1) What level of user is the book most suitable to?
The book is focuessed towards people who are new to Hibernate, but have some basics in Java and know a little bit about a database. Data persistence is itself an advanced topic, so this is definitely not a book for someone who has never programmed in Java. But it is written for the Java professional who knows very little about relational mapping, and has no previous experience with Hibernate or mapping technologies. From that perspective, the book is focussed towards beginner to intermediate Hibernate developers.
2) Would you consider the writing style of your book to be formal/informal?
I have a very informal style. It's been compared to Head First at times, but I have great respect for the Head First series, and am flattered by the comparison. Some have said I am less 'silly' than Head First, and a tad more sarcastic.
(By the way, 'silly' isn't a dig at the Head First Books. I like and appreciate their silliness. If you've read them, I think you know what I mean. I just can't think of a better
word.) I self publish, so many of the comments I make that would get pulled by editors of other books manage to make it into my final editions.
Follow my signature links, and you'll see some unedited chapters from the book. That'll give you a very good feeling for my writing style.
3) Does your book cover how Hibernate is used in different frameworks (eg. Spring, etc).
I very intentionally stayed away from things like Spring and Seam. From what I've seen, too many books try to cover everything, and in the end, don't cover anything well. Covering too much also tends to intimidate and confuse the reader. The goal from the beginning was to create a very easy to read book about Hiberante that will get people up and running with the technology quickly, so Hibernate with JPA annotations is very much the focus.
Having said that, I've used Hibernate with Spring in many projects. If you have a good understanding of how hibernate works, integrating Hiberante with
JSF or
Struts or Seam or GWT or Spring is pretty easy. Most problems happen when people don't really understand what Hibernate does, and how it does it. My book really gives you that strong, solid foundation in how to use Hiberante effectively, and once you understand that, you'll find integrating it with Spring or JSF or Seam becomes much, much easier. And, when problems do arise, if you really understand how Hibernate works, you'll be able to solve those problems in a hurry.
Are there a lot of practical examples with real-world relevance contained in the book?
Each chapter contains a single, easily reproducible example that you can get running with nothing more than a database, JDK and the Hibernate libraries. You don't need
Maven, ANT or anything else that might complicate things. Plus, the examples don't hinge on previous chapters having been read, and the code from previous chapters having been written. Each chapter is pretty much stand alone, so you can open to any chapter in the book and start coding along. Personally, that's the way I think books like this should be written.
Having said that, I always tell students that the Caveat Emptor is a great, full blown application to reference when heading into production. I'm not sure if it's the greatest learning tool, but it is a great reference, and along with the many examples in my book, you'll be very prepared to start hacking out some powerfule Hibernate code.
Finally, what is the cost of your book?]5) Finally, what is the cost of your book?
It's $54.98, but I'm selling it through amazon at $45.98. I self publish, so my costs are a little higher than the big publishers, so my books sometimes cost a tad more.
For this month, I did notice that Hibernate offers a 5% discount on both Java Persistence with Hibernate and my book, Hibernate Made Easy, if you buy them both together. That's not a bad deal.
Kindest regards,
-Cameron McKenzie
[ June 03, 2008: Message edited by: Cameron Wallace McKenzie ]
Definitely a candidate for the type of book I was looking for. It would be swee-eet to win a copy! 
