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>If that's how a lot of technical authors are chosen, that could explain a lot about the quality of a lot of books. I agree, but I don't see how self-publishin
by navigatesol 7y ago
>If that's how a lot of technical authors are chosen, that could explain a lot about the quality of a lot of books.
I agree, but I don't see how self-publishing makes that problem better and not worse.
>meaning that less books get written.
I have a hard time believing this, in the age of the internet. For one, there's more content produced than ever, and it's still accelerating. Second, do we need more "books"? Why not essays and papers and blogs? Not every idea needs to fill 256 pages; most are best served with a less lengthy medium.
But yes, writing a book is a form of art, like making an album or producing a painting. It's very hard to make a living doing so.
- vfc1 7y agoFor example, for web development, there is a lot of introductory content but there is very little in-depth advanced content published by editors. Advanced content is usually self-published. And not because people are not looking for that, but because it's not profitable for editors to do several books on the same topic at different levels of difficulty. What they want is another introductory book on another topic, as they know that is what sells better. An author getting royalties from advanced books would not be able to make a living, but by self-publishing this becomes much more feasible.