For my recent technical book, I spent 3 weeks writing over 200 pages and then 3 weeks editing to get the book down to under 80 pages. It's funny because I then

For my recent technical book, I spent 3 weeks writing over 200 pages and then 3 weeks editing to get the book down to under 80 pages. It's funny because I then had several complaints (from non-buyers particularly) that the book cost too much for an 80 page book. Someone can certainly save their money and reproduce the experience of the book by spending a couple of painful weeks combing through documentation and hitting their head against walls. OR, they can spend less than what they probably make in an hour and get the same knowledge in 80 pages. My target audience was people that value their time far more than their money, so that's why I spent so much effort making the book as succinct as possible. As an aside: I'm really glad I put a price on the book. Initially I was tempted to have it be "pay what you want" so it would be more accessible, but that would have devalued it I think. Instead, I've offered a special cheaper option for students, junior developers, and those in countries where the book would be prohibitively expensive. So far, I've had about 50 people take me up on that. The book has been successful enough to give me another month where I don't have to take contracts and I can focus on creating more content. If I hadn't charged sufficiently for it, then I'd have to pause everything and do contract work. So, spending that extra 3 weeks making the book shorter and more focused was a win for both me and my target customers. For anyone curious, here's the book: http://devopsu.com/books/taste-test-puppet-chef-salt-stack-ansible.html http://devopsu.com/books/taste-test-puppet-chef-salt-stack-a...