In 2010, my book “Computer Course” was published. That book, which was based on Windows XP and Microsoft Office 2002 did not do so well in the market and therefore, the publisher McGraw-Hill Education India decided to update it. Well, the result is a new book--Computer Course - Windows 7 and Office 2010, which has been published recently. My gut feeling is that this 540 pages book will do better than its predecessor.
My first book on dBASE III was published in 1988 by Tata McGraw Hill Publishing Company Ltd. I was 26 years old when I started writing that book which was also not a planned exercise. In fact, I was preparing a series of articles to be published in the Electronics For You magazine and while working on the series, I decided to expand it to give the form of a book, hoping that Electronics For You would publish it. In 1980s, Electronics For Your was a small magazine publisher and would occasionally publish one or two electronics books a year. After I finished my manuscript, while I was about to send it to Electronics For You, by chance, I discussed my plans with my colleague and friend, Raju Ravichandran who suggested me to approach Tata McGraw Hill, India’s leading publisher of technical and computer books, to publish my book. Most of the authors of Tata McGraw Hill Publishers used to be mature Professors and teachers, and here there was a 27 years old chap with no publishing or teaching experience. I was even reluctant to call them. However, Ravichandran continued to pursue me and finally I printed another copy of the manuscript and sent it to Tata McGraw Hill Publishing. While Electronics For You even did not bother to acknowledge the receipt of the manuscript, some sort of dialogue started between the Sponsoring Editor of Tata McGraw Hill Publishing and me, and after some hiccups, my first book, “dBASE III and III PLUS - A Hands on Approach” was published. I am grateful to Ravichandran as he was instrumental in publishing my first book, which was a reasonable success story. Two years later, I wrote another book--dBASE III PLUS Made Simple, which was a great hit. Since then, I have continued to write a book every couple of years.
Wish my latest book a long life!