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Writing a technical book: What it takes, what it’s like, and should you do it?
How I got my first book deal
When I was deeply involved in Blockchain, I decided that I wanted to write a book. I created a 50 page sample and a table of contents and reached out to multiple publishers: Apress, Packt, and a few smaller ones. Apress and Packt both expressed interest, but wanted me to write something different. Packt acted first, so I ended up writing for them. They wanted something less introductory and more focused, which became “Blockchain Quick Reference”.
Lesson #1: What you want to write and what publishers want might be different
Every publisher is looking to fill a niche in their offerings. No matter how good your book might be, you need to do something they haven’t published yet. Therefore it’s a lot easier to publish in a “hot” field that changes regularly or isn’t already super-dense with available titles.
