The Guy Who Shares a Birthday With Tolkien Has Done Okay

It's official, my 250th book. Celebration soon. 20 million words, tens of thousands of pages. Published and/or distributed by every major US publisher from Pearson to Macmillan to McGraw Hill and Time Warner, Simon & Schuster, Random House, Hachette and Microsoft. Over 100 other publishers globally. Wow, what a ride it's been!!

Books written by William Robert Stanek (Reverse Chronological Order: Newest to Oldest, Present to 2014):

IIS 10: Web Apps, Security & Maintenance (IT Pro Solutions)

IIS 10: Essentials for Administration (IT Pro Solutions)

Windows PowerShell 6: Essentials for Administration (IT Pro Solutions)

Windows PowerShell 6 (IT Pro Solutions)

Exchange Server 2016: The Administrator’s Reference

Exchange Server 2016 & Exchange Online: Essentials for Administration, 2nd Edition

Office 365 & Exchange Online: Essentials for Administration, 2nd Edition

Windows Server 2016: Storage Solutions (Tech Artisans Library)

Windows Server 2016: IT Pro Library

Windows Server 2016: Domain Infrastructure (Tech Artisans Library)

Windows Server 2016: The Administrator's Reference

Windows Server 2016: Essential Services (Tech Artisans Library)

Exchange Server 2016: IT Pro Library

Windows Server 2016: Server Infrastructure (IT Pro Solutions)

Windows Server 2016: Installing & Configuring (Tech Artisans Library)

Windows Server 2016: Essentials for Administration (IT Pro Solutions)

Windows 10: Essentials for Administration (IT Pro Solutions)

Windows 10: The Personal Trainer, 2nd Edition: Your Personalized Guide

Exchange Server 2016: Server Infrastructure (IT Pro Solutions)

Office 365 & Exchange Online: Essentials for Administration (IT Pro Solutions)

Exchange Server 2016 & Exchange Online: Essentials for Administration (IT Pro Solutions)

Presenting Exchange Server 2016 & Exchange Online (IT Pro Solutions)

Windows 10: Step Up & Into

IIS 8 Web Applications, Security & Maintenance: The Personal Trainer

Windows 10: The Personal Trainer

Active Directory Administration for Windows Server 2012 & R2: The Personal Trainer

Windows PowerShell for Administration: The Personal Trainer

Windows Group Policy: The Personal Trainer for Windows Server 2012 and R2

IIS 8 Administration: The Personal Trainer

Windows Command-Line for Windows 8.1, Windows Server 2012 and R2 (The Personal Trainer)


*BIG thanks to readers who pointed out that the original book list was only through 2014 (which is the last time the list was updated). So I added a few books from present to 2014.


Books written by William Robert Stanek (Reverse Chronological Order: Newest to Oldest, 2014 to 1995):

This Mortal Coil. After the Machines

Windows Command Line: The Personal Trainer

Windows PowerShell: The Personal Trainer

The Cards in the Deck (An NSA Spy Thriller)

A Legacy of Dragons (Guardians of the Dragon Realms)

Web Server Administration: The Personal Trainer for IIS 7.0 and IIS 7.5

The Dragon, the Wizard & the Great Door (Guardians of the Dragon Realms)

Windows Server 2012 R2 Inside Out: Services, Security, & Infrastructure

Web Applications, Security & Maintenance: The Personal Trainer for IIS 7.0 and IIS 7.5

Windows 8.1 Administration Pocket Consultant: Storage, Security, & Networking

Windows Server 2012 R2 Pocket Consultant: Essentials & Configuration

Group Policy Administration: The Personal Trainer for Windows Server 2008 and 2008 R2

Active Directory Administration: The Personal Trainer for Windows Server 2008 and 2008 R2

Windows Server 2012 R2 Inside Out: Configuration, Storage, & Essentials

Windows 7: The Personal Trainer

XML, DTDs, Schemas: The Personal Trainer

Windows Server 2012 R2 Pocket Consultant: Storage, Security, & Networking

Email, Internet, Web: The Personal Trainer

Windows 8.1 Administration Pocket Consultant: Essentials & Configuration

Exchange Server 2013 Pocket Consultant: Databases, Services, & Management

Twelve Dreams, One Dreamer

Buster's Birthday Wish

Exchange Server 2013 Pocket Consultant: Configuration & Clients

Sight Words Plus Level 9: Learning Essentials

Sight Words Plus Level 8: Learning Essentials

Skip Counting: Learning Essentials

Sight Words Plus Level 7: Learning Essentials

Sight Words Plus Level 6: Learning Essentials

Trouble with Dragons

Living Fire (Dragons of the Hundred Worlds)

Breath of Fire (Dragons of the Hundred Worlds)

Windows Server 2012 Inside Out

Windows 8 Administration Pocket Consultant

Windows Server 2012 Pocket Consultant

Colors & Shapes Storybooks: Learning Essentials

Buster’s on the Job: Bugville Critters

How Many Fish Colors?

Sight Words Plus Level 5: Learning Essentials

Sight Words Plus Level 4: Learning Essentials

Pirates Stole My Booty: Bugville Critters

Addition Level 4: Learning Essentials

Subtraction Level 3: Learning Essentials

Subtraction Level 2: Learning Essentials

Twelve Dresses, One Star: Bugville Critters

Mamma Sea Turtle Lost Her Babies: Colors & Shapes

How Many Fish?

Addition Level 3: Learning Essentials

Addition Level 2: Learning Essentials

Sight Words Plus Level 3: Learning Essentials

Sight Words Plus Level 2: Learning Essentials

Sight Words Plus Level 1: Learning Essentials

Into the Stone Land (Magic Lands #2)

Racing Super Buster Counts And You Can Too

Racing Super Buster Letters And You Can Too

Racing Super Buster Counts Higher And You Can Too

Racing Super Buster Shapes And You Can Too

Subtraction Level 1: Learning Essentials

Addition Level 1: Learning Essentials

Have a Spooktacular Halloween: Bugville Critters

Buster Feels Sad and Mad and Happy

Barry Lives Large

Sarah Gets Angry

Outside in the Snow with Buster and Friends

Buster Explores the Sea

Buster's Undersea Counting Expedition 1 to 10

Buster's Undersea Counting Expedition 1 to 20

Undersea, 2, 3 with Buster and Friends

Undersea, 4, 5 with Buster and Friends

Buster's Big Top Little Letters Show

Undersea, 6, 7 with Buster and Friends

Buster's Big Top Big Letters Show

Buster's Big Top 1 2 3 Show

Buster's Really Great Big Top Show

Discord (A Daughter of Kings, Comic #4)

Rise of the Fallen (Ruin Mist: Dawn of the Ages)

Start Summer Vacation

Save Their Allowance

Visit the Library

Remember Their Manners

Go to Camp

Explore the Solar System

Every Day Is Different

Catching A Cup Of Sunshine

Betrayal (A Daughter of Kings, Comic #1)

Deliverance (A Daughter of Kings, Comic #2)

Rebirth (A Daughter of Kings, Comic #3)

Windows 7: The Definitive Guide

Windows 7 Administrator's Pocket Consultant

Group Policy Administrator's Pocket Consultant

Active Directory Administrator's Pocket Consultant

PowerShell, VBScript and JScript Bible

Windows PowerShell 2.0 Administrator's Pocket Consultant

Have Trouble At School

Break Their Bad Habits

Stay After School

Have a Bad Day

Visit City Hall

Have a Surprise Party

Have a Backyard Picnic

Compete in the BIG Spelling Bee

Battle for Ruin Mist Core Roleplaying Games Rules

SQL Server 2008 Administrator's Pocket Consultant

The Art of Ruin Mist: Heroes and Villains

Rush to the Hospital

Play Their First Big Game

Windows Server 2008 Inside Out

Windows Server 2008 Administrator's Pocket Consultant

IIS 7.0 Administrator's Pocket Consultant

Absolutes and Other Stories

Buster Bee's Adventures With Letters and Words

Go on Vacation (2008) (RP Books)

Illustrated Encyclopedia of Ruin Mist: The Essential Reader's Guide

Keeper Martin's Guide to the Fantastical Beasts and Faerie Peoples of Ruin Mist

Visit Garden Box Farms

Have A Sleepover

Exchange Server 2007 Administrator's Pocket Consultant

Go to School

Visit Dad and Mom at Work

Windows Vista: The Definitive Guide

In the Service of Dragons IV

In the Service of Dragons III

Mark of the Dragon

Stormjammers: The Extraordinary Story of Electronic Warfare Operations in the Gulf War

The Pieces of the Puzzle

MCSE Core Required Exams In A Nutshell

Introducing Windows Vista

Windows Vista Administrator's Pocket Consultant

Fields of Honor

In the Service of Dragons II

In the Service of Dragons

Students Classroom Guide to Robert Stanek's Magic Lands

Teacher's Classroom Guide to Robert Stanek's Magic Lands

Web Guru's Guide to JavaScript

Microsoft Group Policy Guide

SQL Server 2005 Administrator's Pocket Consultant

Windows Server 2003 Inside and Out

Windows Command-line Administrator's Pocket Consultant

Kingdom Alliance

Magic of Ruin Mist

Robert Stanek: Candid Conversations

Students Classroom Guide to The Kingdoms and the Elves of the Reaches

Teacher's Classroom Guide to Robert Stanek's Ruin Mist

The Kingdoms and the Elves of the Reaches IV

The Kingdoms and the Elves of the Reaches III

Exchange Server 2003 Administrator's Pocket Consultant

Faster Smarter FrontPage 2003

IIS 6.0 Administrator's Pocket Consultant

Windows Server 2003 Administrator's Pocket Consultant

FrontPage 2003 Unleashed

Elf Queen's Quest

Journey Beyond the Beyond

Keeper Martin's Tale

The Kingdoms and the Elves of the Reaches II

The Kingdoms and the Elves of the Reaches

Effective Writing for Business College & Life

Essential Windows 2000 Commands Reference

Essential Windows XP Commands Reference

FrontPage 2002 Unleashed

Windows 2000 and IIS 5.0 Administrator's Pocket Consultant

Windows XP Professional Administrator's Pocket Consultant

XML Pocket Consultant

All-In-One Java 2 Certification Guide 3rd Edition

Exchange 2000 Server Administrator's Pocket Consultant

SQL Server 2000 Administrator's Pocket Consultant

Windows 2000 Administrator's Pocket Consultant

Windows 2000 Scripting Bible

FrontPage 2000 Unleashed

Netscape Mozilla Source Guide

Windows NT Scripting Administrator's Guide

Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 Administrator's Pocket Consultant

SQL Server 7.0 Administrator's Pocket Consultant

FrontPage 98 Unleashed

Increase Your Web Traffic in a Weekend

FrontPage 97 Unleashed

Netscape One Developer's Guide

Learn the Internet in a Weekend

Web Publishing Unleashed Professional Reference Edition

FrontPage Unleashed

Peter Norton's Guide to Java Programming

Web Publishing Unleashed

Electronic Publishing Unleashed

Other books written by William Robert Stanek including collections, compilations, etc. (Reverse Chronological Order: Newest to Oldest):

Step Up & Into Windows PowerShell 4.0

Big Book of Math (Math Superstars)

Dragons of the Hundred Worlds Omnibus

Complete Magic Lands Omnibus

Complete In the Service of Dragons (Boxed Set Edition)

Big Book of Subtraction (Math Superstars)

Complete Kingdoms and the Elves of the Reaches (Boxed Set Edition)

Complete Ruin Mist Chronicles (Boxed Set Edition)

Big Book of Addition (Math Superstars)

Keeper Martin's Tale, 10th Anniversary Edition

Critter Subtraction Essentials Level 3

Critter Addition Essentials Level 4

Complete Learning Adventures of Racing Super Buster (The Complete Series Omnibus)

Complete Sight Words Learning Adventures of Buster Bee (The Complete Series Omnibus)

Critter Subtraction Essentials Level 2

Numbers Flash Cards: Learning Essentials

Alphabet Flash Cards: Learning Essentials

Critter Addition Essentials Level 3

Complete Undersea Counting Adventures of Buster Bee (The Complete Series Omnibus)

Complete Big Top Adventures of Buster Bee (The Complete Series Omnibus)

Critter Subtraction Essentials Level 1

The Bugville Critters Audio Collection Volume 6

The Bugville Critters Audio Collection Volume 5

Complete First Year Adventures of Lass Ladybug (The Complete Series Omnibus)

Complete Second Year Adventures of Buster Bee (The Complete Series Omnibus)

Every Letter Has a Sound (Audio Only)

Big Number Count Down (Audio Only)

Division Flash Cards: Learning Essentials

Multiplication Flash Cards: Learning Essentials

Complete First Year Adventures of Buster Bee (The Complete Series Omnibus)

Complete Magic Lands Books 1 & 2 Omnibus

Critter Addition Essentials Level 2

Critter Addition Essentials Level 1

The Bugville Critters Audio Collection Volume 4

The Bugville Critters Audio Collection Volume 3

Complete In the Service of Dragons (The Complete Series Omnibus)

Complete Kingdoms and the Elves of the Reaches (The Complete Series Omnibus)

Subtraction Flash Cards: Learning Essentials

Addition Flash Cards: Learning Essentials

Colors & Shapes Flash Cards: Learning Essentials

Effective Writing for Business, College & Life, 2011 Edition

A Daughter of Kings (Battle for Ruin Mist: Graphic Novel #1)

Practice Makes Perfect (Lass Ladybug's School Days #4)

Sometimes There's No Need to Worry (Lass Ladybug's School Days #3)

Bugville Jr. Learning Adventures Collection #1

Bugville Jr. Learning Adventures Collection #2

Bugville Jr. Learning Adventures Collection #3

Bugville Jr. Learning Adventures Collection #4

Vacation Surprise (Buster Bee's School Days #3)

Some Days Are Better Than Others (Lass Ladybug's School Days #2)

So Many Lessons to Learn (Lass Ladybug's School Days #1)

SQL Server 2008 Administrator's Pocket Consultant, 2nd Edition

Windows Server 2008 Administrator's Pocket Consultant 2nd Edition

The Kingdoms and the Elves of the Reaches IV, Special Illustrated Edition

Bugville Critters Treasury Volume 2

Bugville Critters Treasury Volume 1

Too Much Sweets (Buster Bee's School Days #1 )

Make New Friends (Buster Bee's School Days #2)

The Bugville Critters Audio Collection Volume 2

The Bugville Critters Audio Collection Volume 1

The Elf Queen & the King 2

The Kingdoms and the Elves of the Reaches III, Special Illustrated Edition

Exchange Server 2007 Administrator's Pocket Consultant, 2nd Edition

Windows Command-line Administrator's Pocket Consultant, 2nd Edition

Keeper Martin's Tale, Special Illustrated Edition

The Kingdoms and the Elves of the Reaches II, Special Illustrated Edition

The Kingdoms and the Elves of the Reaches, Special Illustrated Edition

Windows XP Professional Administrator's Pocket Consultant 2nd Edition

Sovereign Rule

Magic Lands & Other Stories

The Elf Queen & the King

Windows 2000 Administrator's Pocket Consultant 2nd Edition

All-in-One Java 2 Certification Guide 3rd Edition

Increase Your Web Traffic 3rd Edition

All-in-One Java 2 Certification Guide 2nd Edition

Increase Your Web Traffic in a Weekend 2nd Edition

Professional Web Development Kit 2.0

Web Publishing Electronic Resource Kit

Managing Group Policy Classroom-To-Go: Windows Server 2003 Edition (Audio Only)

Active Directory Infrastructure Classroom-to-Go (Audio Only)

Internet Explorer 7 Classroom-To-Go (Audio Only)

Windows Media Player 11 Classroom-To-Go (Audio Only)

Windows Photo Gallery Classroom-To-Go: Windows Vista Edition (Audio Only)

Active Directory Sites, Trusts, and Troubleshooting Classroom-To-Go (Audio Only)

Managing Network Infrastructure Classroom-To-Go: Windows Server 2003 Edition (Audio Only)

Classroom-To-Go Training Course 3: Managing and Maintaining Network Resources (Audio Only)

Classroom-To-Go Training Course for Managing and Maintaining a Server Environment (Audio Only)

Classroom-To-Go Training Course 1: Managing Users, Computers, and Groups (Audio Only)

Classroom-To-Go Training Course 2: Managing Devices and Implementing Disaster Recovery (Audio Only)



It's been a long road. More news in the days and weeks ahead.



Thank you,



Robert Stanek

Lifetime Achievement Award – 30+ Years of Books

Huge THANK YOU to readers and others who submitted me for an award for distinguished contributions in writing & American Letters. As a past recipient of awards for excellence in writing, merit and distinguished accomplishments, I'm honored to be nominated. I’ve written nearly 200 full-length works since I completed my first novel in 1986, but it wasn’t until 1995 that I had a breakout hit that established me as a bestselling author.

I wrote those early books for Macmillan and have since had books published and/or distributed by Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, Microsoft, O’Reilly, McGraw Hill, Pearson and others. My books have sold nearly 10 million copies worldwide and been translated into 34 languages, with well over $150 million in sales.

That type of success is the stuff of Willy Wonka’s wildest dreams. Still, as I wrote about in “How I Made This Crazy Thing Called Writinga Career”, wild success doesn’t always mean riches for the writer. Although bookstores, publishers, agents, Uncle Sam and others got the Lion’s share of the wealth, I remain tremendously grateful to my publishers and everyone else in the business who made the dream possible.

In my career one of the things I’m most proud of is my work to give back and to support my fellow writers. Giving back to communities across America and the world is something I’ve written about in “It’s GivingTuesday!”. It took 20 years but my goal to give away $1 million in books to libraries and schools was finally achieved in 2015.

In the early days, I gave back to writers through Writer’s Gallery and other outlets I maintained online, including Internet Daily News (one of the earliest online dailies). In 2007, I launched Go Indie to support independents (writers and bookstores). Other resources include #AmBlogging #FreeToday and the Read Indies blog.

As I look back at my career, I’m also very glad that from the beginning I did something for myself by starting a publishing company. That company began operations in 1995 and I used it to learn about the publishing side of the industry, which is very different from the writing side. By 2004, I knew enough about the industry and was ready to spread my wings and go into self-publishing. I hired a great team and put them to work running my business.

In the beginning, we had quite a large team, that team has whittled down to a few core members, but remains in the business of bringing my works, and the works of a select group of other writers, to the world. They've helped get dozens of translations for my fiction works, which are now available in nearly 100 countries around the globe.

I couldn’t even begin to tell you how much my traditional publishers and those I worked with in the industry hated (loathed, really) my self-publishing efforts. But my efforts were wildly successful from the start with Keeper Martin's Tale quickly becoming a bestseller at Amazon.com (2002) and The Kingdoms & the Elves of the Reaches rocketing to #1 in Fiction at Audible.com (2005) where it remained a Top 10 Kids & YA bestseller for over 180 weeks (2005 - 2008). 

Today, the industry has changed so much that without self-publishing I don’t know where I’d be. Strange how things can turn around so dramatically. What was once forbidden fruit has now become one of the best ways for writers to earn a living.

Thanks for reading,

Robert Stanek

Big Books, Big Contracts: The Road to Success is Paved With Potholes (Or Alternately What It’s Like to Write 150 Books & Still Have to Give 150% Every Single Day.)

I'm Robert Stanek. Last year, I signed an 8-book six-figure contract with my long-time publisher. In the past, I’ve had contracts for $70,000 and up for 3 or 4 books, but nothing so substantial. It was a wonderful confirmation of my commitment to the written word and it felt great to have a publisher back my work so strongly, especially in the uncertain landscape of today’s publishing reality.

Since I’ve been talking about the contract and the books lately, I often hear from people who congratulate me on “my quick success” and “my rapid rise to acclaim.” I am, of course, a critically and commercially acclaimed author of more than 150 books. I also am one of the world’s leading authorities in the subjects I write about. I am, however, anything but an overnight success. I’ve been a writer for 30 years and only 20 as a published professional.

I earned my stripes in this crazy business when I wrote for many years for the simple pleasure of writing itself. It wasn’t until 1994 that I signed my first contract. It wasn’t until 1995 that my first book was published. It wasn’t until 1996 that I was able to write full-time.

My full-time work as a writer is as a technology journalist and nonfiction writer. In those early days, I wrote articles for leading publications like PC Magazine and Dr. Dobbs. I also wrote books for leading publishers like Macmillan, Pearson, McGraw Hill, Microsoft, and O’Reilly Media. For articles, I often received $1 or more a word. For books, I often received solid five-figure advances. That was, of course, success, and I did in fact rise quickly, becoming a recognized world leader in my field in only a few short years.

Success, however, can be short lived. In publishing, a writer’s last success doesn’t necessarily pave the road to the future. A writer’s future is determined by his or her next book and often also by factors the writer cannot control. The world changes every day. Trends and tastes shift. Yesterday’s media darling can be tomorrow’s nobody.

I’ve lived the change firsthand. Between 1995 and 1998, I signed more than a dozen contracts, wrote books as fast as I could write them for readers who couldn’t get my books fast enough. I was on fire. In those few short years, my books caught on. I thought the ride would never end, until it did.

The market changed. Trends and tastes shifted. The hot topics of the day were flooded with a smorgasbord of offerings. There weren’t just 10 or 20 books on that hot topic, there were a hundred. Eventually, this oversaturation cannibalized sales of all similar books. Thus, even as my success and career were hitting new highs, I was left scrambling.

But unlike many of my contemporaries at the time, I saw the light of that oncoming freight train. I knew my options. I knew what I had to do.

I could continue to write books in an oversaturated market, try to live with sales that were a tiny fraction of what they had been, or I could look to new opportunities. I chose plan b—the new opportunities. I risked everything, left my old publishers who weren’t interested in my new ideas, and went out looking for publishers who were interested in my new ideas.

The change meant I had to rejoin the working world. I took a job with a tech company in Seattle and joined the ranks of the marathon commuters, driving 140 miles round trip every working day. I continued writing in the evenings and on weekends. I continued to pitch my new ideas to new publishers.

Days and weeks passed. Months too. By the sixth month, my wife and I were seriously considering our options and wishing we’d sold the family home and moved to Seattle months ago.

But I didn’t give up. Instead, I polished my ideas yet again and sent them out via my agent to a new publisher who I heard was looking to do something different. I just hoped that the “something different” they wanted would be my radical idea for a new series of books.

The wait to hear back from the publisher was agony because at this point it was make or break. If I heard back from the publisher and it wasn’t good news, my writing career likely was over. If I heard back from the publisher and it was good news, there was hope, but no certainty.

Thankfully, I heard back from my agent within a few days and the news was good. The publisher wanted to meet with me. The publisher wanted to discuss my ideas.

During the meeting, it was clear that the publisher liked my ideas but I’d need to provide sample chapters, expand the series details, have more face-to-face meetings, and generally do more to convince them. The hard part that followed required a leap of faith. I couldn’t do all that was required of me, in the time that was required of me, and keep working full-time elsewhere. I had to quit the day job and proceed, or keep the day job and let the dream die.

I chose the dream. I gave notice, worked my last two weeks while I continued developing the materials needed. A few weeks in, I learned the publisher had one idea for the series and I had another. Worse, the concepts were radically different.

I thought for sure disaster was ahead. Thankfully, the publisher did eventually sign me to a two-book contract. A contract to do things their way—and not my way. 

However, the sample chapters I’d written over the past weeks were for my series concept and not theirs, so I kept writing the books my way. For this publisher, it was something unheard of for any writer to go outside the standard or to deviate from fixed standards. But my editors loved the final chapters I submitted, and I completed the work in its entirety ahead of schedule—so many weeks ahead of schedule they didn't quite know what to do, and this also was something else that was unheard of.

In fact, I was so far ahead of schedule, that the book’s publication dates were moved back several months. Those several months proved critical, as they allowed the publisher to showcase the books at a major industry event when the publisher otherwise would not have been able to. And the books done my way were smash hits at the event. 

The rest as they say is history. Those contracts were followed by two other contracts from other publishers that I’d contacted previously. Suddenly, I was back in the publishing business.

That little series I started? That series would eventually go on to become one of the biggest blockbuster series for the publisher.

Those first books I wrote in that series? They set the foundation for the entire series and became critically-acclaimed, award-winning bestsellers.

Not too shabby for ideas nobody wanted and no one but me believed in. Sometimes in life you must take that leap of faith. Sometimes you must believe in yourself when no one else does. Sometimes you must follow the wrong path to find the right one.

Thanks for reading,

Robert Stanek