Which publisher?

[UNIX]

In regards to my thread about writing a book I asked myself which publishers are available and which of them would be a good choice.

I know a few authors are here at EH-Net, so any insights and personal experiences are much appreciated.

Generally I am also very interested in the general opinion from EH-Netters about good and quality publishers in terms of good books. In my opinion, a good publisher should not only publish a book, but also help with editorial stuff, proof-reading, gives suggestions and recommendations, and, personally very important, give honest feedback – I am not looking for a publisher who’s main concern is about publishing as many books as possible. I’m looking for quality.

What are your thoughts on publishers such as Syngress, No Starch Press, Wiley, O’Reilly, Osborne/McGraw-Hill, Addison-Wesley, For Dummies, etc.? Can someone tell something about their reputation (in the US and in general)? E.g. that publisher (insert name) has often bad proof-read books or mostly excellent-books? Of course the author is responsible for what he has written, but maybe some publishers have a good eye for what’s good because of personal knowhow and experience.

Any recommendations are highly appreciated.

[unsupported]

I would assume the choice of publisher revolves around what publisher is willing to publish your book.

I think the process is not unlike a movie deal in Hollywood, you need to have a synopsis or a script and then you shop it around to different studios to see which one will bite.

[UNIX]

I am aware of the fact that it can be hard to get a good publisher and that not every publisher may like to publish your book, e.g. if they have a similar book already in their repertoire or just simply don’t like it.
I am assuming here, that the book/ script would not be the problem but rather finding an appropriate publisher. Even if only two publishers might be interested in your book it can be very difficult to determine which one should get it, I think.

[unsupported]

I know there are a few published authors, maybe it would also help to personally contact some of the other published security authors in the industry.  I can think of a number of them off the top of my head like Richard Bejtlich (Addison-Wesley Professional), Ed Skoudis (Prentice Hall), Dr. Eric Cole (Sams and Wiley), Anton Chuvakin (Wiley and Syngress).  I wouldn’t imagine anyone of them wouldn’t mind sharing their experience in publishing (if they haven’t all ready blogged about it).

[UNIX]

I thought of that myself, though I wasn’t sure if it might be ‘brash’ in any way. Thanks for the recommendation, I guess I will just try my luck. 🙂

Of course I am still interested in opinions from ‘casual readers’ as well. 🙂

[j0rDy]

awesec, i think if you ask some people around here they are more then willing to help you with for example reviewing etc. i dont know anything about publishing or publishers so youre on your own on this one…

[hayabusa]

While I’ve not published any of my own work, I’ve always been a fan of Prentice Hall’s books.  They’ve been well organized and put together, and I’ve not been disappointed with any, in my collection.  That said, I also like books from Wiley and some others, so I can’t really say that, as a publisher, one is better than the other.  I think you’ll just have to weigh it out, as you talk to one or more, and make a decision based on how YOU feel those discussions go.

[Author]

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