RE: OT: Reasons to NOT write an Oracle book
Date: Tue, 7 Oct 2014 16:13:49 -0700
Message-ID: <BLU179-W505E388A3DCE6368B63874EBA20_at_phx.gbl>
Thank you Kellyn. Yes, forewarned is forearmed. The hardest part to take was the cringe-worthy reviews from those who disagreed with my approach to teaching beginners. Here is my least favorite:
"My advice, look at this book BEFORE you buy it, otherwise you may regret the purchase. Reading the great reviews, I purchased this.. and was shocked at the low quality and very limited information within. These reviews at Amazon are too often written by friends and associates of the authors to promote the book, not to give readers an honest appraisal.
My best advice is that you should read a chapter before making the decision to purchase this book. When I saw the hundred++ pages of text dedicated to the (non-oracle specific) most basic introduction to database systems, exactly like in 100 books written over the last 20 years.. I was worried, rewritting other material is an easy way to increase your page count. Padding is completely unnecessary when there is so much information to convey and to learn about Oracle DBA, it completely detracts from the focus, and reduces the space for real information, and it conveys a sense that the author doesn't have depth in the subject, as I found when the text got into Oracle specific details.. it was no deeper than the most novice introductory material you find on the internet. Virtually useless for an aspiring Oracle DBA. I'm surprised that the company allowed this to be printed in this state, as I have several other of their books that are GREAT , such as "Expert Oracle Database 11g Administration". That book is a thousand times better introduction, even for the beginning oracle DBA. Read the first chapter of that book, and you'll see what I mean. I'm sure this review will be rated very low by all the author's supporters, but the only intention of my review is to save you time and money, (I wish someone had provided such a review for me). This could hardly have been an worse. This is the first book I ever returned to Amazon. You can see that Amazon verifies my purchase of this item. So beware, check it out first." There were nice reviews from beginners for whom the book was really intended. I have given all the reviews serious thought and am making some changes for the second edition. For example: I switched to Linux instead of Windows and am using the OTN Developer Day VM as the teaching tool. It was not available when I was writing the first edition. Instead of starting with theory as I did in the first edition, I introduce the Developer Day VM on the very first page and show readers how to connect to the database and browse through its contents. Also, at the outset, I explained my teaching style and made it clear that I was writing only for beginners. Here are the opening lines of the first chapter. My editor was suitably shocked but is not going to censor it. I took the opportunity to also express my disapproval of piracy.
"Thank you very much for buying this book (or for getting a legal copy). Database administrators have access to valuable and confidential data belonging to their organizations and therefore must possess high ethical standards. (Consider this your first lesson in Oracle Database administration.) Besides, royalties paid to textbook authors typically constitute no more than minimum wage for the long hours they spend in writing, so the least we can do to respect their effort is to buy their books or get legal copies.
This book is really for beginners in database administration. If you are not a beginner in database administration, I recommend that you get Pro Oracle Database 12c Administration by my fellow Apress author Darl Kuhn instead. Also, did you know that Oracle Corp. provides excellent free reference materials at http://docs.oracle.com? For beginners in database administration, I particularly recommend 2 Day DBA in the “2 Day” series of publications. In fact, I suggest that you take a moment to check out 2 Day DBA right now; it may be all that you want or need. In general, I have found most Oracle Database professionals do not take enough advantage of the free Oracle Corp. publications. A plausible defense is that reference manuals are harder to read than books from Apress and other fine publishers. But, in addition to reference manuals, Oracle Corp. also provides many publications that are written in an extremely readable style. Consider this your second lesson in Oracle Database administration! Throughout this book, I will be frequently referring you to the free Oracle Corp. publications for more information because I want you to get into the habit of referring to the best source of detailed and reliable information. Besides, I view myself as an interpreter and a teacher, not a regurgitator of free material. At the end of each chapter of this book is a set of exercises. The solutions are not provided because I believe that we learn better by solving problems ourselves than by reading the solutions. But I’ll be the first to admit that this is not the only book on Oracle Database 12c out there; you should choose the one that works best for you at this point in your study. With those little lessons and cautions out of the way, let’s get our feet wet with Oracle Database 12c, shall we?" And then I go straight into installing the OTN Developer Day VM. Iggy
P.S. If anybody has time to review a chapter or two over the next couple of months, I'll be happy to take suggestions for improvement. Date: Tue, 7 Oct 2014 12:49:45 -0700
From: kellyn.potvin_at_ymail.com
Subject: Re: OT: Reasons to NOT write an Oracle book To: iggy_fernandez_at_hotmail.com; sethmiller.sm_at_gmail.com CC: oracle-l_at_freelists.org
Since Seth pointed this conversation out to me, thought I'd through my two-cents in. I also agree with Iggy, but going in with my eyes open, there are ways to help deter some of the challenges and differences in goals between author(s) and publishing company and "make it out alive".... :) 1. Set realistic goals with the publishing company. They are a business and your day job and other demands are not something they will understand.2. Don't set out to do a book for the money, you will be highly disappointed...:) Do it for the desire to share your knowledge.3. Do have at least one co-author to lean on and to help you get through the book. A book is a huge challenge and having a solid co-author(s) is important to making it a positive experience.4. If the administration steps in the book drive you crazy, as it does most folks I've spoken to in IT, find away around it. Seth, Ray and I kept the publishing company apart from the book authoring step for 3/4's of the book creation time. We kept our own version repository and met via Google chat or Skype. Having one experienced writer, I was able to navigate some of the challenges that I knew would drive us all up the wall, (although I think Ray is more patient than Seth and especially I with some of the administration headaches... :)) 5. Know that the outline part of the book is the most important, even more so if there is more than one author. Ensuring that you take at least 6 weeks to build out the outline and know that all authors share the vision of the book will help create a unified front when the publishing company starts to push for a deadline over quality or attempts to change what the book should cover. Hope this helps and let me know if you need anything Iggy- we're here for you!
Kellyn Pot'Vin about.me/dbakevlar
~Tombez sept fois, se relever huit!
On Monday, October 6, 2014 4:50 PM, Iggy Fernandez <iggy_fernandez_at_hotmail.com> wrote:
I agree 100% that one must have the right expectations. Unfortunately, it is not in the publisher's interest to advise you that: You will hardly make any money. A lot less if you have co-authors.You will make mistakes and the reviews will make you cringe.The publisher is more interested in schedule than quality. If the publisher was up front, fewer would undertake the exercise. Iggy
Date: Mon, 6 Oct 2014 17:16:29 -0500
Subject: Re: OT: Reasons to NOT write an Oracle book
From: sethmiller.sm_at_gmail.com
To: iggy_fernandez_at_hotmail.com
CC: oracle-l_at_freelists.org
Iggy,
The value one expects from authoring a book will determine whether it is worth the effort. Yes, it is a lot of work and it will be stolen by many. But in my case,
I do it for the name recognition, the experience and the opportunity to produce something that will help a larger audience that I could otherwise reach. So is it worth the effort for me? Absolutely! I certainly have not done it for the money so what do I care if it is stolen. I let the publisher worry about that.
There are mistakes in every book. That's what errata and second editions are for. Every author I have contacted about mistakes has been grateful for the feedback. If someone rips into you because of a technical mistake in your book, it's not credible feedback anyway and deserves to be ignored. How many times have I put up incorrect information on this list (hopefully not too many)? I have yet to have any listers attack me for it. They usually politely inform me that I am wrong and I graciously accept and learn from the criticism.
The publisher's job is to produce a product and make money. Of
course, they are not concerned about how much time you want to spend with your family. The solution to this is to have the right expectations of the process and a relationship with the publisher. I would recommend that a first time author find co-authors that have experience and established relationships with publishers.
Becoming an author isn't for everybody and I think your experience proves that, but I would absolutely encourage anyone willing to put in the work to become an author. Just make sure you have the right expectations of what it means to author or co-author a book. Part of the reason that IOUG teamed up with Apress to form IOUG Press is there is a natural relationship between Oracle users and technical books both as a reader and a writer.
Seth Miller
On Mon, Oct 6, 2014 at 9:28 AM, Iggy Fernandez <iggy_fernandez_at_hotmail.com> wrote:
Dear list,
I've revising my beginner DBA book for 12c and can' t help thinking about the reasons to NOT write a book. Here are a few.
It's not worth the effort. The market is saturated with books; so much information is available online that nobody buys many books nowadays; your book will be pirated on the day it is published; it will be obsolete very quickly; prices are low unlike college textbooks and much lower in emerging markets; the royalty is 10% of the wholesale price--not the list price--and has to be shared by all the co-authors. You'll be lucky if your book sells 5000 copies over a five-year period. Assuming that the list price is $40 and the wholesale price is $20 and that you have one co-author, and that you spent 500 hours writing and researching, you are literally getting paid minimum wage for your effort. Writer beware.
You will make
terrible mistakes that will haunt you for ever. In my case, I made a horrible mistake on page 22 of my book that was soon discovered by a beginner who was testing every line of code for himself.
Some of the reviews will make you cringe. You will wish that you had reviewers BEFORE you finished the book, not after the book was printed.
To you work and family commitments come first but, to the publisher, the book comes first. To you quality is everything but, to the publisher, the schedule is more important and I quote "It is better to go to market first with a good enough book than to be months late with a perfect book. A successful good enough book can be improved in a second edition. A failed perfect book is simply a failure. Schedule matters to your publisher. Variable pay is the norm. Missed quarterly and yearly targets can
cost your editor and others whom you work with hundreds, even a few thousands of dollars. Those same missed targets hurt the business too."
On the plus side, you can send a copy to your mom and she will show it to all her friends.
That off my chest, I would appreciate any help in reviewing the first drafts so that I can put out a better book. Comments on accuracy as well as clarity and readability would be very welcome. I will post the finished chapters to Google Docs so that anybody can make comments inline. I will be very grateful for help and will acknowledge all those who helped in the preface. Please let me know if you can help.
Kindest regards,Iggy
-- http://www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-lReceived on Wed Oct 08 2014 - 01:13:49 CEST