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End of a Dusty Trailmy book arrives, but it's not my book |
July 27, 1999: Today my book arrived. I got two cases of them, about 30 copies of iMac Fast and Easy. I cut it open and pulled one out. The cover said Jan L. Harrington with Bryan Walls. My name was on the cover and the title page, but that's all. Well, quite a few of the screen shots, the general outline, and a good part of an Appendix were mine, too. There was quite a bit of new material, and lots of rewriting of text. But nothing in the Dedication, Acknowledgement, or About the Author sections. And none of my personality left. Left: The cover of the book, "with BRYAN WALLS". I wasn't happy about the "with", but there is even less sign of me inside. Credit: Prima Tech Publishing
It was a learning experience. Prima Tech, the publishing company, was in a big hurry to get the book out but very slow about actually getting the paperwork done. So, once the contract was in place by mid-November, they wanted the book really quickly. I pretty much put my social life on hold, except that I had already planned a long Christmas break. My feedback was mostly that what I was turning in was fine. The editor that hired me left the company at the end of November, and the new editor almost killed the contract in early January, but I worked like a madman to catch up, and they let me keep going. I finished the writing in February (one Appendix eeked into March), and started working on author review on the chapters coming back from the editors I basically had finished writing the whole book before getting anything except the introductory chapter back to review. Toward the end of March I got a letter from the editor telling me to quit working on the book, that they were giving the rest of my pay to another author because I wasn't giving them what they wanted. And so my work ended. The book I received today was the final outcome. |
Writing was rather fun, though hard work. I feel like Prima
did a crumy job of managing me as a new author, and a poor job
of supporting my content editor, who was also new. And the way
they ended my involvement in the book was both unprofessional
and just plain shabby (Paul commented, "sounds like a typically
skanky business practice for them"). If you want to see
the book, it will likely show up at the big bookstores, and possibly
Best Buy and such outlets. You can see the links below for some
online sources.
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