[HN Gopher] You too can write a book
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You too can write a book
Author : azhenley
Score : 28 points
Date : 2024-11-09 21:10 UTC (1 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (parentheticallyspeaking.org)
(TXT) w3m dump (parentheticallyspeaking.org)
| andrewstuart wrote:
| Leunig cartoon on your "inner book"
|
| https://scontent.fmel18-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/461606...
| Y_Y wrote:
| Bad URL hash?
|
| https://consumer.licensing-publishing.nine.com.au/Assets/V2/...
| andrewstuart wrote:
| https://imgur.com/a/Z2iAB7Y
| TheCleric wrote:
| The blog post should more accurately be titled "You too can write
| a textbook"
| schneems wrote:
| I agree. I DID write a book! https://howtoopensource.dev/
|
| My biggest tip is this: Don't skip getting beta readers. High
| quality feedback is really hard to come by. I changed my tool
| chain to add a google form at the end of each chapter and got
| strong buy in from a handful of people with the finished first
| draft in a beta state. In the end some bailed but one left
| amazing feedback resulting in massive structural changes.
|
| The process of writing a book is two things (to me). The most
| obvious is sharing information. The second, often overlooked, but
| biggest benefit IMHO is how you will grow and learn the source
| material even better than you already do. Even if you don't ever
| publish it, it's still worthwhile to putting in the effort to
| write a book. GLHF.
| Narhem wrote:
| Congrats, wrote my own text book (and a few other book).
| Haven't had the time to publish it yet, but it's definitely
| very rewarding.
|
| With the hackers stalking me though it feels like writing books
| is a form of slavery. And whenever I write I feel like I am
| somebodies stock options.
|
| Makes me feel like more of a slave and more ready to take the
| racist slavers to court.
| obiefernandez wrote:
| For beta ebook publishing I can't help but recommend my friends
| at https://leanpub.com where my latest book is currently at the
| top of the charts.
|
| I've been publishing with them since they launched (a long time
| ago) and have made nearly six figures lifetime revenue. Plus they
| give you one-button push to publish to print versions at Amazon.
| bbor wrote:
| Oh hey, this person! The 'Books as software' post has made the
| rounds on here a few times since its publication in 2006, if I
| recall correctly, and it's always a controversial+fascinating
| conversation. They're certainly not a conventional soul:
| We will include mistakes, not because I don't know the answer,
| but because this is the best way for you to learn. Including
| mistakes makes it impossible for you to read passively: you must
| instead engage with the material, because you can never be sure
| of the veracity of what you're reading.
|
| I've never seen this post, though. Speaking as someone who's
| currently closing in on self-pub after ~18 months of work (lots
| of research, tbf):
|
| I. As another comment mentions, this is for technical books, and
| seemingly specifically textbooks (AKA lessons, as opposed to the
| other three quadrants of technical documentation, references,
| instructions, and tutorials). In case anyone here is considering
| writing a fiction book, please do not ever expect to make any
| money at all. The odds are downright absurd these days.
|
| II. I absolutely agree that it's a sometimes-underappreciated and
| potentially very lucrative career move if you have real expertise
| to share and are a good writer. Especially in the vaguely post-
| blog era.
|
| III. Writing a book but not expecting to make any money from it
| is... bold. I'm very glad it worked for this person, and if
| you're looking to use it as a credential to land contracts or
| appointments, then that's very smart and kind. But I think I
| speak for many authors when I say that writing a book is _very_
| time consuming, and you need to eat somehow. Not all of us are
| just publishing cleaned-up lecture notes, after all.
|
| I initially shared this person's "offer a print copy as a tip
| jar" concept, but have gradually moved towards "only publish free
| snippets" as I consider long term financial feasibility. This
| applies even more so if, like me, you're writing a prose book
| that has a 1% chance to be truly popular among laypeople, rather
| than more realistic textbook-centric goals.
|
| IV. PoD is indeed incredible. For those not in the know, this
| allows you to sell your book without any significant upfront
| investment, and have them manage shipping. There's definitely
| room for profit via many sites; Lulu, for example, will print a
| 250 page "Digest" (normal) paperback in B&W for $7.56/ea.
|
| I'm also planning on going with http://lulu.com . Arguably it's
| <50% likely to beat Amazon's uber-popular PoD service on overall
| sales+profits, but it has some notable advantages:
|
| 1. If you're thinking about a publishing a "premium" book, which
| some textbooks might be, they have some gorgeous options -- both
| in terms of color printing and cover material.
| https://www.lulu.com/pricing
|
| 2. If you're a web-dev comfortable setting up a Shopify portal on
| your own site, you can hook it up to Lulu and get "100%" (after
| PoD costs) of your profit. Obviously, this is potentially a huge
| deal -- the trick is of course getting Amazon-like numbers of
| eyeballs on your own site. https://www.lulu.com/sell/sell-on-
| your-site You can even order copies via API, which seems goofy
| but potentially fun.
|
| 3. They're targeted at DIY authors, and as such offer a nice
| little knowledge base on formatting and such:
| https://www.lulu.com/publishing-toolkit I haven't printed any
| yet, but they're templates are nice to work with.
|
| 4. They're not only "not Amazon", they're a B-Corp. Which, hey,
| we all gotta do what we can when we can, no matter how small.
|
| ...I swear I'm just a biased fanboy, not a shill!
|
| V. The cover art space is fucking _wild_ these days, AI has
| absolutely upended it. Scroll through /r/writers for lots of
| horror stories. I would be cautious about hiring any freelancers
| to help you without serious vetting. Plus, Inkscape is free and
| technical books don't need realistic art!
|
| _P.S._ Does the author know they 're invoking a antisemitic
| trope with the "(((Parenthetically Speaking)))" title? It seems
| to be in obvious good faith, but that did draw my attention for a
| short moment. Maybe just one set of parentheses could do the
| trick ;)
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