must Reads

- [Scott Meyers' Advice to Prospective Book Authors](http://www.aristeia.com/authorAdvice.html)
- [Writing A Technical Book: Is It Worthwhile?](http://www.fasterj.com/articles/bookwriting.shtml)

## Book Proposals

- [The Proposal (O'Reilly: So You Want to Write a Book?)](http://web.archive.org/web/20130809065323/http://oreilly.com/oreilly/author/ch02.html)
- [Scott Meyers' Advice on Preparing a Book Proposal](http://www.aristeia.com/authorAdvice.html#bookProposal)
- [Write for Us (Pearson Education)](http://www.informit.com/about/write_for_us.aspx)
- [Drafting a Proposal (Que Publishing)](http://www.quepublishing.com/promotions/write-for-us-drafting-a-proposal-137677)
- [Anatomy of a TOC (Que Publishing)](http://www.quepublishing.com/promotions/write-for-us-anatomy-of-a-toc-137678)
- [Proposal Guidelines (The Pragmatic Programmers)](https://pragprog.com/write-for-us/proposal-guidelines)

## Contracts

- [Book Contract: What’s Negotiable and What’s Not](http://www.writersdigest.com/online-editor/book-contract-whats-negotiable-and-whats-not)
- [Scott Meyers' Advice on Contracts](http://www.aristeia.com/authorAdvice.html#contracts)
- [The Contract (O'Reilly: So You Want to Write a Book?)](http://web.archive.org/web/20130704110948/http://oreilly.com/oreilly/author/ch03.html)
- [Apress Standard Contract](https://web.archive.org/web/20161010102603/http://www.apress.com/files/Apress_Contract.pdf)
- [No Starch Press Standard Contract](https://www.nostarch.com/download/nspagreement.pdf)

## Royalties, Advances, and Other Money Stuff

- [Scott Meyers on Royalties, Advances, and Other Money Stuff](http://www.aristeia.com/authorAdvice.html#moneyStuff)
- [Royalties and Advances (O'Reilly: So You Want to Write a Book?)](http://web.archive.org/web/20130704110948/http://oreilly.com/oreilly/author/ch03.html#royadv)
- [Writing A Technical Book: Is It Worthwhile?](http://www.fasterj.com/articles/bookwriting.shtml) - The benefits for writing a technical book, and the basics of how book advances work.
- [How Book Advances Work – A Simple Explanation for Writers](http://www.writersdigest.com/online-editor/how-book-advances-work-a-simple-explanation-for-writers)
- [Typical O'Reilly Advance Structure](http://web.archive.org/web/20130704110948/http://oreilly.com/oreilly/author/ch03.html#advance)

## Editors

- [Scott Meyers on the Importance of a Good Editor](http://www.aristeia.com/authorAdvice.html#publishersAndEditors)
- [The Editing Process and Editor Types (Que Publishing)](http://www.quepublishing.com/promotions/write-for-us-the-editing-process-137679)
- [Writing and Editing (O'Reilly: So You Want to Write a Book?)](http://web.archive.org/web/20130710213743/http://oreilly.com/oreilly/author/ch04.html)

## Publishers

- [Scott Meyers' Advice on Finding a Publisher](http://www.aristeia.com/authorAdvice.html#findingAPublisher)

## Marketing

- [Marketing Your Book (O'Reilly: So You Want to Write a Book?)](http://web.archive.org/web/20130711002825/http://oreilly.com/oreilly/author/ch06.html)

## Misc.

- [Scott Meyers on Advance Sales, and How They Are Impacted by The Delivery Schedule](http://www.aristeia.com/authorAdvice.html#schedule)
- [Ask HN: Considerations when asked to write a book?](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12118554) - A discussion on Hacker News where many authors discuss their experience.

## List of Publishers

- [O’Reilly](http://www.oreilly.com/work-with-us.html)
- [Apress](http://www.apress.com/write-for-us/)
- [The Pragmatic Programmers](https://write-with-us.pragprog.com/)
- [Packt Publishing](http://authors.packtpub.com/)
- [Pearson (parent company for Addison-Wesley, Prentice Hall Professional, Que, Sams, and more)](http://www.informit.com/about/write_for_us.aspx)
- [Que Publishing](http://www.quepublishing.com/about/write_for_us.aspx)
- [Manning Publications](https://www.manning.com/write-for-us)
- [Wrox](http://www.wrox.com/WileyCDA/Section/id-105073.html)
- [No Starch Press](https://www.nostarch.com/writeforus.htm)

## Self Publishing

- [Self vs Professional Publishing](https://medium.com/@davetron5000/self-vs-professional-publishing-c3397bd7defd#.lrfhasuo5) - The pros and cons of each, plus a look at many of the options available for self publishing.

## Writing Workflows and Tooling

- [Living the Future of Technical Writing](https://medium.com/@chacon/living-the-future-of-technical-writing-2f368bd0a272#.8x6g1wxjb) - Scott Chacon shares his workflow and tools for writing "Pro Git" in Asciidoc.

## Personal Experiences, Post Mortems and Campfire Stories

- [Writing a Programming Book: FAQs after Writing [Learning](/@harrisonqian/awesome/wiki/programming-languages/learning) [React](/@harrisonqian/awesome/wiki/front-end-development/react) Native](https://medium.com/@brindelle/writing-a-programming-book-faqs-after-writing-learning-react-native-8a5ea8ce04e#.e85mhxolh)
- [Do Not Buy This Book](http://blog.codinghorror.com/do-not-buy-this-book/) - Jeff Atwood's warning to potential writers.
- [Writing a Technical Book: Motivation, Publishing and how to stay focused without ruining your Life](http://www.adamtornhill.com/articles/writingbook/writingtechbook.htm) - Adam Tornhill shares experience gained writing his three books (two of them self published).
- [Writing a Technical Book](http://www.voidspace.org.uk/python/articles/technical-writing.shtml) - Michael Foord shares his experience publishing with Apress.
- [Tips for Writing a Programming Book](http://www.philosophicalgeek.com/2014/11/10/tips-for-writing-a-programming-book/)
