I wish I'd self-published sooner
30+ years ago, Doubleday published my book.  It would not have happened if it weren&#x27;t handled by a literary agent (John Brockman). The original title of my book was &quot;Fundamentals of Computer Security in a Networked Environment.&quot;
  ch 1) Hardware (registers, memory, disks, etc)
  2) Software&#x2F;OS (Unix, etc)
  3) Application S&#x2F;W 
  4) Networks - TCP, IP, Arpanet
  5) Security - encryption, trapdoor functions, etc
  and so on.  20 or 30 chapters.<p>When I sent the book proposal to Brockman, he told me bluntly: &quot;I can&#x27;t sell this.  You can&#x27;t write&quot;.  Three months later, the story found its way to the front page of the NY Times.  First person who called (at 3AM Pacific time): John Brockman.  &quot;Lemme sell your book!&quot;<p>So he went ahead and sold the book proposal.  Didn&#x27;t just sell it.  He auctioned it amongst publishers.  End of the day, there was a $40,000 advance (wow - more than I was making on my job!)<p>I started writing: got through the first 5 chapters.  Then my friend, Guy Consolmagno visited (he was joining the Jesuits).  I showed him the manuscript, and as he read it, his face dropped.  After 30 or 40 pages, he looked up and said, &quot;Cliff, this is terrible.  It&#x27;s all about computers.&quot;<p>&quot;Of course, I replied,&quot;I&#x27;m writing a book about computer security,&quot;<p>Guy answered: &quot;Every computer jock in the world will want a copy.  Doubleday will probably sell 600 copies.&quot;<p>&quot;Yep, that&#x27;s the book proposal that they bought!&quot;<p>&quot;You idiot! They don&#x27;t want to sell 600 copies,&quot; Guy said. &quot;They want to sell 6 thousand.  Maybe 60,000.  You gotta do better than this...&quot;<p>&quot;Look, Cliff. Don&#x27;t write about computers,&quot; Guy continued. &quot;Write about people!&quot;<p>&quot;It&#x27;s not about people,&quot; I replied.  &quot;The book&#x27;s about the Arpanet, about crypto systems, about os holes, about how to manage a Unix system.&quot;<p>&quot;No it ain&#x27;t,&quot; he said.  &quot;It&#x27;s about those hackers in Germany.  The bureaucrats in the FBI who have never touched a computer.  The NSA people who listen but won&#x27;t lift a finger.  The CIA agents who pester you in Berkeley.  It&#x27;s about the long-hair computer jocks you work with.  It&#x27;s about the nutty living situation you&#x27;re in.  Most of all, it&#x27;s about you.&quot;<p>Well, I listened to my friend. Tossed those chapters and rewrote &#x27;em. Told my story in first person.<p>Today, many of you now know me because of that book.<p>Editing? Mainly my sister Jeannie (who&#x27;s a professional editor) and David Gernert of Doubleday.<p>Brockman? He&#x27;s still running a literary agency in New York.  Brother Guy?  He&#x27;s now the director of the Vatican Observatory.  Me? I&#x27;m still in the Bay Area, wondering how I ever wrote a book.