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I also wrote about this topic at: https://andregarzia.com/2021/04/writing-a-technical-book.html https://andregarzia.com/2021/04/writing-a-technical-book.htm...,
by soapdog 5y ago
I also wrote about this topic at: https://andregarzia.com/2021/04/writing-a-technical-book.html https://andregarzia.com/2021/04/writing-a-technical-book.htm..., it might me interesting for people who enjoyed this post to also read mine.
The author has very good points but their assumption of a 10K advance is not what I have seen (or been paid) in the traditional industry. Most publishers I’ve worked with or approached were paying between 1K and 2K in advance depending on which terms you accept. You usually get some more money if you allow the book to be distributed to libraries or be placed in some all-you-can-eat services.
Regardless of the publishing route you chose — traditional or self-publishing — it is very hard to make money with a technical book. Most people who are financially successful are those with an established platform. The traditional publisher will do very little to push your book. As an example, I made much more money from my self-published books than my recent traditional published book even though they sold less because I keep all the money instead of getting a small royalty.
Publishing a book is not all about making money, each of us have their own reason to write and money is more of a side-effect than the primary cause. I hope posts like these inspire more people to publish.
Oh, I’ve also shipped a prototype ebook generator at https://little.webby.press https://little.webby.press that runs purely on the client-side, no accounts, no tracking, no state. I think people here might enjoy it.