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I am also now writing my first book (https://efficientdeveloper.com/ https://efficientdeveloper.com/) and it is really difficult, especially during Covid times

by petr25102018 6y ago

I am also now writing my first book (https://efficientdeveloper.com/ https://efficientdeveloper.com/) and it is really difficult, especially during Covid times (my original idea of writing this book was writing it on a transatlantic cruise... ) What you realise when writing a book is that every sentence gets rewritten 3 times, even before you start caring about proofreading. With all the research and decision making, publishing etc. it takes much more time than it looks.

ghaff 6y ago
It really is. I've been going through a fairly significant book revision the past few months. Of course it's been more work than I thought--even though I should have known better. However, even though I'm making quite a few changes/additions including a new chapter, it's a lot easier to patch something that exists than starting with a blank page. The fact that I don't need to churn out a huge number of words lets me focus on the new material and refactoring as needed. When I was an industry analyst, I used to joke that the effort to write something went up by something like the square of the page count. There are counter-examples but mostly I think it's at least somewhat true given that you need to sort of keep your head around the whole project.
- petr25102018 6y ago
  I think that's true. If larger software projects need more time and resources than small ones (when comparing effort per LOC), I am pretty sure that with books it is the same. And I agree with the blank page... The more of the book is written, the easier it gets (I think).
dkarlovi 6y ago
> It took an hour to read, I thought it would take an hour to write.
- KineticLensman 6y ago
  Also, "If I had more time, I would have made it shorter"
__mharrison__ 6y ago
And if you are considering self-publishing outside of Amazon, there is a bunch more work to factor in. Some of the more successful self-pubbers I know say the sales/marketing takes more time than writing.

ghaff 6y ago

It really is. I've been going through a fairly significant book revision the past few months. Of course it's been more work than I thought--even though I should have known better. However, even though I'm making quite a few changes/additions including a new chapter, it's a lot easier to patch something that exists than starting with a blank page. The fact that I don't need to churn out a huge number of words lets me focus on the new material and refactoring as needed. When I was an industry analyst, I used to joke that the effort to write something went up by something like the square of the page count. There are counter-examples but mostly I think it's at least somewhat true given that you need to sort of keep your head around the whole project.

petr25102018 6y ago
I think that's true. If larger software projects need more time and resources than small ones (when comparing effort per LOC), I am pretty sure that with books it is the same. And I agree with the blank page... The more of the book is written, the easier it gets (I think).

dkarlovi 6y ago

> It took an hour to read, I thought it would take an hour to write.

KineticLensman 6y ago
Also, "If I had more time, I would have made it shorter"

__mharrison__ 6y ago

And if you are considering self-publishing outside of Amazon, there is a bunch more work to factor in. Some of the more successful self-pubbers I know say the sales/marketing takes more time than writing.