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Seeking Python book authors

nlin webmaster at nospam.linux3dgraphicsprogramming.org.nospam
Thu Feb 28 06:50:39 EST 2002 
Susan Capparelle wrote:

> We're a publisher of high quality computer books currently seeking
> authors for a number of Python related books.

As a published book author with two well-selling titles to my name, I'd
just
like to warn potential authors about my negative experience with
Manning.
After responding to a post similar to the above, I presented Manning
with a
book idea. My experience with Manning was marked by their lack of
technical
expertise on the subject matter, a failure of upper management to
understand
my book's premise, their lack of faith in the author's competence and
vision,
and their unbalanced reliance on unqualified "reviewers".

I lost months lost reworking my material to try to accommodate their
reviewers
(in the case of my book, some of these were self-proclaimed experts who
knew
little about the topic I was writing about), and to compound the misery,
my
earnest attempts to rework the focus of the book were met only with a
curt
message from upper management saying "Why the change. I thought your
book's
focus was XXX" (where XXX was not even the original focus, but only a
tangential
aspect). I never had the feeling that Manning (or at least the upper
management) was really interested in trying to understand my vision for
the
book or make an earnest attempt to work with me - it was almost as if
the
publisher was the author's adversary instead of ally!

Eventually I gave up on them, went elsewhere, and got my book published.
I was
interested in writing a book, not making an eternal sales pitch.  It was
a
waste of good months working with Manning and attempting to appease
their
reviewers and to convince them of my vision. Manning trusted their
reviewers -
again, many of whom had dubious or inflated qualifications - more than
they
trusted the author - not a very productive situation for the author.

Maybe things have changed at Manning. If anyone has better experiences
with
Manning, feel free to share.

One author's opinion,
N Lin
http://linux3dgraphicsprogramming.org
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