4 ms·

https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/so-you-want-be-writer https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/so-you-want-be-writer

gargarplex 9y ago
Yeah. I recently wrote a book and got most of it done within a few hours of morning + coffee sessions over a few weeks and one or two airplane rides. It made like $12K in its first year and it was really easy. Thinking this was an incredibly time-efficient way for me to earn money and contribute to society, I tried to write a sequel and have stalled. The initial book just poured out of me. I had an outline, I knew exactly what I wanted to say and I just wrote the content. In that way it was like tackling a college paper or trello board, but instead, a few hundred pages of text. Like I've said.. no other ideas have really coalesced into something outlineable and easy-to-market.. I have one manuscript that's 80 pages and sucks, another at 40+, etc etc. Reminds me of the hobbyist programmer population here with tons of unfinished projects. I really had something to say and felt entitled to say it.
- armenarmen 9y ago
  How did you publish and promote? I’m sitting on a finished book now and I’m sort of at a loss for what to do with it. I put out some of the audio as a podcast that has done “ok” but haven’t pulled the trigger on actual publishing
  - gargarplex 9y ago
    * Self-publishing was with Amazon, draft2digital, and direct sales (sendowl) * Did cover on Canva.com * Made a list of podcasts in the programming niche and emailed a bunch of the hosts with suggesting they invite me as a guest That's about it. I do some ongoing pay per click marketing too.
- t3h2mas 9y ago
  Was the subject of the book technical?
  - gargarplex 9y ago
    We wrote a book to help software engineers learn to become (and grow as) successful freelance consultants. https://engineersguidetofreelance.com https://engineersguidetofreelance.com
    - gargarplex 9y ago
      http://engineersguidetofreelance.com http://engineersguidetofreelance.com ^ https was not enabled :[

Yeah. I recently wrote a book and got most of it done within a few hours of morning + coffee sessions over a few weeks and one or two airplane rides. It made like $12K in its first year and it was really easy. Thinking this was an incredibly time-efficient way for me to earn money and contribute to society, I tried to write a sequel and have stalled. The initial book just poured out of me. I had an outline, I knew exactly what I wanted to say and I just wrote the content. In that way it was like tackling a college paper or trello board, but instead, a few hundred pages of text. Like I've said.. no other ideas have really coalesced into something outlineable and easy-to-market.. I have one manuscript that's 80 pages and sucks, another at 40+, etc etc. Reminds me of the hobbyist programmer population here with tons of unfinished projects. I really had something to say and felt entitled to say it.

armenarmen 9y ago
How did you publish and promote? I’m sitting on a finished book now and I’m sort of at a loss for what to do with it. I put out some of the audio as a podcast that has done “ok” but haven’t pulled the trigger on actual publishing
- gargarplex 9y ago
  * Self-publishing was with Amazon, draft2digital, and direct sales (sendowl) * Did cover on Canva.com * Made a list of podcasts in the programming niche and emailed a bunch of the hosts with suggesting they invite me as a guest That's about it. I do some ongoing pay per click marketing too.
t3h2mas 9y ago
Was the subject of the book technical?
- gargarplex 9y ago
  We wrote a book to help software engineers learn to become (and grow as) successful freelance consultants. https://engineersguidetofreelance.com https://engineersguidetofreelance.com
  - gargarplex 9y ago
    http://engineersguidetofreelance.com http://engineersguidetofreelance.com ^ https was not enabled :[