Tips for Writing a Technical Book(performancejs.com)
performancejs.com
Tips for Writing a Technical Book
https://performancejs.com/post/31b361c/13-Tips-for-Writing-a-Technical-Book
13 comments
In case it helps you decide whether to go with a publisher or self-publish, I wrote down some thoughts about the self-publishing avenue: https://medium.com/@robaboukhalil/how-i-wrote-a-technical-bo... :)
Really curious how self-publishers market their material. Do you actively advertise?
It may be worth noting that, while there's some built in marketing/advertising by going through a publisher, you probably shouldn't overestimate how much. You're still going to be doing most of the marketing, whether self-published or through a publisher.
With me, plugging the book at conferences. Trying to get people I know who read it to put reviews on Amazon. (In my experience, lots more people say they will than actually do it.) I was able to arrange a book signing at one event. Email list/newsletter if you have one. Social media. Website/blog. Etc.
With me, plugging the book at conferences. Trying to get people I know who read it to put reviews on Amazon. (In my experience, lots more people say they will than actually do it.) I was able to arrange a book signing at one event. Email list/newsletter if you have one. Social media. Website/blog. Etc.
Bootstrapping via conference/meetup talks seems like a good idea, thanks.
Build an email list and sell into that list. Build the list by writing relevant helpful things and post them for free with a signup link.
Was it from Packt? Me too :). I have been wondering if it is worth writing for Packt or find another publisher or even self-publish.
I don't think Packt is bad publisher but I have no experience in book publishing and have no idea how much publisher really matter. I have used some excellent books from Packt and some not so. Almost all authors who have written for Packt who I found online have had good experience writing for Packt however few do consider them as "second tier" along with Apress while Manning sits in 1st tier [1]. Again I have no idea what this really means.
[1] http://stevenrosenberg.net/blog/books/technology/2018_0207_p...
I don't think Packt is bad publisher but I have no experience in book publishing and have no idea how much publisher really matter. I have used some excellent books from Packt and some not so. Almost all authors who have written for Packt who I found online have had good experience writing for Packt however few do consider them as "second tier" along with Apress while Manning sits in 1st tier [1]. Again I have no idea what this really means.
[1] http://stevenrosenberg.net/blog/books/technology/2018_0207_p...
Packt seem to be a quota publisher. They're more focussed on getting a steady stream of titles out of the door than making those titles definitive, and they tend to spam anyone who looks even slightly competent. I know a number of people who had offers from them, and they're invariably low-ball compared to other publishers.
The top tier publishers pay an advance - which you probably won't ever make back, so you may as well consider it final payment for the book. O'Reilly like to pay nothing up front, so all you ever see are royalties. This can work well for a popular and timely topic. Niche titles won't pay much, although they can still be a good thing to have on a resume.
The really big money used to be in the mainstream - how to use Windows, how to set up an iPhone - but that's less of a thing now that a lot of people Google for help.
Sales figures for hardcore developer titles can be very low. Five figures for a developer title is a solid success. Six figures would be a wildly unexpected best seller, and seven figures a complete unicorn. Four figures are more typical, and high three figures can happen.
The catch with royalties is whether they're a percentage of the cover price or the publisher income. Publisher income can be 50% or less of the cover price, so that's a thing to consider when working out if a book project is worth the time.
With self-publishing, you keep a much higher proportion of the earnings. Anyone who is thinking about this should work some numbers through a spreadsheet. You'll find you can make the same money a publisher would pay with far fewer sales, and if you can get four or five figure sales - unlikely and very difficult, but not impossible - it's a nice alternative income stream.
If you already have any kind of following, it's a no-brainer. If you don't, it's a huge marketing effort, but you still get to have final say on the timing of updates and revisions, which can keep a title earning longer than a publisher would keep it alive.
The top tier publishers pay an advance - which you probably won't ever make back, so you may as well consider it final payment for the book. O'Reilly like to pay nothing up front, so all you ever see are royalties. This can work well for a popular and timely topic. Niche titles won't pay much, although they can still be a good thing to have on a resume.
The really big money used to be in the mainstream - how to use Windows, how to set up an iPhone - but that's less of a thing now that a lot of people Google for help.
Sales figures for hardcore developer titles can be very low. Five figures for a developer title is a solid success. Six figures would be a wildly unexpected best seller, and seven figures a complete unicorn. Four figures are more typical, and high three figures can happen.
The catch with royalties is whether they're a percentage of the cover price or the publisher income. Publisher income can be 50% or less of the cover price, so that's a thing to consider when working out if a book project is worth the time.
With self-publishing, you keep a much higher proportion of the earnings. Anyone who is thinking about this should work some numbers through a spreadsheet. You'll find you can make the same money a publisher would pay with far fewer sales, and if you can get four or five figure sales - unlikely and very difficult, but not impossible - it's a nice alternative income stream.
If you already have any kind of following, it's a no-brainer. If you don't, it's a huge marketing effort, but you still get to have final say on the timing of updates and revisions, which can keep a title earning longer than a publisher would keep it alive.
This is accurate. I would add that, in my experience, the value-add of working with a technical editor to shape the book and stay on track is definitely worth the cost of an editor.
And then there are typesetters, copywriters, graphists, reviewers, marketers and distribution platforms that do a lot of the work of making a book successful. Sure, writing is critical, but bringing a high quality book to readers requires a lot of work that you have to do yourself when self-publishing.
And then there are typesetters, copywriters, graphists, reviewers, marketers and distribution platforms that do a lot of the work of making a book successful. Sure, writing is critical, but bringing a high quality book to readers requires a lot of work that you have to do yourself when self-publishing.
Please don’t go ahead if it is for Packt. We had a horrible experience with them.
After a bunch of hunt we moved to what is called a first tier publisher. And the difference is so massive. We are now restructuring and rewriting all chapters. Our reviewers think it can be a landmark book. None of it could have happened with Packt.
I come from a startup world, and was partially able to stomach Packt at the start. But my co-authors have worked at Microsoft Research and Google AI. They just hated dealing with them. And in the end all of us decided we would rather self publish than go with them.
After a bunch of hunt we moved to what is called a first tier publisher. And the difference is so massive. We are now restructuring and rewriting all chapters. Our reviewers think it can be a landmark book. None of it could have happened with Packt.
I come from a startup world, and was partially able to stomach Packt at the start. But my co-authors have worked at Microsoft Research and Google AI. They just hated dealing with them. And in the end all of us decided we would rather self publish than go with them.
> Was it from Packt?
From a 1st tier publisher. ;) But I concur with another comment, it's hard to justify not going with self-publishing in 2019. More so if you're not doing this for money. I would prefer to publish a completely free ebook (like Pro Git, etc.), but it's hard to negotiate this with traditional publishers.
From a 1st tier publisher. ;) But I concur with another comment, it's hard to justify not going with self-publishing in 2019. More so if you're not doing this for money. I would prefer to publish a completely free ebook (like Pro Git, etc.), but it's hard to negotiate this with traditional publishers.
I am skeptical on the point that a good publishers adds no value.
In our case, we authors have been publishing papers for over a decade. And together we have almost 1000 citations for our papers.
And yet, we were not able to think over and improve on certain aspects of a book that we discovered only after talking to our current publisher.
Maybe if you are completely clear on what your book is about and how will readers react to it, a publisher might not matter. But for us, it seems it was not the case.
In our case, we authors have been publishing papers for over a decade. And together we have almost 1000 citations for our papers.
And yet, we were not able to think over and improve on certain aspects of a book that we discovered only after talking to our current publisher.
Maybe if you are completely clear on what your book is about and how will readers react to it, a publisher might not matter. But for us, it seems it was not the case.
Even if you are expecting financial gains self publishing is still very valid. (I am talking from personal experience where my self published tech courses make more money that my editor published ones). Dont forget that even though editors do the marketing for you you only get a small fraction of the total sales. And also they might not be very good at the special niche you are targeting.
I've been a technical editor on a few programming titles. I don't think the average developer realizes that for the authors writing a book is a passion project.
Not only won't you get rich, you will be extremely lucky to make minimum wage. Most if not all the marketing is on your shoulders. Even though it's a hits driven business the publishers do all right though.
Not only won't you get rich, you will be extremely lucky to make minimum wage. Most if not all the marketing is on your shoulders. Even though it's a hits driven business the publishers do all right though.
Amen to this. In fact, I tell people that if they're interested in writing a book they shouldn't be asking themselves "Should I write a book?", they should be thinking: "I have 18 months of free time. What could I do with it?"
That's a lot of free time. You could:
- Learn a musical instrument pretty well. - Learn a sport and get pretty good at it. - Become a major committer on a large open source project. - Pick up a foreign language and achieve proficiency. - Make a lot of money on the side. - Go back to school and get a degree. - Concentrate on your social life. - Write a book.
If after considering these, you decide that writing a book is the best use of your time, go for it. Think of the money as a nice bonus.
That's a lot of free time. You could:
- Learn a musical instrument pretty well. - Learn a sport and get pretty good at it. - Become a major committer on a large open source project. - Pick up a foreign language and achieve proficiency. - Make a lot of money on the side. - Go back to school and get a degree. - Concentrate on your social life. - Write a book.
If after considering these, you decide that writing a book is the best use of your time, go for it. Think of the money as a nice bonus.
What puzzles me is why most people writing book-length technical work in 2019 should use a traditional publisher at all. The premise that a publisher deserves to keep the vast majority of sales revenue because of the value they add seems like it belongs in another time. In the modern digital and online market, the idea of publisher as some sort of gatekeeper with established channels through distribution networks and into bricks and mortar bookstores is largely obsolete. And what publisher today provides a new author with enough technical editing resources or marketing power or administrative support to justify taking the rights and keeping most of the revenue?
Maybe someone has already done this, but it seems to me there's an obvious opportunity for some sort of small-scale broker service that connects authors with independent professionals who can offer the necessary skills in editing, design, illustration, ecommerce, printing and distribution if physical copies are wanted, and so on.
Maybe someone has already done this, but it seems to me there's an obvious opportunity for some sort of small-scale broker service that connects authors with independent professionals who can offer the necessary skills in editing, design, illustration, ecommerce, printing and distribution if physical copies are wanted, and so on.
In my experience (author of "technical" book about digital strategy), you need publishers for two things: 1) there's still some kudos in having something commissioned, edited and published by a known entity and 2) the imposition of a hard deadline.
If you can cope on your own without either of these, sure, self publish.
It is a hard slog, and as others say here, it's unlikely to earn you a reasonable wage - but it's hugely satisfying to see it through knowing how much discipline it takes.
If you can cope on your own without either of these, sure, self publish.
It is a hard slog, and as others say here, it's unlikely to earn you a reasonable wage - but it's hugely satisfying to see it through knowing how much discipline it takes.
Speaking as another O'Reilly author, I'd agree with this and add that for tech books the publisher is even less necessary. If you've written papers with Latex/MD/asciidoc, and drawn figures and tables, you're already doing most of what you'd do with your publisher's toolchain anyway. Hook up with Amazon's on-demand publishing service and (except for the nice cover) you've got it almost end-to-end.
[I assume you can write and organize thoughts decently well, and have some people who can proofread for you. If not, a publisher really won't help too much with that anyway.]
So what does a publisher provide? Marketing, promotion, distribution, reputation. No matter how good of a book you write, having a name publisher like O'Reilly gives you substantial credibility that nothing else will. They can arrange promotions through conferences and email distribution that you probably can't. I wouldn't underestimate this, but I also wouldn't necessarily think it's worth their 80%-90% cut either.
[I assume you can write and organize thoughts decently well, and have some people who can proofread for you. If not, a publisher really won't help too much with that anyway.]
So what does a publisher provide? Marketing, promotion, distribution, reputation. No matter how good of a book you write, having a name publisher like O'Reilly gives you substantial credibility that nothing else will. They can arrange promotions through conferences and email distribution that you probably can't. I wouldn't underestimate this, but I also wouldn't necessarily think it's worth their 80%-90% cut either.
No matter how good of a book you write, having a name publisher like O'Reilly gives you substantial credibility that nothing else will.
Perhaps, but as they say, credibility doesn't pay the rent. What matters in commercial terms of how much money the book ends up putting in your pocket.
If a publisher is keeping 90% of the revenue, the services they offer had better generate at least an order of magnitude more sales to break even, less anything it would have cost you to obtain any other relevant services they provided directly instead. Does anyone here believe that this is in fact the case with the level of marketing that a typical tech publisher will do for a new work from a previously unknown author?
Perhaps, but as they say, credibility doesn't pay the rent. What matters in commercial terms of how much money the book ends up putting in your pocket.
If a publisher is keeping 90% of the revenue, the services they offer had better generate at least an order of magnitude more sales to break even, less anything it would have cost you to obtain any other relevant services they provided directly instead. Does anyone here believe that this is in fact the case with the level of marketing that a typical tech publisher will do for a new work from a previously unknown author?
For a lot of the authors of technical books, credibility is the whole point.
The goal is not to write a book that directly makes money. The goal is to write a book that gets the author hired or promoted, or to land consulting gigs, or to get VC backing.
So, yes, credibility does pay the rent.
The goal is not to write a book that directly makes money. The goal is to write a book that gets the author hired or promoted, or to land consulting gigs, or to get VC backing.
So, yes, credibility does pay the rent.
I have heard authors making as little as $500 and very rarely someone making more than $5000 from technical/programming books (outside of top 1% books). Given you easily put 500 hours of work in a book, the best possible outcome for vast majority of authors is literally minimum wage payment. Most authors are competent enough to make 5X more on their regular jobs so they are certainly not writing book for money.
I've made more than $5000 (each) from three books (two self-published, one '1st tier'). I don't think it's that rare, or maybe I"m lucky.
Agree on the minimum wage comment, though. I did it for career progression, personal life goals, and passive income.
Agree on the minimum wage comment, though. I did it for career progression, personal life goals, and passive income.
For passive income? What is "passive" about writing a book? Or do you mean, passive as in "paid later"?
I wrote technical books through traditional publishers, and one reason I can tell is that they do some of the difficult parts of the process, which I consider extremely boring: proofreading, formatting, book cover, indexing. All of these are activities that can be better done by specialized people and are boring as hell. Even if you have the patience to do this part, most probably the book design will look amateurish. On the other hand, self publishing will only be financially rewarding if you are willing to do the marketing, in other words, if you want to make this a full-time gig, which is not the case for most technical writers.
As for your last remark, most technical publishers are already nimble operations that connect professionals and designers. It just happens that these small companies are owned by large corporations in order to benefit from the access to market channels.
So, unless you're willing to make this a full time job, I don't think it is such a great deal to self-publish your technical books.
As for your last remark, most technical publishers are already nimble operations that connect professionals and designers. It just happens that these small companies are owned by large corporations in order to benefit from the access to market channels.
So, unless you're willing to make this a full time job, I don't think it is such a great deal to self-publish your technical books.
You are right and that's the way industry is moving slowly. Currently publishers provide the following:
- Toolkits and tutorials for inexperienced writers. If you never written a book, you probably don't know first thing you should write is outline. You probably also don't have good templates with typography and layouts that gets instantly recognized as good modern book.
- Taskmaster that keeps nudging you: This is super important role. Book writing is tremendously taxing job for most people and its very easy to get in writer's block, put off things and distracted.
- Regular advances: Almost all publishers would deposit money in your bank account at specific intervals during book writing. This keeps you obligated, at least morally, to keep going.
- Book reviews, editing: Various services like cover design, proof reading, recruiting technical reviewers etc.
- Marketing: Almost all publishers would buy sponsored spots on Amazon as well as Google. Some top-tier publishers would have journalists do book reviews, podcasters invite you for interviews. Some very top-tier publishers would have you do book tours at their expense. However, 90% of the authors will end up doing virtually all promotions themselves.
- Brand recognition: Publishing from very top-tier organizations like MIT Press has huge brand recognition due to their stringent selection process.
I think the future of writing is not even book-size publishing but probably series of posts published as chapters online.
- Toolkits and tutorials for inexperienced writers. If you never written a book, you probably don't know first thing you should write is outline. You probably also don't have good templates with typography and layouts that gets instantly recognized as good modern book.
- Taskmaster that keeps nudging you: This is super important role. Book writing is tremendously taxing job for most people and its very easy to get in writer's block, put off things and distracted.
- Regular advances: Almost all publishers would deposit money in your bank account at specific intervals during book writing. This keeps you obligated, at least morally, to keep going.
- Book reviews, editing: Various services like cover design, proof reading, recruiting technical reviewers etc.
- Marketing: Almost all publishers would buy sponsored spots on Amazon as well as Google. Some top-tier publishers would have journalists do book reviews, podcasters invite you for interviews. Some very top-tier publishers would have you do book tours at their expense. However, 90% of the authors will end up doing virtually all promotions themselves.
- Brand recognition: Publishing from very top-tier organizations like MIT Press has huge brand recognition due to their stringent selection process.
I think the future of writing is not even book-size publishing but probably series of posts published as chapters online.
>I wrote technical books through traditional publishers, and one reason I can tell is that they do some of the difficult parts of the process, which I consider extremely boring: proofreading, formatting, book cover, indexing.
You can hire people to do all that -- if you expect to sell your self-published book, and still make more profits than with a publisher.
You can hire people to do all that -- if you expect to sell your self-published book, and still make more profits than with a publisher.
All of these tasks can be done for pennies by offshoring it to places like India. In fact most publishers have staff for proofreading, indexing, cover design etc entirely in India. My estimate is that you can recover the cost even if you sell as little as 100 copies.
I could hire someone if I was expecting to make a living from that, which I didn't. Unless, as I said, if I decided to do a lot of marketing for these books.
you can, but then need to know how to vet them, and ideally they can work together well (professionally, on time, etc). you're taking on more risks and/or more managerial work by doing it. certainly possible, but not without cost.
>you can, but then need to know how to vet them
Or you just ask someone who know, and whose books you like, which ones they use...
Or you just ask someone who know, and whose books you like, which ones they use...
All of these are activities that can be better done by specialized people and are boring as hell.
Sure, but you could hire independent specialists with exactly the skills you need rather than relying on your publisher's choices, and still retain overall control of your work and the process of distributing it yourself.
If a publisher provides some degree of overall project management as well then evidently there is also a space for professionals to offer that service independently to those authors who don't wish to get involved in such matters themselves.
Even if you have the patience to do this part, most probably the book design will look amateurish.
Perhaps, but the bookshelf next to me clearly demonstrates that big name publishers are capable of producing poorly designed, crudely illustrated, naively typeset, negligibly edited rubbish too.
Sure, but you could hire independent specialists with exactly the skills you need rather than relying on your publisher's choices, and still retain overall control of your work and the process of distributing it yourself.
If a publisher provides some degree of overall project management as well then evidently there is also a space for professionals to offer that service independently to those authors who don't wish to get involved in such matters themselves.
Even if you have the patience to do this part, most probably the book design will look amateurish.
Perhaps, but the bookshelf next to me clearly demonstrates that big name publishers are capable of producing poorly designed, crudely illustrated, naively typeset, negligibly edited rubbish too.
You're still not understanding the economics of the issue: the publishers are paying me do the writing. If I do what you suggest, I will have to pay for this upfront and make the project an investment, which will only pay off if I'm also willing to do the marketing myself. In other words, unless you're willing to do significantly more work, self publishing is a money (and time) losing proposition, even compared to standard publishing.
There are good reasons to go with a name publisher or to self-publish but the upfront money (one way or the other) is probably not one of them. For most people, the time invested in writing a book far outweighs a small four-figure advance on the one hand or some out-of-pocket expenses for copy-editing and design on the other.
And you're going to be doing most of the marketing yourself in any case.
For most people, writing a book is an investment whether you go through a publisher or not. Unless it's just a passion project, you're presumably doing it for your career/brand/etc., not to make a meaningful amount of money. If you are evaluating how to go about a book project based on pure financial ROI, the short answer is you should probably do something else.
And you're going to be doing most of the marketing yourself in any case.
For most people, writing a book is an investment whether you go through a publisher or not. Unless it's just a passion project, you're presumably doing it for your career/brand/etc., not to make a meaningful amount of money. If you are evaluating how to go about a book project based on pure financial ROI, the short answer is you should probably do something else.
Correct, but that is exactly how the people talking about the self-publishing route are thinking: in terms of return on investment. The ROI in a standard publisher is small, and that is how it is supposed to be for something that is just a side project where you don't want to spend additional time. I am not saying that self-publishing doesn't have use cases: if you want to publish a book for which it is difficult to find a publisher, or if you're considering to do this as a full time job or a big part of your business, then self-publishing might be the right thing to do.
I'm sure it's how some people are thinking but there are other reasons you might want to self publish even if you take money 100% out of the equation.
- As someone else noted, you can put free eBooks online. If you're writing a book for visibility, being able to distribute free copies (or customized versions of free copies) might be a benefit.
- You don't need to conform to publishing industry length standards. If 75 pages cover the topic, you get most of the benefit of publishing "a regular book" for a lot less effort.
- You're on no one's deadline but your own. This has pros and cons but does let you better work a book around life, work, and other projects.
- The style, format, etc. is all up to you. Again, pros and cons.
I have made (a bit) more money with publishers than self-publishing. I'm also not sure if I'd go with a publisher again barring a strong reason to do so.
- As someone else noted, you can put free eBooks online. If you're writing a book for visibility, being able to distribute free copies (or customized versions of free copies) might be a benefit.
- You don't need to conform to publishing industry length standards. If 75 pages cover the topic, you get most of the benefit of publishing "a regular book" for a lot less effort.
- You're on no one's deadline but your own. This has pros and cons but does let you better work a book around life, work, and other projects.
- The style, format, etc. is all up to you. Again, pros and cons.
I have made (a bit) more money with publishers than self-publishing. I'm also not sure if I'd go with a publisher again barring a strong reason to do so.
There were a few publishing startups that only published electronically and let the author keep 60% of the title's price. I can't find them anymore so perhaps the experiment failed.
A big problem is that even 100% cut doesn't amount to much if you are writing technical/programming related books. So this should probably not be the biggest decision factor. The advantage of not going with publisher, however, are MANY:
- You can open source the book. This can help you gain much more audience and career recognition.
- You are not bound by having to fit in to publisher's specific series, its style of writing
- You can chose your own title. Most publishers in technical books arena will force you to have title that is consistent with their series.
- You do things in your own time without pressure, may be even open sourcing book from day 1
- You are not bound by page limit. Most publishers would force you to have 250-400 pages, no matter what. My personal philosophy is that the most useful books are the shortest and personally I would prefer to write books that are as little as just 50 pages.
- You can open source the book. This can help you gain much more audience and career recognition.
- You are not bound by having to fit in to publisher's specific series, its style of writing
- You can chose your own title. Most publishers in technical books arena will force you to have title that is consistent with their series.
- You do things in your own time without pressure, may be even open sourcing book from day 1
- You are not bound by page limit. Most publishers would force you to have 250-400 pages, no matter what. My personal philosophy is that the most useful books are the shortest and personally I would prefer to write books that are as little as just 50 pages.
I'm using leanpub [1] and gumroad [2] and very happy with both (get to keep 80% or more) - there are small differences between them, and I feel putting your book on both these sites will cover most of the needs for the user
[1] https://leanpub.com/
[2] https://gumroad.com/
[1] https://leanpub.com/
[2] https://gumroad.com/
One of the better ones in that space is https://www.softcover.io/
The build pipeline looks like:
The build pipeline looks like:
.md --> .tex --> .pdf/.html/.epub/.mobi/.html
.tex --> .pdf/.html/.epub/.mobi/.html
Up to 85% of the title's price. Meet Bubblin @ https://bubblin.io
Discl.: founder here.
Discl.: founder here.
Interesting idea. FYI, the layout of your home page breaks if your browser default font size isn't 16px, leaving most of the important text unreadable.
Can you send a screenshot what you see/inspected to my mail?
[email protected]
Edit: I understand the issue now. Thanks!
[email protected]
Edit: I understand the issue now. Thanks!
Sorry, I'm commenting pseudonymously, so not really. But if you just change your browser default font size to say 20px you can't miss it.
At Leanpub, authors keep 80% of the title's price. We've paid over $7.5M in royalties to authors, and we're alive and well :)
Write in Markdown, click a button, get a book (PDF, EPUB, MOBI). Click a different button and your book is for sale with an attractive landing page, etc. You can even create a MOOC with one click, again based on Markdown...
(disclosure: cofounder)
Write in Markdown, click a button, get a book (PDF, EPUB, MOBI). Click a different button and your book is for sale with an attractive landing page, etc. You can even create a MOOC with one click, again based on Markdown...
(disclosure: cofounder)
Do you also provide services for proof-reading, cover design, marketing (or connect people with these expertise online)? It would be great to have community of people offering services to book writers for money or royalty.
By the time you've paid these professionals the typical book is making a loss. A publisher profits from the hits. This is much more of a gamble for a lone author.
This is a reasonable argument, but an unfortunate corollary is that the author of a really successful book is losing out because they're subsidising all the commercial failures that the publisher took a punt on. The bookie always wins, but no-one else is guaranteed to.
Because the money involved is often not much and there’s still some cred associated with traditional publishers.
Every time I start to think about writing a technical book, this is what stops me. The sheer amount of time you'd need to spend writing it is staggering.
On the flip side, once you've published the book being a noted author may present you with certain kinds of opportunities that may not have been available before. That perhaps is more valuable than the revenue generated from the book.
On the flip side, once you've published the book being a noted author may present you with certain kinds of opportunities that may not have been available before. That perhaps is more valuable than the revenue generated from the book.
Another one:
If you are fine writing blog posts, but have trouble writing for a book because you think suddenly things need to be perfect (and run into writer's blog)...
Then start with blog posts. Ask your publishers if you can publish them. If not, write them as if you'd publish them on your blog.
Then take the blog posts, and turn them into chapters of your book.
A blog post tends to be a bit more self-contained than a book chapter, but even for a book chapter, people appreciate it if they can read it separately.
Other things:
* don't expect to get rich. Writing usually pays way less than programming.
* no many how many passes you have made, you'll always find spelling and grammar errors (even after a professional copy editor went over it). Try to get them fixed, but also accept it as a fact of life that things won't end.
* Making good illustrations takes quite some time.
* Expect illustrations to be printed black and white, with grays being butchered, unless you have negotiated otherwise your publisher.
* The publisher has a project manager for you. Keep them updated. They'll be more lenient with delays if you tell them early. Communicate as much as you'd do with a project manager at your job, even if they don't ask you every week or month (because they don't want to be pushy).
* Keep a list of contributors, where you add names and email addresses as soon as somebody helped you. After half a year, you would forget at least a few contributors. List people by name in a "Thank you" section. Everybody likes to read their own name in a book :-)
* Keep a list of people + email addresses who expressed interest in your project. The publisher likely will send out ebook copies to people, in the hope that they will review your book on amazon. Be prepared for that.
If you are fine writing blog posts, but have trouble writing for a book because you think suddenly things need to be perfect (and run into writer's blog)...
Then start with blog posts. Ask your publishers if you can publish them. If not, write them as if you'd publish them on your blog.
Then take the blog posts, and turn them into chapters of your book.
A blog post tends to be a bit more self-contained than a book chapter, but even for a book chapter, people appreciate it if they can read it separately.
Other things:
* don't expect to get rich. Writing usually pays way less than programming.
* no many how many passes you have made, you'll always find spelling and grammar errors (even after a professional copy editor went over it). Try to get them fixed, but also accept it as a fact of life that things won't end.
* Making good illustrations takes quite some time.
* Expect illustrations to be printed black and white, with grays being butchered, unless you have negotiated otherwise your publisher.
* The publisher has a project manager for you. Keep them updated. They'll be more lenient with delays if you tell them early. Communicate as much as you'd do with a project manager at your job, even if they don't ask you every week or month (because they don't want to be pushy).
* Keep a list of contributors, where you add names and email addresses as soon as somebody helped you. After half a year, you would forget at least a few contributors. List people by name in a "Thank you" section. Everybody likes to read their own name in a book :-)
* Keep a list of people + email addresses who expressed interest in your project. The publisher likely will send out ebook copies to people, in the hope that they will review your book on amazon. Be prepared for that.
Fantastic article! I would add that it is quite impossible to hold the contents of an entire book in your head at once. I rely heavily on Trello and OneNote for mental organization of topics.
It's also critical to form a topic pipeline as you go about writing. Unfailingly, writers will come across articles or blog posts that contain something new they'd like to include in their text. Efficiently taking raw content, boiling it down into its essence, and composing that concept into a book section is important for keeping your book content fresh and relevant.
It's also critical to form a topic pipeline as you go about writing. Unfailingly, writers will come across articles or blog posts that contain something new they'd like to include in their text. Efficiently taking raw content, boiling it down into its essence, and composing that concept into a book section is important for keeping your book content fresh and relevant.
Not sure about some of this. If you can’t keep a good enough mental model of your book in your head, your readers might struggle to follow it.
I do recognise the issue of nearing the end of writing a book and being torn on whether to include new stuff. In the end you just have to draw the line somewhere. It’s less of an issue if you have an outlet for new stuff - blog, community, etc.
I do recognise the issue of nearing the end of writing a book and being torn on whether to include new stuff. In the end you just have to draw the line somewhere. It’s less of an issue if you have an outlet for new stuff - blog, community, etc.
> When editing, print out your manuscript and edit it with a red pen.
I also do this for all of my papers and find it extremely helpful. Though I’d be curious if any of you have found a good digital process.
I also do this for all of my papers and find it extremely helpful. Though I’d be curious if any of you have found a good digital process.
Tablet with a digital pen? Not many seem to offer pens with the same high precision technology as graphic tablets, though. (I have a Samsung Tab S3 and the pen is great, though the USB socket barely connects after a year, I hope the repair will be covered by the warranty)
Good list of tips and congrats on finishing the book, 1.5 years is a lot!
>Pad the timeline
yup, despite finishing two books, I naively thought I'd take about a month for the third (I already had most of the stuff as a tutorial on GitHub) and it ended up taking 2.5 months (granted some were unexpected delays, but still)
>forgot to give context for something
that's been a worrying consistent one among the few critical feedback I've got, but as I'm self-publishing ebooks, at least I have the option of addressing them quickly (this also ties with points in the article about getting early feedback, especially those who are experts in the fields)
>Pad the timeline
yup, despite finishing two books, I naively thought I'd take about a month for the third (I already had most of the stuff as a tutorial on GitHub) and it ended up taking 2.5 months (granted some were unexpected delays, but still)
>forgot to give context for something
that's been a worrying consistent one among the few critical feedback I've got, but as I'm self-publishing ebooks, at least I have the option of addressing them quickly (this also ties with points in the article about getting early feedback, especially those who are experts in the fields)
> Why’d I write the book?
Non-native English speaker here. Does this mean why would I write the book or why did I write the book?
Non-native English speaker here. Does this mean why would I write the book or why did I write the book?
I think from the context it means "why did I write the book".
I haven't written a traditional book, but I'm currently working on writing Holloway's Guide to Technical Recruiting and Hiring (https://www.holloway.com/g/technical-recruiting-hiring/about). Writing is hard but my experience so far feels a lot more positive than the process described here. I had a ton of editorial support and we were able to get contribution (through interviews, reviews and edits, and even written contributions from a bunch of subject matter experts).
In any case, it's still not an easy feat and I have a ton of respect for anyone who embarks on (let alone finishes) the task of writing a book.
In any case, it's still not an easy feat and I have a ton of respect for anyone who embarks on (let alone finishes) the task of writing a book.
I wrote my book (Go 101) as a hobby. When I solved a confusion in using Go, I wrote one blog article. In the end, I wrote about 25 articles. Then I write some basic chapters to finish the book.
I have never a plan to publish it as paper books.
I have never a plan to publish it as paper books.
I would love to give it a read if you are ok with it :)
It is here: https://www.go101.org
One of the things that this post highlights is the difficulty of getting others to do things to help you whether copyediting, technical editing, contributions, or (in particular) co-authoring.
It's understandable. People are busy and way more open to helping out in principle than in practice.
But getting reviewers is really tough and usually takes a lot of nagging. And, unless the publisher is covering it for you, figure on paying a copy-editor; it's unlikely someone reading the manuscript over as a favor will be thorough (and skilled) enough.
It's understandable. People are busy and way more open to helping out in principle than in practice.
But getting reviewers is really tough and usually takes a lot of nagging. And, unless the publisher is covering it for you, figure on paying a copy-editor; it's unlikely someone reading the manuscript over as a favor will be thorough (and skilled) enough.
I don’t understand why anyone would choose to do this.
If you have the knowledge to write a book that has demand, you could earn way more money and be treated better by putting those skills into practice in an engineering team. And if you feel the need to write, sharing knowledge on a blog or open source project only accelerate your career and improves your earning outlook.
I guess the answer to this riddle in 2019 is that this dynamic just isn’t the case outside of developed countries
If you have the knowledge to write a book that has demand, you could earn way more money and be treated better by putting those skills into practice in an engineering team. And if you feel the need to write, sharing knowledge on a blog or open source project only accelerate your career and improves your earning outlook.
I guess the answer to this riddle in 2019 is that this dynamic just isn’t the case outside of developed countries
Another O’Reilly author here and this article is spot on — particularly about blocking out specific times to write.
How does someone self publish to amazon books?
Some more helpful resources I found:
- Advice to Prospective Book Authors from Scott Meyers (of Effective C++ fame): https://www.aristeia.com/authorAdvice.html
- "I wrote a book" by Tryggvi Björgvinsson: https://dev.to/trickvi/i-wrote-a-book-lfg
- "Writing a technical book" by Ian Miell: https://zwischenzugs.com/2016/05/15/writing-a-technical-book...
- Then there are some good discussion about this topic on HN. You can try searching by keywords like "ask hn + writing a book", e.g.: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14300932