Updated August 10, 2023
I was fortunate to be “pulled in” to the tech book publishing industry, when a colleague asked me to participate in writing her book on database performance tuning. That project introduced me to executives at Prentice Hall Professional Technical Reference (PHPTR), and a long-term business relationship ensued, whereby I helped PHPTR with nearly two dozen other technical book projects from well-known and respected authors.
After several years of helping PHPTR (and a few other publishers) with their technical manuscripts, I found an opportunity to write my own book. This writing project became the book Solaris Security, which was published in English, Chinese, and Japanese language editions. Eighteen years later this is still my most successful book, selling more than three times the number of copies that was expected.
Twenty-five years and sixty-plus books later, I’m still writing. Because I have a strong sense of giving back to the community from which I have gained much, I have mentored many aspiring writers over the years. And now, I am publishing this same guidance to the world.
To write successfully, you must have passion – and compassion – for your readers. You need to write your book for them as a service to them, to improve their lives in some manner.
I wrote a series of articles in Forbes that summarizes considerations when writing a technical book.
Part 1 – the basic aspects of your book idea
Part 2 – selling your book idea and hiring an agent
Part 3 – setting up your tooling and tracking
Part 4 – understanding the writing workflow
Part 5 – publishing models and intellectual property rights
Part 6 – the impact of writing on one’s life and relationships
Other good resources for aspiring authors include:
- The Art of Writing Technical Books by Peter H. Gregory
- How To Be Your Own Literary Agent : An Insider’s Guide to Getting Your Book Published by Richard Curtis
- Literary Agents: What They Do, How They Do It, and How to Find and Work with the Right One for You, Revised and Expanded by Michael Larsen
I do NOT recommend that you be your own agent! Instead, these books provide valuable insight into the business of publishing.
When you are ready to begin looking for an agent, search online and also consider this book:
- Writers Market by Kathryn S. Brogan, Robert Lee Brewer, and Joanna Masterson
Peter H. Gregory 
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Hello, my name is Brady and I am a 21 year old media relations student. I love to write, but sometimes I feel I might not have what it takes to be a good writer. If you have any tips for me I would appreciate it very much!
Brady, I suggest you find yourself an intern position at any large nearby company’s media relations or marketing communications department, or in a media company itself. You can intern as an assistant to someone who writes press releases and other marketing communications pieces. There is definitely a “style” to writing that sort of copy, and through an internship you should get some exposure to that kind of work to see whether it interests you or not. Hope this helps! -Peter
Hello, I’m a 16 year old writer who is looking to be published. My book is finished, but no big publishing companies are accepting manuscripts. My book is quite long {a year’s worth of diary entries} and I just need some resources as to help me get published. I already have a style of my own and everything like that, I’m just stuck in trying to get published. I really think my book can benefit people of all ages {but especailly teens like myself} and that’s why I’m so keen on getting my words out there. Any help would be very much appreciated!
I can’t think of any advice in addition to what’s in the article above. Good luck to you!