Re: FWD: Working with Commercial Publisher

[Deborah Ray <debray -at- RAYCOMM -dot- COM>]

At 04:25 PM 6/24/98 -0600, you wrote:
>I'm considering moving to a job at another company. The opportunity's
okay, except
>that I'd be helping the owners with two books that they're writing for a
well-known
>technical publisher. A lot of what they expect me to do is editing and
coordination
>with the publisher. I suspect I'll be able to add a little to the
technical content
>of the books, too.
>
>My question is this: in terms of career development, if you saw on
someone's resume
>that they'd done this stuff, would it impress you or would you not really
care so
>much?

I think this is a valid question; however, I think there's a larger
question here, too: What experience would you gain that you could
bring to a future employer? I think that, yes, a lot of employers
would see two published books on your resume that you contributed
to and be impressed. In our experience, though, having publications
on our resumes leads to a lot of questions--and our
answers to these questions weigh more heavily than someone being
"impressed" that we've published books.

Based on the description you provided, it sounds like you
could be taking on a variety of tasks: getting CD permissions,
doing screencaps, doing author review, coordinating submissions,
copyediting proofs, to name a few things. Are these professionally
"valuable?" In and of themselves, maybe not.

But look at the bigger picture. Publishing a book
is a team effort in most any case--you'll work with (potentially)
developmental editors, technical editors, copyeditors, proofreaders,
production people, and graphic designers (among other people, too,
depending on the publishing process). If you play your cards right,
you will not only learn a lot about the publishing process, but you'll
also learn things from each of the people on the team. So, even if
you're not credited as an "author," there's still a lot to learn--
and a lot you can then offer future employers.

I hope you do take the position and have an excellent experience
working on the publications. After you've completed the projects,
examine what you learned...and take *that* to future employers.

My $.02.
Deborah

**************************************************************
* Deborah S. Ray, debray -at- raycomm -dot- com, http://www.raycomm.com/
* co-author _Mastering HTML 4.0_, _HTML 4 for Dummies Quick
  Reference_, _The AltaVista Search Revolution_, and others.
* RayComm, Inc., currently accepting contract inquiries.