Earlier in the year, I experienced a remarkable moment. I was in the library, browsing computer books when to my great delight I saw the book I wrote on the shelf! It was a momentous occasion for me.
Ten years ago to the month my book was published and sent out into the world. It's okay if you missed it. It is a technical book, and it's for a technical audience. Still, I'm proud of it, and back then I thought the publisher would distribute the book to every bookstore and library.
I spent several months of 2015 and 2016 looking for my book among the new computer books in every random bookstore and library. I never spotted it. I knew people were buying it, because after a few months I began to receive very modest royalty checks. But I longed to see it on the shelves.
Eventually I stopped looking for it. The royalty checks were enough evidence, I suppose. And I am grateful for the money from the book (though it's only a fraction of my current salary). An author I know told me that the secret to making real money with books is to write more than one!
At the library, I pulled down my book and leafed through it. The technology in the book is something I use every day, and I know it much better now than ten years ago. The book is aimed for beginners, and I wonder if I could write for them now like I did back then.
I didn't spend much time with the book. There's only one section I reread, and that's the acknowledgements. I go right to the last paragraph where I thank my wife and daughter for their patience and love during the year I spent working on it. I would certainly write them in now like I did in 2015.
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