Technical computer publishers... anyone have any experience?

Hi all,

I've been working a few weeks on really polishing up a proposal and content for a computer book aimed at an intermediate skill level on an accessible topic. During my search for publishers to submit the proposal to once it is ready, I have come across the following ones:

O'Reilly group: No Starch Press, O'Reilly, Paraglyph, PC Publishing, Pragmatic Bookshelf, Rocky Nook, SitePoint, TidBITS)

InformIT group: including Que and Sams Publishing, Peachpit, etc.

Sybex (associated with Wiley)

Wiley

CRC Press

In any case, I have a couple of simple questions: does anyone know of any major publishers of this kind of book that I have missed? Can anyone here who has submitted a proposal, and/or published with any of them, share any brief tips/experiences? Finally, and I know this depends on a lot of factors, does anyone know of a resource to find additional possible publishers with? I know of the Writer's Market, but I gather that's aimed more toward fictional works.

Thanks!

EDIT to add: Are there any that you have heard horror stories about that I have listed here?

JulieB said:

That's not a bad list. I might add IDC (famous for the "Dummies" books), Apress, and PeachPit Press.

Visit the bookstore and find out who publishes books similar in content and style to yours. Some publishers (or imprints) seem to specialize in different areas such as open source products or software aimed at creative types, just to give two examples.

Best of luck to you!

Click to expand...

Thanks for the suggestions.

I have visited a couple of bookstores to check out what's on the shelves and what is buried behind other books or displayed prominently. I also spent awhile reading through some books on the skill level and general broad topic that I'm aiming at. While I had given a small amount of thought to publishers' specialties, I didn't keep it in the forefront of my mind when doing this. That's an excellent tip... I'll make sure to check online and perhaps visit a store again to see what each one I'm considering submitting a proposal to appears to angle their product line towards.

I appreciate the kind wishes .