The gurus keep talking about the coming age of self-publishing, where every Tom, Dick, and Harriet can foist their prose on an unsuspecting world. That’s fine, but the gurus never talk about an important corollary: Self-publishing almost always means self-editing, too. And that’s a big problem, because even the best writers need editing, and not even the best writers can do it themselves. The world needs editors not only because it’s hard to dot every "i" and cross every "t," but because we need experts to look dispassionately at our prose and give us good advice about how to fix it. And we have been fortunate, indeed, that we’ve had the expert editors at Microsoft Press to help us whip this book into shape. We extend sincere thanks to everyone at Microsoft Press who had a hand in bringing this book to print, particularly those with whom we worked directly: acquisitions editor Alex Blanton, project editor Jenny Moss Benson, technical editor Jim Johnson, copy editor Marilyn Orozco, and project manager Barb Levy.

We also want to thank our family and friends for their support and, well, just for being there.