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Sure, but why would anyone in the world buy your version of "Introduction to Javascript" over the hundreds I'm sure already exist? Or the many freely available

by ayrx 12y ago

Sure, but why would anyone in the world buy your version of "Introduction to Javascript" over the hundreds I'm sure already exist? Or the many freely available tutorials online? Just do a quick Google search and you can find many anecdotes about how writing a book is not even close to a good way of spending your time if your goal is to make money. And that's for authors with an established reputation in the field. It's not impossible but it's really really difficult.

TheOtherHobbes 12y ago
Video courses != books. For whatever reason, people seem more willing to pay for video courses and hands-on instruction. Books are indeed a tough sell, but that's partly because if you publish with a traditional publisher you'll be lucky to get more $10k advance for a developer reference and $20k for a mainstream Windows/OS X book, and even luckier - like lottery-winner lucky - if that advance ever earns out and you see some royalties. That's the high end. The low end is somewhere between zero and not much. But if you can find an empty-ish niche and self-publish, your chances of a reasonable income are much higher. And if you can support that with live classes, sample code, a forum, and video content, I'd say the chances of making reasonable money are much better than in the crapshoot that is self-funded app development.
- ayrx 12y ago
  Sure, but producing quality video content and code samples in addition to a quality book adds even more time to an already long process. A discussion forum or mailing list implies continuous effort in engaging with your audience. Not quite the passive income the original poster wants. That's not even taking into account the fact that to produce such content the person has to be a (recognized especially if you don't have the marketing budget of large publishers) expert in a niche area. Such a person can presumably already make decent money as a consultant. Being a consultant and a content producer is not mutually exclusive of course, but it's not quite the easy income I sense the original poster is looking for.
  - derefr 12y ago
    You hit the nail on the head here. We're not really talking about random people being capable of writing profitable books; we're talking about expert consultants having the ability to productize their consulting into info-products to provide them with recurring revenue. It's somewhat the same idea as an expert engineer inventing and patenting a machine design, then licensing it: they take a bunch of knowledge they would have sold once, and make it into something they can sell over and over.

by ayrx 12y ago

TheOtherHobbes 12y ago

Video courses != books. For whatever reason, people seem more willing to pay for video courses and hands-on instruction. Books are indeed a tough sell, but that's partly because if you publish with a traditional publisher you'll be lucky to get more $10k advance for a developer reference and $20k for a mainstream Windows/OS X book, and even luckier - like lottery-winner lucky - if that advance ever earns out and you see some royalties. That's the high end. The low end is somewhere between zero and not much. But if you can find an empty-ish niche and self-publish, your chances of a reasonable income are much higher. And if you can support that with live classes, sample code, a forum, and video content, I'd say the chances of making reasonable money are much better than in the crapshoot that is self-funded app development.

ayrx 12y ago
Sure, but producing quality video content and code samples in addition to a quality book adds even more time to an already long process. A discussion forum or mailing list implies continuous effort in engaging with your audience. Not quite the passive income the original poster wants. That's not even taking into account the fact that to produce such content the person has to be a (recognized especially if you don't have the marketing budget of large publishers) expert in a niche area. Such a person can presumably already make decent money as a consultant. Being a consultant and a content producer is not mutually exclusive of course, but it's not quite the easy income I sense the original poster is looking for.
- derefr 12y ago
  You hit the nail on the head here. We're not really talking about random people being capable of writing profitable books; we're talking about expert consultants having the ability to productize their consulting into info-products to provide them with recurring revenue. It's somewhat the same idea as an expert engineer inventing and patenting a machine design, then licensing it: they take a bunch of knowledge they would have sold once, and make it into something they can sell over and over.