The New Book…She is Done

As many know, I had been toiling away on my latest book for a little less than a year. Well, the book was finally released into the wild early this year (Jan 2nd). Published by renowned technology publisher O’Reilly Media and co-authored by Jeff Siarto (http://www.siarto.com), Head First Web Design is the latest book in the award winning Head First series. Head First Web Design is a user-centered web design book, exploring topics such as pre-production, layout, color theory and color design, information design and architecture, usable navigation design, accessibility design, audience research, and user testing. Its a “true” design book in the sense that it isn’t focused on markup. Instead it focuses very practically on the principles and foundations of user centered design for the web.

The Head First series is best know for using the latest research in cognitive science and learning theory to craft a multi-sensory learning experience. Head First Web Design continues that tradition by using a visually rich format specifically designed to take advantage of the way the reader’s brain really works. For more information on the book, including table of contents and sample chapters, visit http://www.headfirstlabs.com/books/hfwd/

This is easily the hardest book that I’ve ever written. First off, all Head First authors, regardless of whether they are totally green in the publishing world or if they’ve written 10 books, have to go through a rather rigorous audition which includes building a demo chapter in the Head First style. Once you are given the thumbs up and put under contract to the write the book, the entire production process (and it is a “production” process as opposed to a “writing” process is incredibly different than anything I’ve ever done. Instead of sitting down at a keyboard, banging out a draft, sending it in to an editor, getting revisions back, editing, and sending in a final draft (the usual book writing cycle), writing a Head First book is something akin to writing a graphic novel (vaguely). Here is how things go (on a single chapter):

Beats

You come up with beats for the chapter. This isn’t like slapping some vague chapter structure ideas on a page. Head First books have a very precise ebb and flow of content based on cognitive models of learning. Where to cover stuff, how to cover stuff, the pace at which stuff is covered, and the general subject matter have to go into beats. Also, you not only have to include learning content, but you also need to include the chapter’s narrative (Head First books often have a narrative that drives the learning – both in the individual chapters and across the entire book). Once you do the first pass on a chapter’s beats, you turn it in to your editor. From here, you’ll get feedback. The feedback might be light or it might be heavy – and it might even require you to scrap everything and start again (that happened to us once or twice). Its also very rare that you revise only once. It was quite common that we had at least two rounds of revisions.

Boards

Once your editor signs off on your beats, you can start working on storybaords. Yup, thats right….storyboards. Since the Head First series is so visual, authors actually build very detailed storyboards for each chapter. This is pretty much designed to get a solid idea of how each page is going to be laid out, what content is going to appear where on the page, etc. These storyboards are hand drawn, and often quite time consuming (Jeff and I actually erred on the side of very detailed storyboards, so it often took us a little longer than other Head First authors). As with the beats, we would submit boards to our editor, get feedback (sometimes feedback that would require major work), revise accordingly, and re-submit (and do it again if necessary). Jeff and I never submitted boards that didn’t have to go through at least one revision. There were several chapters where we had to go through three revisions. There were also a few chapters where we had to scrap the boards we started with, and start again from scratch (which sucked horribly).

InDesign

Once your editor signs off on the boards, you get to work “writing” the book in InDesign. You take what you envisioned in your boards, and actually create it in InDesign. For anyone who who has written a more “traditional” book, this may come as quite a bit of a surprise. The author actually becomes the book’s designer. Its important to note that these InDesign files aren’t another step on the pre-viz ladder which then get re-done by talented staffers at O’Reilly. These are the actual chapters files that will (eventually) go to the printer. At this stage, you are not only doing layout, but you are also writing body text. As with all of the other steps along the way, you send the InDesign chapters in to your editor for revisions. Generally speaking, revision at this stage of the game are a little less intense (though certainly not absent). Your content and layout is pretty much set, and all you really need to do is implement it. In this stage, I was incredibly lucky that Jeff took control of most of the layout while I dealt with writing the body text. Jeff has an incredible eye for design (and is a hell of a lot more skilled with InDesign than I am). As a result, we fell into a very comfortable pattern that resulted in a book that looks awesome and has really solid content.

Chaos

Near the end of the production process, the predictable back and forth revision cycle tends to break down. InDesign chapters are flying back and forth between authors and various members or the editorial team. All of the little things (both in terms of design and content) are addressed, fixed, ect, etc. Its also at this stage that production people step in and make sure the InDesign chapters are ready for the printer – color correction, hi-res images, etc. Also, the Head First design editor (Lou Barr http://www.headfirstlabs.com/lou.php) will put her hands on the chapter and polish it up significantly. At this stage, its a mad rush to the finish line. We were fairly lucky in that we managed to get all of the chapters finished off and to the printer slightly ahead of schedule.

All in all (from audition to publication) it took about 10 or 11 months. This about about 3 times the length it took me to write any of my other books. Was it worth it? Yes. I’m quite proud of the book (except the cover….I hate the individual they chose for the cover). Now, the next question…would I do it again? Honestly, I don’t think so. Why? Well, first off, the production schedule was almost too much to deal with. As an academic, my schedule is already very, very full. While I was writing the book, many of my projects, publications, and grants had to be put on the back-burner (and are only now getting the attention they deserve). Its not like the workload was a surprise. We were well aware of how much work this would be when we signed the contract (and, in fact, our schedule was a little more aggressive than other Head First books because O’Reilly wanted to get the book to market quickly…and we knew that). However, the reality of the schedule almost burnt me out. I simply can’t afford to dedicate such an enormous amount of my life to one project (at the detriment of all other things – including my family life). Granted, if O’Reilly wants us to do a 2nd edition, I would have no problem doing it. However, a new Head First book…that probably isn’t in my future. I am, however, currently (vaguely) talking with O’Reilly about my next book project – a social history of digital games (based partially on the class I teach) – but that is far more of a “traditional” book project.

It also bears mentioning that inviting Jeff to co-author this book with me was a bloody stroke of genius on my part (if I do say so myself). Jeff worked insanely hard on this book (I will admit, harder than me). It is a testament to his skill (as both a web designer and a print designer) that this book is so damn good. He’s a big deal, and people should watch him – because he is going to do (and is doing) some incredible things.

Right now, Jeff and I into the PR/Marketing phase – trying to do what we can to promote the book. So, if anyone has access to a good venue (web, print, or audio/video) and wants to review the book, give me a yell because I can get you a free copy. Also, if anyone runs a podcast, and would like to interview Jeff or I (or both at the same time), give me a shout. I can also probably get some free copies of the book that people can use as contest giveaways on their site.  Drop me a line at ethan [dot] watrall [at] captainprimate [dot] com