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After talking to a handful of successful technical authors, they have all said - don't write a book for the money.

dgb23 5y ago
I'm personally playing with the idea of starting a blog, not a book, in the mid future. I have tons of unpolished article drafts laying around. On one side I'm painfully aware of the work required to write useful texts and the monetary incentive is almost non-existent. But what motivates me is to finally take a leap to try and be competent at writing in English, which is not my first language. As of now I'm terrible at it and I feel having a real project that people might consume in some way might be the best way to really learn that. Secondly I think being able to communicate ideas clearly in an engaging fashion is very beneficial for someone in our field. Writing better documentation, clearer code, comments and specs all depend on that. A book is a different undertaking all together in terms of scope and polish, but my guess is that the benefits might be in a similar category.
- m-i-l 5y ago
  I can recommend starting a blog. The big thing, at least for me, is it that incentivises you to finish side-projects and complete thought pieces (at least finish/complete them enough to be able to write about them). Prior to starting my blog I'd years and years of unfinished and undocumented, but potentially quite interesting and/or innovative, side-projects. Just to add - for technical folks a blog can be free and relatively easy to setup and self host with something like Hugo or Jekyll on GitLab or GitHub pages.
raesene9 5y ago
I'd agree with this, having been a contributing author to a technical book. It was a very interesting process and I learned a lot, but it was not something with a good return on investment, in terms of straight money. What I've heard from speaking to other technical authors is that the value comes from the opportunities it can generate. Writing a good book in a technical field can help establish you as an expert in the field, which can generate things like consultancy opportunities.
- alfiedotwtf 5y ago
  > the value comes from the opportunities it can generate Yep, exactly what I've been told too. I think the two reasons to write a book would be if you're super enthusiastic about a topic and are dying to tell the world about it, and/or you want to establish yourself and use the book as a lead generator.

I'm personally playing with the idea of starting a blog, not a book, in the mid future. I have tons of unpolished article drafts laying around. On one side I'm painfully aware of the work required to write useful texts and the monetary incentive is almost non-existent. But what motivates me is to finally take a leap to try and be competent at writing in English, which is not my first language. As of now I'm terrible at it and I feel having a real project that people might consume in some way might be the best way to really learn that. Secondly I think being able to communicate ideas clearly in an engaging fashion is very beneficial for someone in our field. Writing better documentation, clearer code, comments and specs all depend on that. A book is a different undertaking all together in terms of scope and polish, but my guess is that the benefits might be in a similar category.

m-i-l 5y ago
I can recommend starting a blog. The big thing, at least for me, is it that incentivises you to finish side-projects and complete thought pieces (at least finish/complete them enough to be able to write about them). Prior to starting my blog I'd years and years of unfinished and undocumented, but potentially quite interesting and/or innovative, side-projects. Just to add - for technical folks a blog can be free and relatively easy to setup and self host with something like Hugo or Jekyll on GitLab or GitHub pages.

raesene9 5y ago

I'd agree with this, having been a contributing author to a technical book. It was a very interesting process and I learned a lot, but it was not something with a good return on investment, in terms of straight money. What I've heard from speaking to other technical authors is that the value comes from the opportunities it can generate. Writing a good book in a technical field can help establish you as an expert in the field, which can generate things like consultancy opportunities.

alfiedotwtf 5y ago
> the value comes from the opportunities it can generate Yep, exactly what I've been told too. I think the two reasons to write a book would be if you're super enthusiastic about a topic and are dying to tell the world about it, and/or you want to establish yourself and use the book as a lead generator.