Dave
Uncontrolled vocabularies
"I try my best to make *all* my posts nice, even when I feel upset" -- Philippe Maquet
Originally posted by Dave Vick:
This is not a huge problem as it onyl amounts to a few pages in the books (and the fewer the authors the less the overlap).
I guess my biggest concern is the continuity of style (not just coding either, although that is alarge part of it), each author has thier own way of writing and having anything over 4 or 5 authors requires several switches in style throughout the books.
Originally posted by Daniel Dunleavy:
you have the problem of creating a single style of portrait for the cover with multiple photos. So you have the dilemma of having a certain style for pose/lighting/etc, and the fact that you will need to change them to create the best photo for each person.
About multiple authors, the biggest drawback ?I see from that is the overlap in topics. A couple of the books I've read have had essentially the same material covered in multiple chapters. Mostly its not been a lot just a few pages here and there that are the same as previous chapters. for instance one entire chapter may be dedicated to a topic but a few chapters later you have several pages of repeat information - I can only assume this is because of the multiple authors not knowing what the others have written.
This is not a huge problem as it only amounts to a few pages in the books (and the fewer the authors the less the overlap).
I guess my biggest concern is the continuity of style (not just coding either, although that is a large part of it), each author has thier own way of writing and having anything over 4 or 5 authors requires several switches in style throughout the books.
As has been metnioned previously I do find quite a few mistakes in my books as well, or at least items that are in contradiction to other things I've read - so I guess editing could be tightened up a bit.
Originally posted by Johannes de Jong:
And then I'd like your comments on the following pse.
I reviewed a book of yours Professional Java Data
In the review I made the following comment:
"I also wish the team that wrote this book took the time to choose one standard set of tools ie. data base servers, for their coding examples. I personally find it extremely irritating that I have to download and install something else first before I can try the code in a new chapter.
(for the full review see : Bunkhouse Misc. Java)
What are you comments on my statement above ?.
[This message has been edited by Johannes de Jong (edited September 04, 2001).]
Originally posted by Allan Jones:
Obviously, our thinking on this issue could be wrong - do you think it's better to have it in the one place, and only in that one place? Are we right in thinking that you'll dip in and out of the book to get the information that you need? Or do you all read the entire book from cover to cover?
Originally posted by Allan Jones:
From our editorial perspective, we try to smooth the gear change as much as we possibly can. As you rightly say, our authors all have different styles, different coding standards and so on. As a Technical Editor, it's my job to try to smooth over these gear changes as best as I can while still retaining the author's individual 'voice' within the book as a whole. Often, we'll have the same author write several successive chapters in order to present a unified voice for that particular topic when it spans more than one chapter.
Originally posted by Allan Jones:
As Jan suggested, Wrox could have us Technical Editors re-write the entire book in one unified style. What this would mean, though, is that we could only assign one editor to each book to preserve this unified style throughout the book. Given that we normally have two or more editors on each book, this would at least double the length of time it would take us to produce our books and to deliver them to you. This would also mean that our overall book output would decrease, and we wouldn't be able to provide you with the coverage of technologies that we currently offer. This, to us, is unnaceptable.
Associate Instructor - Hofstra University
Amazon Top 750 reviewer - Blog - Unresolved References - Book Review Blog
Originally posted by Thomas Paul:
Thomas. There are a lot of good information in what you say. Solutions to certain issues are sometimes difficult to get to. having said that understanding what gets in the way of reading and learning or the communication of information is important to us.
The coding standard idea is one that happens. But maybe not across each project as each editor has a different style of project management. I think though this is one that needs more careful consideration and application.
Thanks
Jan
chanoch<p><a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1861007736/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Author of Professional Apache Tomcat</a></p>
Originally posted by Johannes de Jong:
an, maybe stupid, idea.
A lot of people here mentioned that they get the feeling that Wrox books are a set of articles on a given subject. Why dont you guys start a "subscription" type book. I buy the only chapters (articles) I want and as such build up my "library" of knowladge. You can do this besides publishing the whole book.
Originally posted by Faisal Dosani:
Hi Jan,
Personally I enjoy having the photos of all the authors on the cover. It gives you a idea of who wrote the book and lets you put a face to the names. Its kinda FunEven if it is 15 different people. Do you think having to many authors might lead to inconsistences in the flow of the book. Each of them I am sure have their own person style of writing and getting their message across.
Thanks
Faisal
Originally posted by Johannes de Jong:
These are off course Jan only ideas.
[This message has been edited by Johannes de Jong (edited September 10, 2001).]
Originally posted by Johannes de Jong:
I forgot to add, I really think that a searchable "knowledge-base" that gets updated regularly that is kept [b]locally will sell better here.
If its a database somewhere they have to access on/via internet they feel that the don't own it, put it locally and hey its "mine".
Only a hunch I have.[/B]