If you're looking to go with one of the traditional publishers, then you'll need a proposal covering things like: a) topics to be covered b) survey of the possible market c) credentials of the authors d) longevity of the book etc.
If there's no books on the topic, I'd do a bit of digging to see if there's any weird restriction the vendor has on third parties producing materials. The only reason I bring this up is that there are no books on any BMC products (e.g. Remedy) except what the vendor supplies, so I assumed that this was a BMC restriction. Maybe it's just that no one wants to write such a book. In terms of content, you can certainly do a bit of a brain dump to start with (presumably you have snippets of content already in your mind), but before too long, do a high level ToC, and then decompose this into more discrete components. That will help ensure that you discuss things in a logical manner, and that you don't have any gaps. The main publishers have style guides that cover writing style (e.g. the use of the first/second person "you should now click on " vs. "click on "). You could either use one of those, or simply do what comes naturally to you - but just be consistent. Cheers Ken From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Rankin, James R Sent: Thursday, 17 October 2013 9:18 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [NTSysADM] Technical authoring I'm going to do an administrator's guide for AppSense DesktopNow. There are no books on it in existence besides the product manual, and I get regular emails from admins asking if there is a book I can recommend to them. So I guess I've got a bit of demand for it. I was going to use Google's publishing arm to publish it electronically first, and go from there...all advice around this is gratefully accepted. Sent from my BlackBerry, which may make me an antiques dealer, but it's reliable as hell for email delivery :-) ________________________________ From: Brian Desmond <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> Sender: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> Date: Wed, 16 Oct 2013 21:48:17 +0000 To: [email protected]<[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]%[email protected]>> ReplyTo: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> Subject: RE: [NTSysADM] Technical authoring I'd start with what are you planning to write about, who is going to buy it, and who is going to publish it? Thanks, Brian Desmond [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> w - 312.625.1438 | c - 312.731.3132 From: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of James Rankin Sent: Wednesday, October 16, 2013 4:04 PM To: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> Subject: [NTSysADM] Technical authoring I forgot to say thanks to everyone for the excellent help regarding public speaking a month or so ago....the event went well, although I now know I have a distressing tendency to lapse deeper into my native accent when under pressure, but I am at least aware of that now :-) Anyways....my next project, now that my doctor has told me to drink less and sleep better, is to put together a technical book. So as with the public speaking, I am a total virgin in this arena as well....do any of the list members (obviously, particularly those with publications to their names) have any pearls of wisdom or resources or best practices to share? I'm a fairly accomplished writer - it's more layout, style, content, tips and hints I am after. I'm very quick at putting words down on paper so I'm hoping not to spend more than a few months on this, but I recognize this may be an unduly short period for a properly authored resource. As always, the help of the list is greatly appreciated and of immense value. Cheers, JR -- James Rankin Technical Consultant (ACA, CCA, MCTS) http://appsensebigot.blogspot.co.uk
