I canceled my book deal

Summary

Austin Z. Henley Associate Teaching Professor Carnegie Mellon University I canceled my book deal 12/31/2025 Back in 2020-2022, my blog was getting a lot of attention. Some of the big tech book publishers reached out about whether I was interested in writing a book. I had a few conversations but decided against it. I did want to write a book but self-publishing seemed like the better option. Then an acquisitions editor for another big publisher asked to chat. He had a similar background to me, an academic who enjoys coding and writing. He had written a few books for multiple publishers so he knew the process and wasn't shy to share the good and bad. He even made decent money from his books. I was intrigued. Writing a book was one of those goals that I liked the idea of but never made any progress on. I went and talked to a few other people that had published technical books and they gave me their reviews of the process and of each of the big publishers. Pros of a publisher: They are a forcing function to make progress, they handle a lot of logistics for you around the book, they provide some feedback on the content, they have large distribution channels, and it looks more "real" when a publisher's name is on your book. Cons of a publisher: They nag you constantly, they may try to steer your book in other directions, the money is peanuts, they can stop printing the book whenever they want, they have control over future editions, and they actually do little to no marketing of your book. I decided to write a book and sign with the publisher! The topic Before the actual deal, we had to agree on the book. Each publisher has their own template for pitching an idea. I did that and we went back and forth on some of the details. This part felt collaborative, they were trying to help me flesh out the concept based on their data and experience. A lot of my blog posts involve classic programming projects that were relevant 30 years ago and will be just as fun 30 years from now. ...