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I just read the 2016 bit about how you published individual chapters to gauge interest; that was pretty cool. Could I ask you a couple of questions about it? 1

I just read the 2016 bit about how you published individual chapters to gauge interest; that was pretty cool. Could I ask you a couple of questions about it? 1. How does "purchasing" a few chapters look on the user side? e.g. Do you price every chapter and they only pay for the difference if they want to purchase the full book later? Do updates (which you said they're entitled to?) come out for individual chapters? 2. How do you get the word out initially? (I see you mentioned going to conferences; it'd be nice if you could elaborate or mention if there are other potentially effective approaches.) Thanks, and congrats on your success so far!

geerlingguy 7y ago
In my case, using LeanPub, the way it works is as follows: 1. I choose a point in time to start 'publishing' (in my case with A4D it was after 3 chapters were written, first draft). 2. Users can start buying at this point, at a minimum price I determine (starting at 'free', or 4.99 and up). 3. Any user who buys the book gets DRM-free downloads in any format from LeanPub, and the book is on their permanent shelf on LeanPub, so they can download any newer version forever, free. As an author, when I push a new update, I have the ability to also send a notification email to all subscribed readers so they know a new version is available—otherwise I can just silently update it (e.g. for smaller bugfixes in the text or slight corrections).
- kungfufrog 7y ago
  Hi Jeff, love your work and have followed for a long time. I just noticed on Leanpub the minimum price for Ansible for DevOps is $9.99 despite following a link from your blog post that stated the $0 cost was being extended through April. Is it still intended to be $0? See here: https://imgur.com/a/UxSyr28 https://imgur.com/a/UxSyr28
  - geerlingguy 7y ago
    It is now May, in most parts of the universe ;-)
    - kungfufrog 7y ago
      Ahh, thank you! I legitimately forgot what month it was!
      - geerlingguy 7y ago
        Some days it feels like it's still March...
  - jp_sc 7y ago
    I think it might be because we are no longer in April ;)

geerlingguy 7y ago

In my case, using LeanPub, the way it works is as follows: 1. I choose a point in time to start 'publishing' (in my case with A4D it was after 3 chapters were written, first draft). 2. Users can start buying at this point, at a minimum price I determine (starting at 'free', or 4.99 and up). 3. Any user who buys the book gets DRM-free downloads in any format from LeanPub, and the book is on their permanent shelf on LeanPub, so they can download any newer version forever, free. As an author, when I push a new update, I have the ability to also send a notification email to all subscribed readers so they know a new version is available—otherwise I can just silently update it (e.g. for smaller bugfixes in the text or slight corrections).

kungfufrog 7y ago
Hi Jeff, love your work and have followed for a long time. I just noticed on Leanpub the minimum price for Ansible for DevOps is $9.99 despite following a link from your blog post that stated the $0 cost was being extended through April. Is it still intended to be $0? See here: https://imgur.com/a/UxSyr28 https://imgur.com/a/UxSyr28
- geerlingguy 7y ago
  It is now May, in most parts of the universe ;-)
  - kungfufrog 7y ago
    Ahh, thank you! I legitimately forgot what month it was!
    - geerlingguy 7y ago
      Some days it feels like it's still March...
- jp_sc 7y ago
  I think it might be because we are no longer in April ;)