Austin Z. Henley Associate Teaching Professor
Carnegie Mellon University [email protected]
@austinzhenley
github/AZHenley
I canceled my book deal
12/31/2025
Back in 2020-2022, my blog was getting a lot of attention. Some of the big tech book publishers reached out about whether I was interested in writing a book. I had a few conversations but decided against it. I did want to write a book but self-publishing seemed like the better option.
Then an acquisitions editor for another big publisher asked to chat. He had a similar background to me, an academic who enjoys coding and writing. He had written a few books for multiple publishers so he knew the process and wasn't shy to share the good and bad. He even made decent money from his books.
I was intrigued. Writing a book was one of those goals that I liked the idea of but never made any progress on. I went and talked to a few other people that had published technical books and they gave me their reviews of the process and of each of the big publishers.
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