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How does this work? Spending 4 years, full time from what it seems, on a book with a (let's face it) niche audience. While having (again, it seems from the post

by roel_v 7y ago

How does this work? Spending 4 years, full time from what it seems, on a book with a (let's face it) niche audience. While having (again, it seems from the post) a family with children, living in a first world country, flying regularly (I'm using this as a shortcut for 'getting out of the house for things more expensive than a hike in the woods'). So that's an opportunity cost of 200k for a book that would a runaway success if it made... 50k over its lifetime? Is there a backstory I'm missing here - is the author an already well-known internet celebrity living off Patreon or something like that (I couldn't find anything on the blog that indicates that)

zengid 7y ago
I don't think it was full-time. Bob's day job is working on the Dart compiler, last I heard.
kyllo 7y ago
The author has a full-time job at Google and apparently wrote the book as a passion project, not for the money. The knowledge within is an incredible contribution to the public good.
munificent 7y ago
> Spending 4 years, full time from what it seems, on a book with a (let's face it) niche audience.& Four years, yes, but much less than full time. Usually around an hour a day, often less. I work full time at Google and the book was a (very involved) hobby. > that's an opportunity cost of 200k* Yes, there's definitely a financial opportunity cost. But when I see someone working a job they hate eight hours a day, I often wonder what the satisfaction opportunity cost of that is. What could they be doing instead that would be more meaningful to them? I'm unlikely to make enough money from the book to justify the time (though my first book made me much more than I expected), but I do think it will bring enough other rewards to be worth the time.
- roel_v 7y ago
  Oh I understood you worked on it full time, yeah I understand writing one as a hobby project. Thanks for replying.

by roel_v 7y ago

zengid 7y ago

I don't think it was full-time. Bob's day job is working on the Dart compiler, last I heard.

kyllo 7y ago

The author has a full-time job at Google and apparently wrote the book as a passion project, not for the money. The knowledge within is an incredible contribution to the public good.

munificent 7y ago

> Spending 4 years, full time from what it seems, on a book with a (let's face it) niche audience.& Four years, yes, but much less than full time. Usually around an hour a day, often less. I work full time at Google and the book was a (very involved) hobby. > that's an opportunity cost of 200k* Yes, there's definitely a financial opportunity cost. But when I see someone working a job they hate eight hours a day, I often wonder what the satisfaction opportunity cost of that is. What could they be doing instead that would be more meaningful to them? I'm unlikely to make enough money from the book to justify the time (though my first book made me much more than I expected), but I do think it will bring enough other rewards to be worth the time.

roel_v 7y ago
Oh I understood you worked on it full time, yeah I understand writing one as a hobby project. Thanks for replying.