But Routing TCP/IP remains a hit for author, Cisco Press.
But “Routing TCP/IP” remains a hit for author, Cisco Press.
Think of it as Harry Potter for the network set. Publisher Cisco Press next week will release a new edition of its best-selling book, Routing TCP/IP by Jeff Doyle. Cisco Press officials say it is one of the biggest releases in the company’s nine-year history.
“One of the most exciting things we have planned for 2005 is the release of the second edition,” says John Kane, editor in chief of Cisco Press.
“That’s a flagship product of ours,” he adds.
Sales of Routing TCP/IP pale in comparison to Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, which sold 6.4 million copies in its first two weeks on bookshelves this summer. But in the niche of network books, the release of a new edition of Routing TCP/IP is just as significant.
The book has sold more than 55,000 copies – 43,000 in the U.S. and 12,000 overseas – since its release in 1998. It is a must-read for network engineers pursing Cisco certifications. Many keep a dog-eared copy of the 1,000-page tome in their offices for troubleshooting IP routing problems.
Also: Read a chapter from “Routing TCP/IP”
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The only Cisco Press book that has sold more copies is a self-study test preparation text for the Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) exam.
“This is far and away Cisco Press’ best-selling first edition, non-certification book,” says Kourtnaye Sturgeon, director of marketing for Cisco Press. Sturgeon says the nearest comparable title sold 24,000 copies.
“For a computer book, selling 45,000 volumes domestically is quite respectable,” says Jim Milliot, director of business and news at Publishers Weekly, which tracks book sales. Milliot adds that a book such as Routing TCP/IP can be “very profitable” given its $80 price.
For Cisco Press, publishing a second edition of Routing TCP/IP, Volume 1 is a big deal, and it is more than two years in the making.
Cisco Press is an alliance between Cisco and Pearson Technology Group, which also publishes IT books under the imprints of Addison-Wesley Professional, Peachpit, Prentice Hall PTR, Que, Sams and BradyGames. Cisco Press is the official publisher of training and self-study materials for Cisco certifications, but it also offers general-purpose books about network technology and business strategies.
Cisco Press publishes 50 to 55 books per year, and it has a backlist of 225 titles that it offers. Cisco and Cisco Press agree on the titles that will be published, and Cisco engineers review the books before they are issued. Cisco gives Cisco Press editors and authors early access to information about new products and changes to certification exams so the alliance’s books are timely and accurate.
Cisco and Pearson Technology Group share in Cisco Press’ revenue. These figures are not publicly available.
Milliot says Cisco Press is a small player in the computer publishing industry, where most of its competitors focus on consumer-oriented books.
“There certainly is room for niches, especially ones that trade on a brand name,” Milliot says. “Cisco is a well-established brand name.”
Books by Cisco Press, especially Routing TCP/IP, have a loyal following among network engineers.
“That book holds a threefold significance to Cisco in terms of helping out our customers because of its accuracy and depth,” says Anthony Wolfenden, director of operations in engineering for Cisco. “It’s used as a reference book by college kids going through our Networking Academy. It’s a complete desk reference for anyone who works with Cisco routers. And it’s a reference for anyone who wants to achieve or maintain a [Cisco Certified Internetworking Expert]. It really broadly strikes at one of the core elements of Cisco: What is IP routing and how to do it.”
On Amazon.com’s Web site, reviewers called Routing TCP/IP “masterful,” “indispensable” and “a great routing reference book.” One five-star review called the book “an essential desk reference for anyone pursuing a career as a senior-level routing engineer.”
Thanks to the enthusiastic response, Doyle is a minor celebrity and popular presence on the conference speaking circuit.
“I travel all over the world doing seminars and giving speeches, and I am completely amazed that in so many parts of the world people will come up to me with copies of the book and want me to autograph it,” Doyle says.
It took a year for Doyle to write Routing TCP/IP, which was his first book. The book proved so popular that he came out with a second volume in 2001.
“It was good timing and luck on my part to take that fundamental topic of core routing and create a book around it,” says Doyle, who at the time worked as a senior network systems consultant with International Network Services.
“I had no idea it would be such a best seller,” he says. “I was told that the shelf life of a technical book is two or three years. Here it is seven years later, and it’s still going strong. I still get a very nice royalty check every month.”
Despite the popularity of Routing TCP/IP, producing a second edition was not a sure thing for Cisco Press. That’s because Doyle now works for Cisco’s archrival Juniper Networks, where he serves as senior network architect.
“Cisco Press wanted me to do the book all along, but Cisco had a lot of concerns. They wanted to make sure I didn’t mention Juniper anywhere in the book,” Doyle says.
When Doyle wrote the first edition of Routing TCP/IP, he says Cisco provided lots of technical details that hadn’t been published before.
“With the first book, a lot of doors were opened to me in Cisco engineering. Cisco shared a lot of information because at the time I worked for a systems integrator,” he says. “When I joined Juniper, a lot of those doors were closed.”
Doyle brought on a co-author – Jennifer DeHaven Carroll – for the second edition of the book to alleviate Cisco’s concerns about sharing information with a Juniper employee.
“She is an independent consultant, but she has good relationships with Cisco,” Doyle says. “I wrote all of the technical pieces and coordinated the overall project, and Jennie did the rewrites on the IOS-specific pieces of the chapters.”
The new edition of Routing TCP/IP emphasizes IPv6, a long-anticipated upgrade to the Internet’s main protocol, IPv4. References to older technologies such as FDDI and token ring were eliminated. Protocol descriptions were updated to include the latest capabilities and configuration options.
“I started with a new chapter that introduces IPv6,” Doyle says. “For each of the protocols I describe in the chapters, I show configurations for IPv4 and IPv6. . . . I’m a big IPv6 advocate. In this book, it’s treated as a standard part of the Internet Protocol.”
Doyle spent six months writing the new edition of his latest book, and he’s hoping it will be another bestseller. He’s already got the royalty payments earmarked for spending.
“I have four kids: one in college, and one that’s going to be in college next fall,” says the 52-year-old author. “The royalty checks will probably all go to college tuition.”
Cisco Press has begun its marketing push for the second edition. Cisco Press announced the book’s release at Interop in May in Las Vegas and displayed it at the Cisco User’s Conference in June in Las Vegas. Web sites such as Amazon.com and Powells.com have been taking pre-orders since July.
Despite its importance to Cisco Press, Routing TCP/IP is a minor blip to the high-volume publishing industry.
With an initial print run of 6,000 copies, the second edition hasn’t garnered the attention of the top brass at RR Donnelly & Son’s printing plant in Crawfordsville, Ind., where Cisco Press books are printed and bound.
“We published 2.5 million copies of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince this summer,” says John Prasser, senior customer service representative at RR Donnelly & Sons, who says 2005 will be the plant’s best year ever. Prasser wasn’t familiar with Routing TCP/IP.
“Harry Potter and The Purpose Driven Life are our biggest jobs,” Prasser says.
