#25008
Most writers have no idea how much money they can expect when their book is published. The formular, however, is fairly straightforward. To begin with, a writer generally receives an advance. An advance is payment, in advance, based on the expected initial earnings of the book. Royalties (ranging from 4% to 8% in most cases) are generally based on the cover price of the book, but that does not include books that are discounted or remaindered. So, for the sake of argument, say you sold 20,000 full-price copies of a paperback priced at $7 (I know it would more likely be $6.95 but I am going to use round numbers.) If your royalty percentage were a generous 8% you would make a total of $11,200.
Hewitt, John. Writer's Resource Center (2004). Articles>Writing>Publishing>Writing
#20277
Be An Author, Not a Writer: Breaking Into Retail-Market Computer Book Publishing 
Many experienced technical communicators already have the skills and experience required to be successful authors of retail-market computer books. What they generally lack, however, is an understanding of the retail computer book publishing industry: the roles of the various players, options and techniques for landing that all-important first contract, navigating the ins and outs of money and contracts, developing book proposals, and working on their own. By learning more about the industry, technical communicators gain two things: an increased chance of becoming a first-time author and, more importantly, whether this is an appropriate career choice for them.
Benz, Christopher J. and Michelle Corbin Nichols. STC Proceedings (1998). Articles>Writing>Publishing
#30081
This session will help participants understand how to write and submit a manuscript for publication in Technical Communication. It covers the types of articles the journal publishes, its audience, and suggestions for choosing topics, doing research, and preparing a manuscript.
Hayhoe, George F. STC Proceedings (1999). Articles>Writing>Publishing
#12931
I was a tech writer long before I wrote my first book, although I had to jump through some difficult hoops to land my first tech writing job (a series of six tests on technology); however, a great deal of my work later, especially my consulting jobs, came about as a result of my books and the reputation they bestowed on me. Being published between covers brings you respect almost as quickly and surely as becoming known as a millionaire business owner does. Even now, it happens. A reader who owns a small business in Baltimore hired me recently to do some consulting with him, after reading one of my books published a few years ago. The gentleman had read several books on the subject of proposal writing and contracting, and he decided that my book reflected the kind of thinking he needed, although it was one of my most slender volumes.
Holtz, Herman. TECHWR-L (2001). Articles>Writing>Publishing
#20152
Changing the Way the Profession Communicates: A Workshop for Prospective Journal Authors
This session will help participants understand how to write and submit a manuscript for publication in Technical Communication. It covers the types of articles the journal publishes, its audience, and suggestions for choosing topics, doing research, andpreparing a manuscript.
Hayhoe, George F. STC Proceedings (1997). Articles>Publishing>Writing
#27159
The Complete Beginner's Guide to Writing Articles
So how do you get started? What do you write about? What do you actually DO with your articles once you've written them? It seems daunting, I know. I was petrified myself when I first started writing articles, I still get nervous every time I start submitting a new article all over the net.
Stewart, Anna-Marie. DevBay (2005). Articles>Writing>Publishing>Online
#31656
The Ethics of Technical Publishing: Trust Yourself
A researcher needs grit and self-trust to do this kind of work in the first place. Letting someone other than a ghostwriter or a reviewer do it for you will be self-defeating. An unethical deal here will corrupt you, the project, and your employer. You must finish the job in a straightforward accountable manner.
Delm, Jay. WritersWrite.com (2007). Articles>Publishing>Technical Writing>Ethics
#25649
Giving Feedback or Writing Reviews of Bad Stuff
Some book reviewers say that when they don’t like a book, they simply don’t review it. I’d love to take the easy way out, but when I think about it from a reader’s perspective… I want to know when a book sucks.
Evans, Meryl K. Meryl.net (2005). Articles>Writing>Publishing
#20700
Even if a tech writer did have an itch to produce micro-docs, the odds of the writer putting everything together on his own might be next to non-existent.
Creative Tech Writer, The (2003). Articles>Publishing>Writing
#30437
Problems and Joys of Reading Research Papers for Practitioner Purposes 
Discusses reasons that practitioners read research papers and the obstacles that they face when reading research papers. Jarrett provides several examples and suggestions for improving the accessibility of research papers for practitioners. Her suggestions include writing clear titles, ensuring that the abstract states the study population and limitations of the study, and ensuring that the conclusions are written clearly. She also discusses her criteria for determining whether or not a research paper is relevant to her work.
Jarrett, Caroline. Journal of Usability Studies (2007). Articles>Publishing>Research>Writing
#27462
Real Costs Of Technical Publications
This workshop shows a technical publication manager or rising professional how to work in the following technical publishing/financial areas: project management, operating budget preparation and management, and quality control.
Caernarven-Smith, Patricia. STC Proceedings (1994). Articles>Publishing>Technical Writing>Project Management
#21674
The Twenty Commandments for Submitting Articles
The acceptance rate for many freelance writers is between 25% and 40%. In my own experience though, I’ve had an almost 75% acceptance rate. But, it hasn’t happened overnight. From trial and error, I’ve picked up a few tricks that seem to make all the difference.
#24909
Who should be listed as the authors of an article for a journal or conference proceedings? The basic requirement for authorship is that an author should be able to take public responsibility for the content of the paper. People who may have contributed intellectually to the work but whose contributions do not justify authorship may be acknowledged in the appropriate section of the paper.
Burgan, Murrie W. STC Proceedings (1995). Articles>Publishing>Writing
#24505
This qualitative content analysis identifies 40 articles about women and feminism published in five technical communication journals in a period of nine years, beginning with the publication of Mary Lay's award-winning "Interpersonal Conflict in Collaborative Writing" in 1989. Along with numeric trends about the frequency of articles about women and feminism in technical communication journals, this study also identifies major themes, all of which concern inclusion: through eliminating sexist language, providing equal opportunity in the workplace, valuing gender differences, recovering women's historical contributions to technical communication, and critiquing previously uncontested terms and concepts. The study concludes that although research about women and feminism has been accepted as part of the scholarly purview of technical communication, the ways in which this research has influenced workplace or classroom practice are unclear.
Thompson, Isabelle. Journal of Business and Technical Communication (1999). Articles>Publishing>Technical Writing>Gender
#22180
Review: Writer's Market FAQs: Fast Answers about Getting Published and the Business of Writing 
Rubie uses a question-and-answer format for his book, which makes the book difficult to sit and read cover to cover but works well when one uses it for reference.
Kadilak, Denise. Technical Communication Online (2004). Articles>Reviews>Publishing>Writing
#30332
Writing for Trade and User Magazines
If you're a technical writer, writing an article and getting it published in a trade or user magazine is a good way to expand your capabilities, enhance your resume, promote yourself, and have fun. And if you want to establish yourself as an expert on something, there's no better way.
Boston Broadside (1992). Articles>Writing>Publishing
#33662
The landscape of web writing has changed. The value of well-edited and reviewed content is giving way to faster, less-refined posts on blogs, comments and services like Twitter. It is clear from the dwindling number of article pitches that many prefer to draw traffic to their own sites.
Finck, Nick. Digital Web Magazine (2008). Articles>Web Design>Publishing>Writing
#34017
Free software is not free - it comes with an implicit obligation that you respect the rights of its creators, and that you give something back from your use of the software, from code libraries to promotion to documentation, to the larger community. It's possible, indeed probable, that this ethos, derived by programmers and engineers to solve some very real problems, may in fact be a sound model on which to build an economy.
Cagle, Kurt. O'Reilly and Associates (2009). Articles>Publishing>Writing>Micropayments
#34726
Why is it that, given the opportunity and tools to write, so few embrace it? I have several thoughts as to why.
Johnson, Tom H. I'd Rather Be Writing (2009). Articles>Writing>Publishing
#34840
The Construction of Author Voice by Editorial Board Members
Studies of blind manuscript review have illustrated that readers often form impressions of or speculate about unknown authors' identities in the manuscript review task. In this article, the authors extend that work by examining the discursive and nondiscursive features that play a role in readers' active construction of author voice. Through a survey completed by 70 editorial board members of six journals in applied linguistics and rhetoric and composition, the authors identify quantitative and qualitative trends in reviewers' practices regarding voice construction. Findings indicate that many readers do build impressions of an author's identity when reviewing anonymous manuscripts and that the rhetorical nature of the review task may lead readers to attend more to some discursive features than to others.
Tardy, Christine M. and Paul Kei Matsuda. Written Communication (2009). Articles>Writing>Editing>Publishing
#34920
Compliments and Criticisms in Book Reviews About Business Communication
Research suggests that book reviews in academic journals tend to be positive but that readers prefer book reviews that include negative and positive evaluation. In this study, the author examines 48 books reviews from three business communication journals to determine whether these reviews are mainly positive. She counts compliments and criticisms, analyzing their location and topics. She also analyzes the force of the criticisms and strategies that reviewers use to mitigate criticism.
Mackiewicz, Jo M. Journal of Business and Technical Communication (2007). Articles>Writing>Publishing>Research
