I have reviewed for Packt (for free). It was not a bad experience, and the book is now available and getting great reviews (http://www.amazon.com/Git-Version-everyone-Ravishankar-Somas...). After this book was released and doing well, I was asked to write for Packt as well, but let's just say I would have to have done it for virtually no payment. From what I understand however, this is common with most publishers. I had to opt out after doing a cost/benefit analysis on the project. I figured, if I really wanted to write about the things that interest me, I could do so on my blog.
Some of the work I had to do was non-technical. I would often find myself translating and rewording awkwardly written passages so that they sounded better (the author is a non-English speaker).
That said, Packt is pretty hands off and don't micromanage (which I actually really enjoyed). Most communications that I had with them were initiated by me when I felt things needed to be pushed along during the review process. That said, in the end, a book was published, so I suppose even if the process leading up to that moment was not completely optimized on their end, the end result was a successful book.
Some of the work I had to do was non-technical. I would often find myself translating and rewording awkwardly written passages so that they sounded better (the author is a non-English speaker).
That said, Packt is pretty hands off and don't micromanage (which I actually really enjoyed). Most communications that I had with them were initiated by me when I felt things needed to be pushed along during the review process. That said, in the end, a book was published, so I suppose even if the process leading up to that moment was not completely optimized on their end, the end result was a successful book.