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> I miss out on things a traditional publisher can do, like marketing and real in depth book design, but from what I understand they don't do much marketing unl

> I miss out on things a traditional publisher can do, like marketing and real in depth book design, but from what I understand they don't do much marketing unless you're someone famous anyway. I've heard the same about marketing and that was my impression when I was interacting with O'Reilly and Apress several years ago. For technical books today, they expect the author to bring the audience. > I also don't get an advance. Sure, but that's just a small loan. If you're in the economic bracket of a typical HN reader, you don't need this.

genghisjahn 6y ago
Is there a survey with data about what the economic bracket for the typical HN is?
- munificent 6y ago
  Not that I know of, but I'm assuming a disproportionate number of software engineers at top-tier companies working in West Coast US metro areas.
cosmodisk 6y ago
>For technical books today, they expect the author to bring the audience. So what's the point to go with them? We all can save it as a pdf and upload to Gumroad,or even send it to Amazon to print. I appreciate books on JAVA or Docker don't sell in millions but I'd at least expect the publisher to try to put my book on the shelves..
- munificent 6y ago
  > So what's the point to go with them? Good question. :) It depends a lot on what the author wants to get out of it and what they want to do themselves. Going with a traditional publisher gives you: * The prestige of your book coming out of a well-known publisher. If your goal is mostly to boost your resume or public speaking fees, then having an O'Reilly animal on the cover of your book can be very valuable. * They provide developmental editors, line editors, copy editors, illustrators, and typesetters for you. If you don't want to do that yourself or find freelancers, that saves you from the headache. * Likewise, they deal with the administrivia and legal stuff around distribution, translations, ISBN numbers, licensing, etc. I imagine they might provide some legal cover for you if you, say, defame someone in your text or use a copyright image. * Your editor will create a timetable and some urgency for you to get the book done. That can be really helpful for people who have trouble summoning the discipline and structure to complete a book. All of that stuff is valuable. The question is whether it's valuable enough for them to take the lion's share of the profit that the book generates.
anonyxyz 6y ago
My understanding is that it's very rare for an advance clawback to take place even if sales come in under.
- munificent 6y ago
  That's correct. It's basically a loan that will be auto-forgiven. But publishers aren't dumb and they scale advance sizes to ensure they rarely lose any significant amount of money. For technical books, my impression is that advances are quite small or non-existent.

genghisjahn 6y ago

Is there a survey with data about what the economic bracket for the typical HN is?

munificent 6y ago
Not that I know of, but I'm assuming a disproportionate number of software engineers at top-tier companies working in West Coast US metro areas.

cosmodisk 6y ago

>For technical books today, they expect the author to bring the audience. So what's the point to go with them? We all can save it as a pdf and upload to Gumroad,or even send it to Amazon to print. I appreciate books on JAVA or Docker don't sell in millions but I'd at least expect the publisher to try to put my book on the shelves..

munificent 6y ago
> So what's the point to go with them? Good question. :) It depends a lot on what the author wants to get out of it and what they want to do themselves. Going with a traditional publisher gives you: * The prestige of your book coming out of a well-known publisher. If your goal is mostly to boost your resume or public speaking fees, then having an O'Reilly animal on the cover of your book can be very valuable. * They provide developmental editors, line editors, copy editors, illustrators, and typesetters for you. If you don't want to do that yourself or find freelancers, that saves you from the headache. * Likewise, they deal with the administrivia and legal stuff around distribution, translations, ISBN numbers, licensing, etc. I imagine they might provide some legal cover for you if you, say, defame someone in your text or use a copyright image. * Your editor will create a timetable and some urgency for you to get the book done. That can be really helpful for people who have trouble summoning the discipline and structure to complete a book. All of that stuff is valuable. The question is whether it's valuable enough for them to take the lion's share of the profit that the book generates.

anonyxyz 6y ago

My understanding is that it's very rare for an advance clawback to take place even if sales come in under.

munificent 6y ago
That's correct. It's basically a loan that will be auto-forgiven. But publishers aren't dumb and they scale advance sizes to ensure they rarely lose any significant amount of money. For technical books, my impression is that advances are quite small or non-existent.