Chris Childerhose is the author of Mastering Veeam Backup & Replication – Third Edition, we got the chance to sit down with him and find out more about his experience of writing with Packt.
Q: How did you become an author for Packt? Tell us about your journey. What was your motivation for writing this book?
Chris: I had previously written two other books about Veeam and after attending VeeamON 2022 in Las Vegas seeing the new features coming for v12 it got me excited to write a third book.
Q: What is the name of your book?
Chris: Mastering Veeam Backup & Replication – Third Edition.
Q: What kind of research did you do, and how long did you spend researching before beginning the book?
Chris: I had already installed v12 beta which I get early access to so I could start to test the features. Writing the book began not long after that as I contacted Packt of my intentions to write a third book.
Q: Do you have a blog that readers can follow?
Chris: Yes I do – https://justvirtualization.blog.
Q: What key takeaways do you want readers to come away with from the book?
Chris: They will learn how to upgrade to the latest v12 release of Veeam as well as explore many of the new and great enhancements they have put in to this release.
Q: Can you share any blogs, websites and forums to help readers gain a holistic view of the tech they are learning?
Chris: Yes. Here you go: 1. https://www.veeam.com
2. https://community.veeam.com
Q. Did you face any challenges during the writing process? How did you overcome them?
Chris: I did not face any challenges as I was used to the Packt formatting and templates writing previous books so it did not take long to start this new book.
Q. How would you describe your author journey with Packt? Would you recommend Packt to aspiring authors?
Chris: It has been a great journey from the first book to this third one. It does take effort and can be time consuming as well. If you are wanting to be an author reach out to existing authors and talk with them to ensure the decision you are making is right. I would recommend Packt for any aspiring authors.
Q. Why should readers choose this book over others already on the market? How would you differentiate your book from its competition?
Chris: I believe the book I have written is done in a manner that all new backup administrators will understand the concepts of Veeam v12. If they have continued the series of my books they will have a good understanding from the first v10 book up to this third one.
I think working for a Service Provider as a Veeam Platinum Partner and also being in the evangelist programs like the Veeam Vanguards/Legends as well as being VMCA/VMCE certified it allows me to give a good perspective in my book for all users making it the choice to purchase.
Q. What is/are your specialist tech area(s)?
Chris: Veeam, VMware, Virtualization, Architecture, MSP.
Q. What advice would you give to readers jumping into this technology? Do you have any top tips?
Chris: Hands-on – you need to get hands on with any technology especially Veeam. Deploy this in a lab and test things out, explore the interface, etc. Also, if just starting out purchase all my books to get a clear understanding of core concepts from the beginning even though the first book was based on v10 it still relates to v12 today.
Q. Do you belong to any tech community groups?
Chris: Yes – Veeam Vanguards/Legends, vExperts, Tanzu Vanguards, AWS Community Builders, Pure Navigators.
Q. What’s your take on the technologies discussed in the book? Where do you see these technologies heading in the future?
Chris: Veeam has evolved over the years and is looking ahead at Cloud which is where things are heading. They will only continue to improve their product to make it even better and more compatible with all cloud technologies.
Q. How did you organize, plan, and prioritize your work and write the book?
Chris: My work was the normal 9-5 hours and depending on my day if I was able to sneak in some writing I would, otherwise after work was finished I spent 1-2 hours writing the book chapters, editing, etc.
Q. What are your favorite tech journals? How do you keep yourself up to date on tech?
Chris: There are too many to list here as I subscribe to lots of newsletters, etc. I constantly am reading, playing with new tech and getting hands-on with it to learn.
Q. Would you like to share your social handles? If so, mention them below.
Chris: Of course. Twitter – @cchilderhose, LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/cchilderhose/.
Q: What is that one writing tip that you found most crucial and would like to share with aspiring authors?
Chris: Know your audience when writing so that you can convey the information in your book into something they will understand which will translate in to sales.
You can find Chris’s book on Amazon by following this link: Please click here
