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The articles says: "Writing my first technical book without a publisher would have been a MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE!"

But why? Does a publisher provide more than some seed money and motivation? What else am I missing by not using a publisher?

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I don't think it's mission:impossible for some people...but for people such as myself, my editor really gave a sense of external accountability + pressure to finish. If I didn't have an editor, I'm 90% sure I would have stopped around 2 chapters in and tabled it for some other time (read as: never touched it again). Also, there are perks to having a formal publisher: you have reviewers, copy editors, and formatters who really make sure that things are really standardized. That really allowed me to focus on writing.

Here are a few things my editor provided me: 1. A process for writing the manuscript 2. Contacting external reviewers 3. Marketing 4. Feedback on a monthly basis

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