On Dec 17, 2009, at 12:23 PM, wesley chun wrote:
this is a warning to all before jumping in without looking at the
waters first. i haven't worked with them before, but based on the
existing review of their Python books, i would be somewhat hesitant,
and i certainly wouldn't approach them without an agent. (i'm also not
sure of their marketing and PR... i doubt they have the same type of
staff as a more well-known publisher like Pearson [Prentice Hall,
Addison Wesley] or O'Reilly.)
I've dealt with them before (as a reviewer, not as an author) and it
was my impression that Packt was probably smaller than some of the
American publishers with whom I'm more familiar. I have no direct
knowledge of that, though, and anyone who missed news of Tarek's book
must have been unplugged from the net for several months. :-)
the royalties they're offering seem abnormally high, and even scarier
is that they tell you over email when this is typically something
that's negotiated. the standard royalty rate is 10%, as O'Reilly
states publically:
http://www.oreillynet.com/oreilly/oreilly/author/ch03.html
It did seem a little surprising, but if O'Reilly publishes their
standard rate I don't see any problem with Packt publishing theirs.
Everything is up for negotiation, no?
i'm concerned that they offer a higher rate because they spend less
elsewhere, such as editing. read Alex Martelli's review very carefully
as well as others' here:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/184719494X
This issue concerns me more. While I was editor for Python Magazine,
working with authors for whom English was not their primary language
was one of the most time consuming aspects of the job. Cleaning up
the language while maintaining the author's voice requires a delicate
hand.
he is doing both the Python community *and* authors at-large a huge
favor by exposing this type of publisher behavior in the hopes that
anyone would jump at this project because they: 1) want to be
published, and 2) want higher royalties. as long as they sell enough
to cover their minimal costs. it is also strongly likely that the
editing, if there is any, is outsourced.
here's another one (check out the "most helpful review"):
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1904811841
anyway, i'm not telling you guys *not* to do it, but just be careful,
and have good English writing skills because likely, it won't be
edited much so you should be prepared to be practically camera-ready.
cheers,
-wesley
Thanks for raising these issues, Wesley. They are all good food for
thought.
Regards,
Doug
On Wed, Dec 16, 2009 at 4:52 AM, Sunny Kansara <[email protected]>
wrote:
Hi All,
I represent Packt Publishing, the publishers of computer related
books.
We are planning to publish a new book on wxPython which will teach
the
Python developers who want to quickly use wxPython to create
programs with
high functional GUI's and currently we are looking out for some
potential
authors to write this book.
We pay a royalty of 16% and an advance against it.
An ideal candidate to author this book will be someone with an
experience in
wxPython. He/She should be able to communicate his/her thoughts
clearly in
English. Past writing experience will be an advantage though not
mandatory.
If you are interested in authoring this book, please write to me
with a
brief information about your experience with wxPython and any past
writing
experience you may have..
Thanks,
Sunny.
--
Sunny Kansara
Author Relationship Executive
Packt Publishing
www.PacktPub.com
Skype: sunnyk
MSN: [email protected]
--
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"Core Python Programming", Prentice Hall, (c)2007,2001
"Python Fundamentals", Prentice Hall, (c)2009
http://corepython.com
wesley.j.chun :: wescpy-at-gmail.com
python training and technical consulting
cyberweb.consulting : silicon valley, ca
http://cyberwebconsulting.com
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