11 ms·

I wish I'd self-published sooner

216 points by alexellisuk 5y ago

ggm 5y ago
My partner is a semi-retired academic proofreader. The suggestion to "find a friend" to proofread what is a commercial proposition is as bogus as asking a photographer to shoot your cover "for the coverage" Shame on you. Proofreading costs a lot because it's bloody hard work. You are a charlatan if you value others labour towards your own value proposition so slightly.
- thih9 5y ago
  To be fair, the article says “find a friend” and not “find a professional proofreader”. So I’d say this is comparable not to asking a photographer to shoot something for free, but to asking a friend (not necessarily a professional photographer) to something for free.
- whalesalad 5y ago
  Woah bud, slow your roll there. Shaming someone publicly for asking a friend to proofread their work is a terrible thing to do. You have absolutely no right to make that kind of claim, especially with zero real world context. Do you know the author? Do you know the author's relationship with the friend? This explosive knee-jerk commentary is out of control. Don't project your frustration with your partner's career on other people.
  - dang 5y ago
    Please don't respond to a bad comment with a personal attack of your own. That only makes things worse. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- vasco 5y ago
  I'm sure you pay your friends every time they help you with anything at all since for anything in the world they could possibly do there's a person out there making a living on that activity.
  - function_seven 5y ago
    If my friends' labor was an essential input into my way of making a living, you're right that I would pay them for their part. I have a friend who paints houses for a living. If he ever asked me to help out on a job, for no pay, I'd say no. If I'm a professional mover, then no, I'd never dream of asking my friends for free help carting customers' boxes to the truck.
    - toss1 5y ago
      Yup. Heck, even if I borrow a friends tool, I give it back in at least as good shape as I got it (e.g., clean and add more fuel), and along with a gift like a gift card for a dinner, etc.
    - jstanley 5y ago
      On the other hand, self-publishing a single book is potentially quite far away from being a professional author.
      - function_seven 5y ago
        I’m guilty of replying here before reading the linked article. Yeah, if a friend was working on his first book, with no editorial or publisher support, I’d pitch in.
    - StevePerkins 5y ago
      As a published technical author, if you believe that your self-published book will be "an essential input into [your] way of making a living", then I have some really sad news for you...
    - mlyle 5y ago
      Many, many writers-- including those published by major publishers-- are supported by friends and family who provide beta-reading and coarse proofreading help. Buddies get the book free and before everyone else; they're not expected to fully, deeply edit the book, but just give feedback about the most glaring things. This can be a reasonable deal for all involved-- I'd gladly substitute in a book from a buddy for my nightly reading and highlight it and give him feedback. Of course, I also help my friends with minor professional questions gratis, too.
- dsizzle 5y ago
  I don't see any discussion about compensation, one way or the other. The "find a friend" heading does suggest free favors, but then the text says friends and community members "offered" their help.
- dang 5y ago
  Yikes - there's no need to attack someone like that. Perhaps you don't feel you owe people with insufficient understanding of the complexities of proofreading better, but you certainly owe this community much better if you're participating in it. If you wouldn't mind reviewing https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and taking the intended spirit of the site more to heart, we'd be grateful.
  - ggm 5y ago
    Fair call Dan. I apologize. I could have worded this better. Friends might offer to do this for free but the value you place on work you sell is out of alignment with costs of production if you repeat.
huhtenberg 5y ago
I have read several self-published non-technical books and the lack of professional editing smacks you right in the face from the first page. Two that stood out in that aspect were "Unix: A History and a Memoir" by Brian Kernighan and "Not All Fairytales Have Happy Endings" by Ken Williams (of Sierra, Space Quest, etc.) Had really high hopes for both and they were an absolute chore to read. The "Unix" was excruciatingly boring, despite the underlying material. The "Sierra" was just over-board quirky and poorly structured, more like a collection of random notes stapled together and padded to target thickness. Both could've been much better given a bit of professional editing attention.
- TillE 5y ago
  Likewise, I've attempted many self-published novels, some with high praise from independent readers, and found nearly all to be of miserably poor quality - Andy Weir being the sole exception. Even if you have the bones of a good story, even if you're a talented writer, a good editing process can transform your work from an unreadable mess to an actual solid novel.
  - chillfox 5y ago
    Editors does a lot less for quality of the writing than people tend to think. Also, there’s nothing stopping someone self publishing from getting an editor to polish their manuscript before publication. The truth is that most authors who self publish are simply not good at writing. I am generally a fan of self publishing, it’s great for good writers as they get to keep more of the money and for the ones on the border it allows them to get something out there that might be good enough for a small audience.
    - deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]
    - dpwm 5y ago
      Editors vary. A good editor can take something rough and polish it, retaining the voice of the author. A bad editor can suck all the life out of the writing, never having noticed the author’s voice in the first place. It seems to me there has been a decline in the quality of editing by major publishers in recent years – though it may be that I have become better at noticing prose that would benefit from editing. Self-published stuff is normally worse, but it’s no surprise: hiring an editor would turn many self-published books from a modest profit to a heavy loss. The thing is that writing can be bad in a multitude of ways, and a good editor can fix at least one of those — and, at the very least, help ensure that the ideas on paper are written according to the norms and conventions of the language.
CliffStoll 5y ago
30+ years ago, Doubleday published my book. It would not have happened if it weren't handled by a literary agent (John Brockman). The original title of my book was "Fundamentals of Computer Security in a Networked Environment." ch 1) Hardware (registers, memory, disks, etc) 2) Software/OS (Unix, etc) 3) Application S/W 4) Networks - TCP, IP, Arpanet 5) Security - encryption, trapdoor functions, etc and so on. 20 or 30 chapters. When I sent the book proposal to Brockman, he told me bluntly: "I can't sell this. You can't write". Three months later, the story found its way to the front page of the NY Times. First person who called (at 3AM Pacific time): John Brockman. "Lemme sell your book!" So he went ahead and sold the book proposal. Didn't just sell it. He auctioned it amongst publishers. End of the day, there was a $40,000 advance (wow - more than I was making on my job!) I started writing: got through the first 5 chapters. Then my friend, Guy Consolmagno visited (he was joining the Jesuits). I showed him the manuscript, and as he read it, his face dropped. After 30 or 40 pages, he looked up and said, "Cliff, this is terrible. It's all about computers." "Of course, I replied,"I'm writing a book about computer security," Guy answered: "Every computer jock in the world will want a copy. Doubleday will probably sell 600 copies." "Yep, that's the book proposal that they bought!" "You idiot! They don't want to sell 600 copies," Guy said. "They want to sell 6 thousand. Maybe 60,000. You gotta do better than this..." "Look, Cliff. Don't write about computers," Guy continued. "Write about people!" "It's not about people," I replied. "The book's about the Arpanet, about crypto systems, about os holes, about how to manage a Unix system." "No it ain't," he said. "It's about those hackers in Germany. The bureaucrats in the FBI who have never touched a computer. The NSA people who listen but won't lift a finger. The CIA agents who pester you in Berkeley. It's about the long-hair computer jocks you work with. It's about the nutty living situation you're in. Most of all, it's about you." Well, I listened to my friend. Tossed those chapters and rewrote 'em. Told my story in first person. Today, many of you now know me because of that book. Editing? Mainly my sister Jeannie (who's a professional editor) and David Gernert of Doubleday. Brockman? He's still running a literary agency in New York. Brother Guy? He's now the director of the Vatican Observatory. Me? I'm still in the Bay Area, wondering how I ever wrote a book.
- elwell 5y ago
  I have The Cuckoo's Egg sitting on the table next to me, dog-eared with about 30 pages left. Thanks for writing it!
4kelly 5y ago
Thanks for sharing. I’ve always wanted to go out on my own and achieve something similar to what you’ve built. Congrats on making it a reality!
khazhoux 5y ago
How about for fiction? Anyone have any tips or success stories?
- imgabe 5y ago
  Andy Weir and Daniel Suarez are two fiction authors off the top of my head who originally self-published, then later got book deals when they became popular.
- bobwaycott 5y ago
  I’d recommend looking into Andy Weir for success stories.
- SamoyedFurFluff 5y ago
  Self publishing fiction is definitely a business minded approach and if you want to get in it I recommend checking out podcasts/YouTube videos covering it. It’s a lot of marketing and churn and hype.
- asicsp 5y ago
  I have a Kindle Unlimited subscription because of the wide variety of self-published fantasy books. These aren't as polished as traditional books, but I love reading them because I am tired of the trend of dark/grimdark stories and most popular books are epic in scale. See https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/jqx39c/rfantasy_top_self_published_novels_2020_results/ https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/jqx39c/rfantasy_to... for success stories.
- eisenman 5y ago
  Hugh Howey self-published his Wool series and has written some good stuff about the process of self-publishing (and the publishing industry in general): <https://hughhowey.com/?s=self-publishing https://hughhowey.com/?s=self-publishing>
tylerrobinson 5y ago
After reading this I actually opened up my notebook and jotted down a quick outline for a possible project of my own. Thanks for the inspiration!
thewhitetulip 5y ago
I've also self published a Go & Python book and it has been the most rewarding thing in my life. Every now and then I get tagged on a tweet about how someone really liked the way the Go book was written.
- uzakov 5y ago
  Are there any resources/things you wish you knew before you wrote and self-published a book? I am considering writing a short essay on making security decisions from the business point of view.
  - thewhitetulip 5y ago
    1. Editing is as important as technical content 2. If your book is open source then perfect technical content first and then edit it 3. Have loads of examples rather than information dump 4. Curse of knowledge is real. What knowledge you consider as common sense will blow a newbie's brains. So we have to read the book in "reverse" kinda way. Every sentence and word has to make sense to anyone and their grandmother. 5. Leanpub is really good for self publishing and your book gets good audience if you make it "pay what you want" rather than a completely paid book. We might think that paid only is the only way but if your book is free to download then you don't lose paying customers. Those who couldn't afford/don't want to pay are just not able to download. But if it is free & optional to pay then you get a higher audience. Leanpub allows you to have a DL kind of thing. Please use it. Post on related subreddits to get advice. You'll not get such a great advice from anywhere else Do DM me if you have any questions. I'll love to help!
    - uzakov 5y ago
      Thank you very much for sharing your opinion! I've added those to my "Book/Essay" folder, especially liked and agreed with the idea of having the book free to download. I can't see your email on HN nor DM functionality, is there any chance I can know your email?
      - 5y ago
jordanmorgan10 5y ago
Could not agree more. I released my book series I’m working on in early access and it’s crossed over $100,000 since May. My only regret is I didn’t start sooner.
asicsp 5y ago
I don't have a big success story [0] but I'm really grateful to have an option of self-publishing ebooks. It pays my bills and these days I'm even consistently adding to my savings. As mentioned in the article by Alex, having a following/email list helps a lot. I've also had good experience creating bundles with fellow indie creators, since it helps to reach a wider audience. [0] https://learnbyexample.github.io/my-book-writing-experience/ https://learnbyexample.github.io/my-book-writing-experience/
JoeAltmaier 5y ago
I'm waiting for his book on 'self publishing'!
nestorD 5y ago
I wrote one book (technical, on a hobby subject) which brought me a few hundred dollars (not much but it is in a highly specialized domain and there was very little marketing). I worked with a small editor (who covered all costs except for my time), asking to do most things myself (which they accepted after seeing a draft), and it has been a really rewarding experience! I used Latex for the editing (giving me a very polished final look, something where most self-published books fail at), did the illustrations myself (drawings, done using photographie and a vector drawing program: the result has fooled some professionals into thinking I am great at drawing), had an army of proofreaders (almost a dozen with various degree of knowledge on the subject matter, paid with a copy of the book, all of them found numerous mistakes) and even a lawyer (for advice on some copyright fine details as the book contains translations from other authors). Overall I would reommend the experience and will likely do it again (the next step is being in control of the marketing aspect).
- asmosoinio 5y ago
  Am intrigued: What's your book? Would like to check it out.
  - nestorD 5y ago
    It is in French and deals with a subfield of a subfield of magic: https://the-mystery-store.com/product/fr-billets-nestor-dee/ https://the-mystery-store.com/product/fr-billets-nestor-dee/ (out of stock at the moment but the editor tells me they will refill the stock shortly)
strzibny 5y ago
I only make a small dent from my self-published book (Deployment from Scratch), but at least I get to keep it. If I write a story one day, I would love to do it with a good publisher and be in the book stores, but for technical content I'll stick to self-publishing (not that I have any energy left to do more titles hah). I also see some people distributing self-published physical books themselves. Would love to know the hows and economy of it.
sleepysysadmin 5y ago
I can't even get to self-publishing. I'm not going to spend money on editing something that probably will never recoup the cost. If I don't pay for editing, it's going to be trash. Been considering throwing my books in a repo on github and just let people have them free.
acidburnNSA 5y ago
I wrote and self-published a intermediate intro to open source tools and the command line and made about $350 total. It was fun and rewarding but it does not pay the bills.

216 points by alexellisuk 5y ago

ggm 5y ago

My partner is a semi-retired academic proofreader. The suggestion to "find a friend" to proofread what is a commercial proposition is as bogus as asking a photographer to shoot your cover "for the coverage" Shame on you. Proofreading costs a lot because it's bloody hard work. You are a charlatan if you value others labour towards your own value proposition so slightly.

thih9 5y ago
To be fair, the article says “find a friend” and not “find a professional proofreader”. So I’d say this is comparable not to asking a photographer to shoot something for free, but to asking a friend (not necessarily a professional photographer) to something for free.
whalesalad 5y ago
Woah bud, slow your roll there. Shaming someone publicly for asking a friend to proofread their work is a terrible thing to do. You have absolutely no right to make that kind of claim, especially with zero real world context. Do you know the author? Do you know the author's relationship with the friend? This explosive knee-jerk commentary is out of control. Don't project your frustration with your partner's career on other people.
- dang 5y ago
  Please don't respond to a bad comment with a personal attack of your own. That only makes things worse. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
vasco 5y ago
I'm sure you pay your friends every time they help you with anything at all since for anything in the world they could possibly do there's a person out there making a living on that activity.
- function_seven 5y ago
  If my friends' labor was an essential input into my way of making a living, you're right that I would pay them for their part. I have a friend who paints houses for a living. If he ever asked me to help out on a job, for no pay, I'd say no. If I'm a professional mover, then no, I'd never dream of asking my friends for free help carting customers' boxes to the truck.
  - toss1 5y ago
    Yup. Heck, even if I borrow a friends tool, I give it back in at least as good shape as I got it (e.g., clean and add more fuel), and along with a gift like a gift card for a dinner, etc.
  - jstanley 5y ago
    On the other hand, self-publishing a single book is potentially quite far away from being a professional author.
    - function_seven 5y ago
      I’m guilty of replying here before reading the linked article. Yeah, if a friend was working on his first book, with no editorial or publisher support, I’d pitch in.
  - StevePerkins 5y ago
    As a published technical author, if you believe that your self-published book will be "an essential input into [your] way of making a living", then I have some really sad news for you...
  - mlyle 5y ago
    Many, many writers-- including those published by major publishers-- are supported by friends and family who provide beta-reading and coarse proofreading help. Buddies get the book free and before everyone else; they're not expected to fully, deeply edit the book, but just give feedback about the most glaring things. This can be a reasonable deal for all involved-- I'd gladly substitute in a book from a buddy for my nightly reading and highlight it and give him feedback. Of course, I also help my friends with minor professional questions gratis, too.
dsizzle 5y ago
I don't see any discussion about compensation, one way or the other. The "find a friend" heading does suggest free favors, but then the text says friends and community members "offered" their help.
dang 5y ago
Yikes - there's no need to attack someone like that. Perhaps you don't feel you owe people with insufficient understanding of the complexities of proofreading better, but you certainly owe this community much better if you're participating in it. If you wouldn't mind reviewing https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and taking the intended spirit of the site more to heart, we'd be grateful.
- ggm 5y ago
  Fair call Dan. I apologize. I could have worded this better. Friends might offer to do this for free but the value you place on work you sell is out of alignment with costs of production if you repeat.

huhtenberg 5y ago

I have read several self-published non-technical books and the lack of professional editing smacks you right in the face from the first page. Two that stood out in that aspect were "Unix: A History and a Memoir" by Brian Kernighan and "Not All Fairytales Have Happy Endings" by Ken Williams (of Sierra, Space Quest, etc.) Had really high hopes for both and they were an absolute chore to read. The "Unix" was excruciatingly boring, despite the underlying material. The "Sierra" was just over-board quirky and poorly structured, more like a collection of random notes stapled together and padded to target thickness. Both could've been much better given a bit of professional editing attention.

TillE 5y ago
Likewise, I've attempted many self-published novels, some with high praise from independent readers, and found nearly all to be of miserably poor quality - Andy Weir being the sole exception. Even if you have the bones of a good story, even if you're a talented writer, a good editing process can transform your work from an unreadable mess to an actual solid novel.
- chillfox 5y ago
  Editors does a lot less for quality of the writing than people tend to think. Also, there’s nothing stopping someone self publishing from getting an editor to polish their manuscript before publication. The truth is that most authors who self publish are simply not good at writing. I am generally a fan of self publishing, it’s great for good writers as they get to keep more of the money and for the ones on the border it allows them to get something out there that might be good enough for a small audience.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
  - dpwm 5y ago
    Editors vary. A good editor can take something rough and polish it, retaining the voice of the author. A bad editor can suck all the life out of the writing, never having noticed the author’s voice in the first place. It seems to me there has been a decline in the quality of editing by major publishers in recent years – though it may be that I have become better at noticing prose that would benefit from editing. Self-published stuff is normally worse, but it’s no surprise: hiring an editor would turn many self-published books from a modest profit to a heavy loss. The thing is that writing can be bad in a multitude of ways, and a good editor can fix at least one of those — and, at the very least, help ensure that the ideas on paper are written according to the norms and conventions of the language.

CliffStoll 5y ago

30+ years ago, Doubleday published my book. It would not have happened if it weren't handled by a literary agent (John Brockman). The original title of my book was "Fundamentals of Computer Security in a Networked Environment." ch 1) Hardware (registers, memory, disks, etc) 2) Software/OS (Unix, etc) 3) Application S/W 4) Networks - TCP, IP, Arpanet 5) Security - encryption, trapdoor functions, etc and so on. 20 or 30 chapters. When I sent the book proposal to Brockman, he told me bluntly: "I can't sell this. You can't write". Three months later, the story found its way to the front page of the NY Times. First person who called (at 3AM Pacific time): John Brockman. "Lemme sell your book!" So he went ahead and sold the book proposal. Didn't just sell it. He auctioned it amongst publishers. End of the day, there was a $40,000 advance (wow - more than I was making on my job!) I started writing: got through the first 5 chapters. Then my friend, Guy Consolmagno visited (he was joining the Jesuits). I showed him the manuscript, and as he read it, his face dropped. After 30 or 40 pages, he looked up and said, "Cliff, this is terrible. It's all about computers." "Of course, I replied,"I'm writing a book about computer security," Guy answered: "Every computer jock in the world will want a copy. Doubleday will probably sell 600 copies." "Yep, that's the book proposal that they bought!" "You idiot! They don't want to sell 600 copies," Guy said. "They want to sell 6 thousand. Maybe 60,000. You gotta do better than this..." "Look, Cliff. Don't write about computers," Guy continued. "Write about people!" "It's not about people," I replied. "The book's about the Arpanet, about crypto systems, about os holes, about how to manage a Unix system." "No it ain't," he said. "It's about those hackers in Germany. The bureaucrats in the FBI who have never touched a computer. The NSA people who listen but won't lift a finger. The CIA agents who pester you in Berkeley. It's about the long-hair computer jocks you work with. It's about the nutty living situation you're in. Most of all, it's about you." Well, I listened to my friend. Tossed those chapters and rewrote 'em. Told my story in first person. Today, many of you now know me because of that book. Editing? Mainly my sister Jeannie (who's a professional editor) and David Gernert of Doubleday. Brockman? He's still running a literary agency in New York. Brother Guy? He's now the director of the Vatican Observatory. Me? I'm still in the Bay Area, wondering how I ever wrote a book.

elwell 5y ago
I have The Cuckoo's Egg sitting on the table next to me, dog-eared with about 30 pages left. Thanks for writing it!

4kelly 5y ago

Thanks for sharing. I’ve always wanted to go out on my own and achieve something similar to what you’ve built. Congrats on making it a reality!

khazhoux 5y ago

How about for fiction? Anyone have any tips or success stories?

imgabe 5y ago
Andy Weir and Daniel Suarez are two fiction authors off the top of my head who originally self-published, then later got book deals when they became popular.
bobwaycott 5y ago
I’d recommend looking into Andy Weir for success stories.
SamoyedFurFluff 5y ago
Self publishing fiction is definitely a business minded approach and if you want to get in it I recommend checking out podcasts/YouTube videos covering it. It’s a lot of marketing and churn and hype.
asicsp 5y ago
I have a Kindle Unlimited subscription because of the wide variety of self-published fantasy books. These aren't as polished as traditional books, but I love reading them because I am tired of the trend of dark/grimdark stories and most popular books are epic in scale. See https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/jqx39c/rfantasy_top_self_published_novels_2020_results/ https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/jqx39c/rfantasy_to... for success stories.
eisenman 5y ago
Hugh Howey self-published his Wool series and has written some good stuff about the process of self-publishing (and the publishing industry in general): <https://hughhowey.com/?s=self-publishing https://hughhowey.com/?s=self-publishing>

tylerrobinson 5y ago

After reading this I actually opened up my notebook and jotted down a quick outline for a possible project of my own. Thanks for the inspiration!

thewhitetulip 5y ago

I've also self published a Go & Python book and it has been the most rewarding thing in my life. Every now and then I get tagged on a tweet about how someone really liked the way the Go book was written.

uzakov 5y ago
Are there any resources/things you wish you knew before you wrote and self-published a book? I am considering writing a short essay on making security decisions from the business point of view.
- thewhitetulip 5y ago
  1. Editing is as important as technical content 2. If your book is open source then perfect technical content first and then edit it 3. Have loads of examples rather than information dump 4. Curse of knowledge is real. What knowledge you consider as common sense will blow a newbie's brains. So we have to read the book in "reverse" kinda way. Every sentence and word has to make sense to anyone and their grandmother. 5. Leanpub is really good for self publishing and your book gets good audience if you make it "pay what you want" rather than a completely paid book. We might think that paid only is the only way but if your book is free to download then you don't lose paying customers. Those who couldn't afford/don't want to pay are just not able to download. But if it is free & optional to pay then you get a higher audience. Leanpub allows you to have a DL kind of thing. Please use it. Post on related subreddits to get advice. You'll not get such a great advice from anywhere else Do DM me if you have any questions. I'll love to help!
  - uzakov 5y ago
    Thank you very much for sharing your opinion! I've added those to my "Book/Essay" folder, especially liked and agreed with the idea of having the book free to download. I can't see your email on HN nor DM functionality, is there any chance I can know your email?
    - 5y ago

jordanmorgan10 5y ago

Could not agree more. I released my book series I’m working on in early access and it’s crossed over $100,000 since May. My only regret is I didn’t start sooner.

asicsp 5y ago

I don't have a big success story [0] but I'm really grateful to have an option of self-publishing ebooks. It pays my bills and these days I'm even consistently adding to my savings. As mentioned in the article by Alex, having a following/email list helps a lot. I've also had good experience creating bundles with fellow indie creators, since it helps to reach a wider audience. [0] https://learnbyexample.github.io/my-book-writing-experience/ https://learnbyexample.github.io/my-book-writing-experience/

JoeAltmaier 5y ago

I'm waiting for his book on 'self publishing'!

nestorD 5y ago

I wrote one book (technical, on a hobby subject) which brought me a few hundred dollars (not much but it is in a highly specialized domain and there was very little marketing). I worked with a small editor (who covered all costs except for my time), asking to do most things myself (which they accepted after seeing a draft), and it has been a really rewarding experience! I used Latex for the editing (giving me a very polished final look, something where most self-published books fail at), did the illustrations myself (drawings, done using photographie and a vector drawing program: the result has fooled some professionals into thinking I am great at drawing), had an army of proofreaders (almost a dozen with various degree of knowledge on the subject matter, paid with a copy of the book, all of them found numerous mistakes) and even a lawyer (for advice on some copyright fine details as the book contains translations from other authors). Overall I would reommend the experience and will likely do it again (the next step is being in control of the marketing aspect).

asmosoinio 5y ago
Am intrigued: What's your book? Would like to check it out.
- nestorD 5y ago
  It is in French and deals with a subfield of a subfield of magic: https://the-mystery-store.com/product/fr-billets-nestor-dee/ https://the-mystery-store.com/product/fr-billets-nestor-dee/ (out of stock at the moment but the editor tells me they will refill the stock shortly)

strzibny 5y ago

I only make a small dent from my self-published book (Deployment from Scratch), but at least I get to keep it. If I write a story one day, I would love to do it with a good publisher and be in the book stores, but for technical content I'll stick to self-publishing (not that I have any energy left to do more titles hah). I also see some people distributing self-published physical books themselves. Would love to know the hows and economy of it.

sleepysysadmin 5y ago

I can't even get to self-publishing. I'm not going to spend money on editing something that probably will never recoup the cost. If I don't pay for editing, it's going to be trash. Been considering throwing my books in a repo on github and just let people have them free.

acidburnNSA 5y ago

I wrote and self-published a intermediate intro to open source tools and the command line and made about $350 total. It was fun and rewarding but it does not pay the bills.