(continued from last post)
What about the actual production process of the book? As I mentioned I wrote it and did the entire page setting using OpenOffice. The reason is that I have tools to produce HTML files from it, so this is the best solution for a book I want to sell in printed format but also (possibly) publish on my site. I don't expect this to be the case with this book, but I wanted to have the entire process available and tested.
I also tried to produce a good quality book, asking for help. Peter Wood has been the book editor, providing corrections and fixes to my English. Many people got involves in tech editing the book, checking the content was correct, suggesting additions, and providing fixes and countless suggestions. Holger Flick, Fernando Madruga, Sergio Sette, and Marco Breveglieri read large portions of the book) providing different kind of feedback, all appreciated. Nando Dessena, Pierre le Riche, and Sinan Karaca read specific chapters, depending on their expertise. Everyone was very helpful and this post is also to thank them in my blog (of course, you can read more in the book itself).
After finishing writing around mid-August, I was suggested by tech reviewers to add two new chapters (or at least modify the two final chapters). Particularly I added a "check list" of problems to look after when upgrading existing Delphi 5/6/7 projects to Delphi 2007. The last consistent work was compiling a good index. In all of my book, someone else had done an index for me (found by the publisher, even if partially paid with my own money). This time I created an index myself. I added in particular a list of all of the examples, plus listed all of the people (and there are many) mentioned in the text. This might be nice for the blog as well. The INdex is 6 pages on two columns, so there is a lot of content in it. Hopefully, the index will make it easier to find information in the book.
With the custom-designed cover ready since a few month ago, this was all I needed to complete the book. Again, see the book web site www.marcocantu.com/dh2007 for more information.
Now the question is, when will the book become available? I actually got my super-fast shipping copy this morning.... but found a printing problem. Now the problem is not in the PDF I submitted, but a printing/binding problem. The book I received has extra pages from ... another unrelated book! So I need to be sure this was a one-time error, not likely to affect other buyers, before I turn the light to green. As I'll be busy tomorrow (with over 7 hours driving awaiting me) it's likely the book will be available on Wednesday, unless I need to order another test copy...