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Nice article. I wonder how difficult writing a technical book is. I have a few ideas in my mind and it would be great to have them released as books.

lawn 5y ago
It's very time consuming and it's highly unlikely you'll get a return of investment in sales to cover the time committed.
- themarkn 5y ago
  But it may provide other benefits like helping others & being perceived as an expert, which can lead to paid speaking opportunities, workshops, or even just another thing on your resume to help you appear worth a higher salary next time you look for a job. Book sales themselves are not where your income comes from as an author, especially in a niche. It’s all the other stuff. If your book sells a lot that’s awesome, but that isn’t a realistic plan.
magicloop 5y ago
I am an author of a self-published book on Amazon. So I understand the process but not the process with respect to using a "publisher". However, I understand the writing process. I would say that if you can commit to 1 hr per day for 2 years, or some other combination of effort, a book is do-able. In truth, that is too much for those with just a casual desire to write a book. If it is, maybe consider a short form writing format instead, such as a blog. The most difficult part I found was mastering the documentation system and automation. This is important if you want to deliver to multiple target formats. Your book needs its own Continuous Integration system. The effort here pays for itself many times over. For concrete details, I documented my journey at https://github.com/faisalmemon/ios-crash-dump-analysis-book https://github.com/faisalmemon/ios-crash-dump-analysis-book The next most difficult (but fun) part of it is the primary research. Most of what you say in a book is known knowledge but just compressed down from upstream reading material into the story you want to convey. The extra piece is your own insight. To have a "solid" book, that piece must be rooted in some primary research (so you know what you are saying is "correct"). The actual "writing" part is the easy part! The main problems are stylistic errors but you can search the internet for tips to avoid the pitfalls. (e.g. avoiding repetition, being concise, avoiding complex words when a simple word fits better, etc.) For spelling and grammar, I just exported to MS Doc format, and used its in-built checker. For proof reading, I just used the Mac text-to-speech facility to catch mistakes. I was quite fearful of the response given my amateur approach but experienced quite the opposite. My book was well received. (Amazon 5 stars!).

lawn 5y ago

It's very time consuming and it's highly unlikely you'll get a return of investment in sales to cover the time committed.

themarkn 5y ago
But it may provide other benefits like helping others & being perceived as an expert, which can lead to paid speaking opportunities, workshops, or even just another thing on your resume to help you appear worth a higher salary next time you look for a job. Book sales themselves are not where your income comes from as an author, especially in a niche. It’s all the other stuff. If your book sells a lot that’s awesome, but that isn’t a realistic plan.

magicloop 5y ago

I am an author of a self-published book on Amazon. So I understand the process but not the process with respect to using a "publisher". However, I understand the writing process. I would say that if you can commit to 1 hr per day for 2 years, or some other combination of effort, a book is do-able. In truth, that is too much for those with just a casual desire to write a book. If it is, maybe consider a short form writing format instead, such as a blog. The most difficult part I found was mastering the documentation system and automation. This is important if you want to deliver to multiple target formats. Your book needs its own Continuous Integration system. The effort here pays for itself many times over. For concrete details, I documented my journey at https://github.com/faisalmemon/ios-crash-dump-analysis-book https://github.com/faisalmemon/ios-crash-dump-analysis-book The next most difficult (but fun) part of it is the primary research. Most of what you say in a book is known knowledge but just compressed down from upstream reading material into the story you want to convey. The extra piece is your own insight. To have a "solid" book, that piece must be rooted in some primary research (so you know what you are saying is "correct"). The actual "writing" part is the easy part! The main problems are stylistic errors but you can search the internet for tips to avoid the pitfalls. (e.g. avoiding repetition, being concise, avoiding complex words when a simple word fits better, etc.) For spelling and grammar, I just exported to MS Doc format, and used its in-built checker. For proof reading, I just used the Mac text-to-speech facility to catch mistakes. I was quite fearful of the response given my amateur approach but experienced quite the opposite. My book was well received. (Amazon 5 stars!).