It has been a wild week and I am pleased to announce I will be writing three 
new books for Thomson/Cengage Publishing.
I recently finished my Google Apps Administrator Guide book for Thomson and we are now doing three more books together.
Two books will be published before the end of 2007 — that means I will have written four books in five months for Thomson and while that is a witty and wacky writing pace, that’s the publishing business: You’re either wanted now — RIGHT NOW! — or you suffer in silence.
All three new books are part of Thomson’s Picture Yourself
series and the thing I love most about that series is the learning is
done semiotically — through the full-color power of the image on the
page — and that makes for a memorable experience because the book
immediately becomes more interactive than just thumbing through tons of
plain text.
The first book I will be writing is Picture Yourself Learning Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard and it will teach you how to take best advantage of all the keen new features in the upcoming Operating System from Apple.
The second book I will be writing is Picture Yourself Learning American Sign Language, Level 1 and a Bonus DVD is bundled with the book so you can visually learn all the signs and phrases. Janna M. Sweenie and I are writing the book together and it marks our second publishing effort after Hand Jive: American Sign Language for Real Life.
The third book I will be writing is Picture Yourself Learning Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac
and that book will step you through all the fab-o and fun new ways to
work in the most-anticipated Office suite update from Microsoft in a
decade.
The writing schedule will be hectic for these books, but I still plan
to be here with you and I thank you for your readership and your
support as the pendulum continues to swing.
Congrats! Can’t wait to start writing the book. Good work on all the other books, too! Yay us!
Thank you, my beloved, Janna Marie!
AND HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU TODAY, TOO!!!
Daring David
We just finished writing the Google Apps Administrator Guide for Thomson Publishing and we are now Daring David Pogue. We have composed the following missive to the master Mac author:Dear David Pogue: We are daring you — actually, DOUBLE SECRET
Here’s the announcement on WordPunk:
http://www.wordpunk.com/2007/09/daring-david.html
Here’s the Boles University version:
http://blog.bolesuniversity.com/2007/09/writing-four-new-boles-books.html
It’s too bad Blogger doesn’t support TrackBacks like TypePad and WordPress.
You’re right about the ASL books having a long life, Janna. Write ‘em once and they’re done. Yeah!
Computer books are not as evergreen. I suppose the advantage to that, though, is you can keep updating them and rewriting them for ongoing profit.
Swollen Hands
Have you ever typed so much for so long in high heat that your hands started to swell? My hands have been swollen for over 24 hours now and I can’t figure out how to get the blood out of
Royalty Advances
Book royalties from computer book publishers to authors have precipitously diminished over the last decade and so have cash advances against those future royalties. Ten years ago, a first time author could expect to get at least a $15,000.00 USD
enjoy blog and I’m sure books too keep us inform
Thanks for the kind words, Jaren! We’ll do!
Uh-oh!
David Pogue found my article about him on WorPunk and commented:
http://www.wordpunk.com/2007/09/daring-david.html
Ha!
I do love and respect the guy a lot. He’s a king and a master in the Mac world.
Neat for you to do so many books in a row and I hope you make it through.
Thanks arin, your feedback is always appreciated!
If you needI will help.
You know I’m always looking for help on these projects, arin, so thanks for the interest in being involved!