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Writing Xero for Dummies required a lot of team work. A lot of stress and late nights.
Writing Xero for Dummies
Xero for Dummies is a great introduction to Xero for anybody new to Xero. We wanted to know how the book came to be so we asked its author – Heather Smith.
Here is what we learned but please listen to this episode of Tax Talks as Heather Smith explains all this much better than we ever could.
To listen while you drive, walk or work, just access the episode through a free podcast app on your mobile phone.
The Beginning
Heather Smith had already written two books. And she was prolific on social media. So she got noticed. Rod Drury, founder and CEO of Xero, contacted her via Twitter and asked whether she could write something about Xero. Heather passed this tweet on to her publishers and they suggested the for dummies series.
Getting Accepted
But you can’t just write a For Dummies book. The publisher needs to accept you. You start with an education process. Then you have to put together a financial proposal – a business plan for the book.
Then you have to give an actual outline of the book. You have to say these are going to be the chapters. This is the breakdown. You submit a two page content outline of what the book would look like.
And then all this goes through a review and awaits approval. After this you finally start writing – you write a single chapter. Over 30 different people across the world assess this one chapter to make sure they agree with your style of writing. You get a lot of feedback that you need to implement. The process takes about 2 months and is very intense.
And then you finally get approved as a for dummies writer and can start writing the book. At least this is how Heather remembers it. The process might have slightly changed since then, but probably is still fairly similar.
Team Work
There is an entire team behind the writer of a For Dummies book. For Dummies designed the book, prepared the templates, assigned editors, marketers and others to closely work with Heather. Heather’s role was to bring in the content and write but it very much was a team effort.
In this case, there was also a lot of involvement from Xero throughout the whole book at every stage. They technically checked every detail. Reviewed every chapter.
Global Audience
The book aims at a global audience. Payroll is different from country to country throughout the world. So the book only touches on payroll in a high-level overview. Anything else would have been to quickly outdated and only relevant in a particular region.
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Disclaimer: Tax Talks does not provide financial or tax advice. This applies to these show notes as well as the actual podcast interview. All information on Tax Talks is provided for entertainment purposes only and might no longer be up to date or correct. You should seek professional accredited tax and financial advice when considering whether the information is suitable to your or your client’s circumstances.
Last Updated on 01 May 2020
Tax Talks spoke to Heather Smith - Chartered Accountant at ANISE Consulting - for more details.
