Several years ago, I wrote a book for a college course I was teaching because a suitable textbook did not exist. The content was on designing and drafting interior residential details. What is that? It is a sort of architectural drawing that focuses in on a very particular element like a crown molding, handrail, etc. It explains to a builder some of the specific items that should be built into that feature.
I didn’t just start writing a book one day. Instead, I began by including a few excerpts from my various projects that I would hand out to students to use as a reference. Eventually, that turned into a stack of stapled pages that I would hand out. Then, it got more serious and turned into a curated binder with some organization to it. Eventually, I tried to find a text book that could explain what I was trying to explain, but I could not find one. Then it hit me: I needed to write a book.
I took all of that content and re-compiled it into a format that would be easy to use, I added illustrations and additional drawings, and I included step-by-step guides. Then I figured out how to print and bind it all together, so the students would have a useful textbook that would get them through the class and serve them well through the launch of their careers in the design industry. That is where “Details!” started.
I started to work with a well-known publisher who specializes in school textbook production, but I was not thrilled with all the compromise they were forcing on me. I actually met with an attorney to see if I was being unreasonable. He agreed with me, and I decided not to continue working with that publisher.
Instead, I went another route, and now you can find the book on Amazon for a fraction of the cost that the big publishers wanted to charge to starving students. You can find it here:
Details! Introduction to Drafting Interior Residential Details
If you’d like to learn more about our design process, visit www.josharch.com/process, and if you’d like to get us started on your project with a feasibility report, please visit www.josharch.com/help