Author Stories -- Measures of Success

What makes a successful author? Lots of factors, but most importantly, hard work and perseverance. Here are some short stories about some of Studio B’s most successful writers and how they have reached this level in their writing career.

I had my first book published in the fall of 2000; I remember slaving away over it for months prior to that, and have memories of how the sun would come up through my office window and then set again while I wrote and rewrote that manuscript. Looking back on it, it was the easiest book I could have fallen into, and it should have been an easy one to write. It was a 335-page study guide with a really tight layout, mostly consisting of chapters containing a paragraph or two of text followed by some test questions and their answers. I don’t think anyone’s first book is an easy one, though, and that one certainly wasn’t.

The next book that I proposed was Windows 2000 Server On Site with Coriolis (now with Paraglyph Press), and the thought of it scared the daylights out of me. I’d just finished my NT MCSE, and this was a 1,000-page book on Windows 2000 Server. It took me six months to write it, but it was sure worth the time and effort. My editors at Coriolis took me under their wing, and while at the time all of that editing seemed harsh, I look back on that book as the one that really molded me and brought out my talents as a writer. Those editors really made me work for it, and eight books later I have yet to have any editors as thorough.

It was about that same time that I began talking to people about getting some representation. I knew Mitch Tulloch, another Studio B client, through a web site article gig I had (I got paid based on hits to my pages), and he was really happy with his agent. I can’t remember exactly, but I think he’s the one who introduced me to the folks at Studio B. I was almost too afraid to talk with them; I didn’t know if I had what it took to be a full-time professional writer, especially a writer with an agent. I held my breath and sent off my resume, and I hoped that I was Studio B material. I guess everyone thought I’d do all right, because it didn’t take long to be signed on. And as they say, the rest is history!

A month or so later I signed with Neil for my next book, another 1,000 page tome, which took another six months of full-time writing. Then came a book on Arts and Letters, one on Photoshop Elements, then a couple more on Photoshop 7.0, then another one on Windows XP, and, well, you get the idea. At each significant juncture, though, there was a nagging voice in my head that kept saying that might be the last book deal I’d get, but Neil and I just kept at it. I’ve written proposals, written for Web sites, written e-books, and done my share of worrying about my future, but the deals always come. Just recently I have decided they’ll most likely keep coming too, and that is a great feeling. My latest book with Microsoft Press, Windows XP: Do Amazing Things, and my being chosen to write for the Microsoft Windows XP Expert Zone finally makes me feel like I’m there. Nine books in only three years is not a bad track record, and all it took was perseverance and lots and lots of hard work. Of course, I credit Neil, Elsa, and the others at Studio B for their resolve, their attention to my successes, and the opportunities they’ve found for me, and I know without them I wouldn’t be where I am today.

I've been writing computer books since 1997. In that time, I've written or co-written more than 25 books and have contributed to many more on a smaller scale. My books have been translated into more than 20 languages, and there are more than one million in print. Many of them are bestsellers in their categories, and a few have won awards. I write full time -- mostly books, but also some articles, white papers, and marketing materials -- and make a very good living at it. But I'm not writing this to blow my own horn. Instead, I want to convince you that you can be very successful in this field if you work hard, treat it like a business, plan carefully, and have a good agency like Studio B on your side.

Writing computer books was something I stumbled into, though I'm not sure why I didn't see it coming. I've been using computers since I was 9. I've also been a voracious reader and writer since around the same age. I graduated from the University of Alabama in Huntsville in 1992 with a bachelor's degree in literature and computer science. I've also been working in the computer industry since graduating high school in 1985. In 1997, I decided to get a certification as a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer. While attending classes, I met a fellow student who worked part time as a technical editor on computer books and who shared his contacts with me. He also pointed me in the direction of Studio B's CBP mailing list.

I edited a number of books for Que and New Riders and also contributed chapters to several of their books. Certification study guides were becoming very popular in 1998. Studio B approached me and asked whether I would like to sign up as a client and work on a certification guide for Exchange Server.

Since joining Studio B, I have found tremendous satisfaction and a lot of success in computer book writing. Studio B played an important part in getting me started and continues to play an important role in my career today. Studio B was able to bring me enough work that I could write full-time even when I was establishing my name in the field. In addition to bringing me projects and coordinating the financial side of things, the people at Studio B (particularly my agent, Neil Salkind), have always been willing to provide advice, help me plan my future, or just let me blow off steam.

In addition to the support and guidance of Studio B, I attribute my success to maintaining solid connections with publishers, with users of the products on which I write, and with the computer book writing community.

Hello, my name is William R. Stanek (williamstanek@aol.com). Over the past decade I’ve written 50 books which are sold in 50 countries, and today I have more than 2 million books in print. I’m writing to talk about how you too can achieve success and I hope that you’ll take away a nugget of knowledge from this brief discussion that will help make your career as well. I know, I know, sounds like an infomercial, but I promise it isn’t. Whether you are writing for the sheer joy of it, as a hobby, to improve your resume, or with the hope of making it a career, decide right now that writing is a business, that you are a professional, and that there are no secret formulas for success. Above all, be honest with yourself. Know why you’re writing, what you hope to achieve through writing, and set your goals accordingly. Find your niche and your voice, work hard at every stage of the writing process, and make the right decisions. When I started out in writing, the niche I chose was Web publishing because it was the area I knew best at the time, and though it may have been a hobby at the time, I approached it like it was a job, a profession. That meant giving 200% during the writing process, being flexible during the revision process, and ensuring I communicated well with everyone on the editorial team. The hard work paid off: the book became a top-seller for the publisher and lead to my next contract for a book that became a national best seller.

Don’t think for a second though that short-term success and long-term success are the same--they aren’t. Most computer writers have short, two or three book, careers, even those who have penned best sellers. Computer publishing is a tough industry and it will chew you up and spit out what’s left without a second thought. Business is business; it’s not a game. The average computer book sells 10 to 15,000 copies--don’t let anyone delude you into thinking otherwise. The average computer book is 700 pages in length and even after all this time, it still takes me three hours per page to complete--writing and research prior to submission, review during editing, and final polish before publication. That’s 2,100 hours of giving 200%. Put that against the average advance, you get less than minimum wage--no joke. It’s a lot of work for a promise, a possibility, a hope, a whisper of something that may become like a dream come true. Dream can become reality, though. Take on the right writing projects for the rights reasons. Writing has to be about more than paying the bills. Stay focused. Work hard. Get the right people in your corner--people like Studio B who know the business.

Writing computer books was not a career choice, it was the result of a series of happy accidents that started with Charlie’s purchase of a PC to play with in 1985. In the following few years, we both had jobs that enabled us to learn and write about new technologies. Moving to computer books ended up being a natural progression.

Our first book (Norton Desktop for Windows Instant Reference) was published in 1991 and we’ve since written two dozen more. Early on, we made a decision to concentrate on operating systems, even though when we started, books on applications such as WordPerfect and Lotus 1-2-3 were the biggest sellers. We reasoned that books on operating systems would have a longer lifespan and therefore could potentially sell more copies.

Our second important decision was to treat our writing as a business. We have been and still are very selective about the titles we take on and the publishers we work with. While it’s important to write about a subject that interests you, it’s also crucial to consider where the book fits into the publisher’s overall business. We want to work with competent and amicable editors (one of the great pleasures of being a freelancer is that we don’t have to work with idiots) but if the publisher can’t sell your books, you won’t be in the writing business for long. Another part of our decision to treat this as a business was to focus on what we do best, writing, while outsourcing what we don’t do well to Studio B. We knew that our strength was writing and not negotiating. We also knew that we did not want to spend a lot of our time finding book projects and writing proposals only to find that the deal couldn’t be made. (It’s a lot like dating: expensive, fraught with anxiety, and largely unrewarding.) Studio B has relieved us of that problem, in addition to finding work we wouldn’t otherwise have known about.

Overall, we have a very good time doing what we do. Even though it means working alone, not leaving the house for days at a time, living with financial uncertainty (and sometimes insecurity), wrestling with balky beta software, paying for your own benefits, and being the envy of your friends who don’t believe what you do is actually work--it definitely beats having a job.

Back in 1996, Macromedia asked Studio B to help leverage the training content it was creating internally, and help better serve its customers with extremely high quality books on its products.

To support its customers, Macromedia invests significant resources in training. Macromedia’s challenge was to distribute its training resources as widely as possible, reduce development costs, and develop additional revenue streams.

Studio B worked with Macromedia to develop a trade computer book imprint called Macromedia Press. The strategy was to take the expertly-crafted training materials that Macromedia was already developing, and make them into a series of trade books ready for retail sale. The series was called the Authorized series. Studio B then worked with Macromedia to determine the various steps that they could take to help market a series of tutorial books. With an editorial and marketing plan in hand, Studio B had publishers bid on the opportunity to become Macromedia’s official publisher.

Studio B negotiated and finalized the publishing agreement with Pearson Technology Publishing Group to publish Macromedia Press titles. Studio B also crafted a unique licensing deal with the Pearson Technology Publishing Group that allowed Macromedia to retain ownership and control over their content and brand. To make the process easier for the publisher and Macromedia, Studio B structured the deal and drafted the preliminary agreements to save time and legal expense. In short, Macromedia, with Studio B’s help, put together a deal that would create a royalty revenue stream, upfront advance payments to Macromedia, and distribution in over 6,000 retail stores worldwide.

Today, Macromedia Press is regarded as one of the premier imprints in the computer book publishing market. More than 30 Macromedia Press books are published each year in a variety of languages, and they are distributed to colleges, corporations, government installations, online booksellers like Amazon, and retail stores like Borders and Barnes & Noble. Several million copies have been sold, and the titles frequently enjoy top placement on many best-seller lists. The bottom line is that with Studio B’s help, Macromedia reached new and existing customers, enhanced their brand, and maximized their revenue streams by better utilizing the content they were already creating.