3 ms·
Counter-anecdote - I published a book through Wiley about 10 years ago and I felt like they added a lot of value. They had a copy editor proofread the book car
by commandlinefan 5y ago
Counter-anecdote - I published a book through Wiley about 10 years ago and I felt like they added a lot of value. They had a copy editor proofread the book carefully and I was really amazed at how she was able to focus on the grammar in spite of the fact that she didn't understand (or much care to understand) the subject material at all. They punched up the title and the presentation a bit and did all the marketing - I'm sure I never would have been on the shelves at B&N if I had self-published.
- jrockway 5y agoYeah, a reputable publisher could add a lot of value. I've never read a bad O'Reilly book, for example. I think my conclusion is -- don't write a book unless you really want to write a book. Nobody but your parents are going to care that your book is in a bookstore. No software engineering interviewer is going to let you skip the interview because you wrote a book. The only reason you should do it is because you want to share your knowledge with the world. That is a valuable pursuit, but you will be undercompensated for it. (Fun story... many years ago, a Google recruiter reached out to me with a little survey; rate yourself from 1-10 in these categories. They said 10 was "literally wrote a book on this subject". I answered 10 for web frameworks, which I had in fact written a book on! They ghosted me. But I did end talking with another recruiter, and ended up working at Google for 6 years, so... I guess it worked out.)