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(cofounder of Leanpub, here) Thanks for the great post, Aaron. Lots of food for thought. First, Aaron is really our ideal author: he has an audience, has some
by spatten 14y ago
(cofounder of Leanpub, here)
Thanks for the great post, Aaron. Lots of food for thought.
First, Aaron is really our ideal author: he has an audience, has some content that would make a great book and he values his time (i.e. he knows it's a bad idea to create a book generation workflow and setup a website to sell the book). Oh, and he's a good writer :).
What stood out for me is this line:
My original plan was to deal with all the rendering myself, set up an
online storefront somewhere, and make it available that way. I wasn’t
crazy about that plan, but it seemed like that’s how most of the
self-published authors I’d read in the past handled it.
Then I stumbled across Leanpub.
It pains me deeply that Aaron didn't know about Leanpub. It should be the first thing that crosses the mind of anyone on HN who thinks about publishing.
I think I'll finish up this feature I'm working on (which is awesome and our authors have been asking for it forever, don't get me wrong, but doesn't solve the problem of people not hearing about us) and then stick the marketing hat on my head with crazy-glue.
- ruralocity 14y agoAuthor of the post/book in question here--hey Scott, to be fair I don't hang out much on HN unless someone points something out to me here :) Seriously, though, I think is getting an increasing amount of word-of-mouth publicity. That's how I heard about it when I did--a panelist on the Ruby Rogues podcast mentioned a new book that the author had "Leanpubbed" and I did some sleuthing from there (and you know you're on the right track when your product name is used as a verb). So in that regard there may be more that we Leanpub authors can do to promote the platform and keep it going strong--it's been good for me and I'd love to see it be a rousing success, you know? Are there ways you can help us help you get the word out?
- peterarmstrong 14y agoRegarding getting the word out, I think Leanpub authors saying good things about us on HN and Twitter, as well as in great blog posts like yours, are the best ways. So, thanks very much for writing such a fantastic post! I'll add it to our buzz page later today...