My first book, Essentials of Corporate Fraud, is not even done printing yet, and I am already starting to write my second book for John Wiley & Sons. How did I do it Well that’s all a bit of a mystery to me.

You see, the process was all so easy. There was none of this “write a book and pitch it to a publisher.” I didn’t go through the process of creating a massive book proposal and sending it to publishing companies.

The process was quite easy. I met my editor at an industry conference. We chatted for a short while and I expressed my interest in writing a book on fraud. We exchanged a few emails over the next three months, but not much came of it.

Until the day when I contacted my editor and said I was ready to get serious about writing and publishing a book. I wanted to know what I had to do in order to make it happen, because I was going to write a book and it was going to get published. It was just a matter of whether or not Wiley wanted to be my publisher.

Within a few weeks, we had discussed about 5 potential topics and narrowed it down to one. I did a brief outline (less than 2 pages) and put together some ideas on how I would market the book (including speaking engagements, endorsements from industry experts, writing for major publications, and my web presence).

My editor and I agreed that things were looking good, and all it would take to finish the process was for the marketing department at Wiley to sign off on the book. And they did. Quickly. Before I knew it, I had a signed contract in hand.

I was off to the races, electing to write my book over a six month schedule. I wrote the bulk of the book in the final two months of that schedule (won’t make that mistake again!) and sent it off for editing.

After the book passed muster with my editor, it went on to a copy editor who finessed the grammar. The book came back to me so I could answer questions and make sure none of the edits changed the meaning of the material. Back to the editor for more of her touches, and the book was off to the printer for typsetting. The typeset book came back to me for final edits and then was off to the printing presses.

Easy, right? Well I thought so. And now we’re just busy waiting for the book to be printed so that it can be released by March 14. I’ve already sold some books on Amazon.com, which is exciting….

And now begins the second book. (Phew… long introduction to get to this point!)

I got word today that the marketing department at Wiley has accepted my book idea and we’re going forward with a contract. This book will be written between now and July 16. Yikes! That’s five months, but with proper budgeting of my time, it won’t be hard.

I’ve been down this road before, and for me, writing a book is easy. I am so passionate about what I do and writing about it is a chance to share that with everyone. It’s easy… I just write about what I know.

So what’s this book going to be about? It’s going to focus on the process of investigating fraud. How do you investigate a fraud from beginning to end? It will include everything from document management, to assembling your team, to the technological tools available, to old-fashioned investigative techniques, to some of the hallmarks of fraud schemes.

The first book was my warm-up. Just wait until you see this one!