Based on the description, yes, my experience with Packt was the same. As the author you are mostly on your own and the pages per chapter during the outline phase caught me completely by surprise. (I am certain I did not stick to my estimates, but the book had to be exactly 54 pages with some extra pages for TOC, blanks, preface, ads for similar titles.) It was an experience that was worth it for the first time around but not something I'd do again - at least probably not a technical book.