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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Author's Review, July 13, 2002
First, thank you for using my book. I sincerely appreciate your candid feedback, both pro and con. By far, the most positive reviews I have received have been from the beginner to intermediate level users/developer category. I did not always receive high marks from the advanced user/developer category.Second, although I was humbled by the privilege of being chosen by a major publishing house from a long list of prospective authors, the book-writing experience taught me many useful lessons. Some of these lessons reflected well upon either myself or the publisher, some did not. In particular, I learned that my meager talents often fall far short of those that must have been possessed by any of the literary giants such as Hemingway, Steinbeck, or Lewis. As an interesting sideline, In November 1996 I was chosen as the author because, of all the candidates, I was the one who flat-out said "No" when asked if I could write the book. Access 97 was still in BETA and would not be released until 1997, and Sams/MacMillan wanted to release Access 97 Programming Unleashed the same week that Access 97 hit the street. I told them that they were asking me to write an "expert" book about a piece of software that I had never used. The only caveat that I offered was that if it was a matter of learning the new material and blending it with past version experience, that I could do that as well as anyone else, so long as they adopted a more realistic deadline which gave me sufficient time to do so. I'm not sure which impressed them the most, my pragmatism or my gullibility. Third, I was somewhat unhappy with the way that this book turned out. Although this can often be a perpetual mindset with me, in this case, the causes were more tangible. The "spine" of every book is the author's outline. A great deal of my time and effort was spent on developing a first-class comprehensive outline for an advanced programmer's reference that focused heavily on coding issues related to Access applications. A primary intention was to write a book that had all of the information in it that was usually conspicuously absent in technical publications. According to my book plan, this was to peak out at just over 1200 pages of in-depth coding techniques with examples, best practices, and some sample applications. I began writing in December of 1996, and, with the assistance of my friend and co-author, had completed roughly 2/3 of the volume by the beginning of March 1997. At this point, our publisher changed the direction and focus of the book to an intermediate level topical reference that would bridge the gap for beginning programmers. I threw out approximately 600 pages of my own work. With the last-minute assistance of contributing authors chosen by the publisher and with whom I had never worked, we began in earnest to write to the publisher's new outline in an effort to meet our deadline. The result was a loosely coupled compilation, not a comprehensive and contiguous volume. Because of my stubborn dedication to our contractual deadline, I chose to allow the publisher to farm chapters out for rewrite to their stable of technical authors, rather than move the deadline back another two months. In retrospect, this may have been a mistake, as it compromised the technical and literary integrity that I tried to build in from the outset. It may have been wiser for me to have forced them to move the deadline, thereby giving me enough time to recast the errant sections to fit the new mold. It would have been a rough fight, and frankly, I'm not sure if I would have got my way in the end. In case any of you wonder why standard industry practice for publishers is to give advances to their authors, this is why. For those of you who want to write your own book, be mindful of the fact that the size of the advance should probably be commensurate with the amount that you would want them to pay in order to own you for the period of time it takes to give them their due. Fourth, to all who were kind enough to praise this book, I offer you my gratitude and humble thanks. You made this book a success by separating yourselves from your hard-earned money. Very few technical books of this sort ever reach the 20,000-copies-sold mark, much less actually surpass it. The high-water mark is usually in the neighborhood of 10,000-copies-sold. You spoke your appreciation to me in a pragmatic way that was far beyond either my, or the publisher's expectations. Thank you for your support. Fifth, to all who were kind enough to offer constructive critical review and advice, thank you. The ratio of books returned versus books sold is extremely low. This is not only substantive proof that dissatisfied readers were in the minority, it is also pragmatic evidence of the effectiveness of our book, despite the challenges we faced in writing it. If you didn't like my book well enough to have used it regularly, or dislike it enough to have returned it, then perhaps it will make a good doorstop on a windy day. Either way, you have my appreciation for your candid thoughts. Lastly, thank you for the privilege of being able to find a place in each of your lives, even if that place is a 4" slot on a sturdy bookshelf. Best regards and sincere appreciation, Joe Rhemann
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