I followed a similar path with Computer Graphics from Scratch [0], somewhat accidentally. You'd be surprised about how much valuable feedback a publisher can give on such a technical topic! When No Starch Press approached me I thought "the content is almost finished, this will take a month or two". It took two years, and the book is significantly better after I went through the process with them.
Thanks for sharing! I actually chatted with No Starch Press and met with them in their offices. Really nice people and amazing vibe. I am working on a PySpark book and will reach out to No Starch again based on your comment.
Two years would cause most technical books to miss a market window. Other will have written on the topic, and perhaps be established as a standard by then.
It’s great that the book is improved, but that delay is a killer.
Good point. To be fair, most of the delay was my own fault, due to life events (moving internationally, starting a new job, the f*** pandemic, etc). I was the bottleneck, not them.
100% agree with this sentiment. My co-author and I are wrapping up a book with No Starch and the experience has been very positive. The editing, in particular, has been stellar.
[0] https://gabrielgambetta.com/computer-graphics-from-scratch/