http://petervandijck.com/iabook/ Information architecture. Took me about 4 months in the library of Colombia university (Peter Parker!) to write it :)
Ask HN: Have you written a book?
21–30 of 56 posts
Re: Ask HN: Have you written a book?
#22I write books for a living. Mostly fiction: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dap... Which is not to say that I haven't written technical books, back in the day: http://www.amazon.com/Web-Architects-Handbook-Charles-Stross... I'm not self-published -- I've got Ace (aka part of Penguin USA), Orbit (aka Hachette) and Tor (aka Holtzbrinck) as my publishers. Yes, I do this for a day job.
Your fiction books' descriptions are great! I'm going to check out the previews on my Kindle app. If the books are as good, you've got a new fan!
Re: Ask HN: Have you written a book?
#23Agile/Kanban without the Bullshit For folks who have suffered under various Agile, Kanban, and other improvement regimes and know that it's not supposed to be like this. I'm about 80% of the way through the first draft. I have a few prominent community members that are going to review (and recommend, if they like it) but it's more of a personal statement than a commercial venture. It's a topic I have a lot of experie…
What are the best current resources for self-publishing and the epub maze?
I had to scrounge around all over the net finding stuff. The EPUB format alone eventually required downloading the spec. I didn't expect to be reading specs as part of the technical bits of writing a book.
Then there was the question of who to send the book to -- once it's done, where does it go? And, if you ask me, it's very easy to get screwed as an author.
There are about a dozen different decision points you have to go through -- format, topic, compatibility with other formats, distribution, marketing, sales, etc. Each of these is non-trivial.
For instance, you could just offer folks your book from your web site. Click the button and get a download. But do most people know how to take a download and put it on their e-reader? Are you sure you want no DRM at all? Which vendor do you want handling the mechanics of the sale, if any? If you offer a download from your site, does it preclude also offering the book on Amazon or iTunes?
It's issues like that every step of the way. As another example, I found EPUB looked one way on one device, but converting it to MOBI for a Kindle caused subtle changes. It's almost like browser compatibility BS all over again.
Wasn't trying to duck your question, but I basically found nothing that wrapped it all up in one easy-to-understand package. Perhaps if I make a few bucks with the first book I'll go back and write an ebook, "Ebooks for hackers" which assumes you know stuff like CSS, XML, and XHTML and instead concentrates on the other parts.
Re: Ask HN: Have you written a book?
#24I write books for a living. Mostly fiction: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dap... Which is not to say that I haven't written technical books, back in the day: http://www.amazon.com/Web-Architects-Handbook-Charles-Stross... I'm not self-published -- I've got Ace (aka part of Penguin USA), Orbit (aka Hachette) and Tor (aka Holtzbrinck) as my publishers. Yes, I do this for a day job.
I'm currently reading your book "Accelerando" (in parallel with about 20 other books). HN readers would probably enjoy the density of ideas evident in it.
Re: Ask HN: Have you written a book?
#25Yes, back in 1994. "Lenguaje Ensamblador de los 80x86", which means "80x86 Assembly Language", published by Anaya (major Spanish publisher). It's now out of print, but there were over 20 reprints and it was pretty successful, was recommended at many universities, etc...
http://www.keenzo.com/showproduct.asp?ID=2328952
I wish I had written it in English, it would have helped 10 times as many people and opened 10 times as many doors. Money would have been better too.
I'm writing other stuff now, but it's fiction and as of yet unpublished (and unattempted to). In due time.
Re: Ask HN: Have you written a book?
#26I wrote a 50k NaNoWriMo entry a few years back. I never tried to publish it (except on the web). On reflection, it was garbage - friends who read it (or pretended to) said they thought I was trying too hard to demonstrate technical ability at the expense of plot. I currently have a second novel in progress (using the excellent Scrivener software) although I don't expect to complete even a first draft for a long time yet.
Re: Ask HN: Have you written a book?
#27I wrote Professional XMPP Programming with JavaScript and jQuery ( http://professionalxmpp.com ), which is a book about developing XMPP applications (and not just chat related) using the Strophe.js ( http://strophe.im/strophejs ) library. There are a few books about the XMPP protocol itself, but I really wanted to see something that was more about how to get things done with it than schema descriptions. The book has…
I'd like to do the same with Erlang...Practical apps w/OTP... I have been thinking about it since your talk at Erlang Factory... although i think economically it makes the most sense to write books on iOS programming
That sounds like a book I would buy, but of course, I have almost all the other Erlang books too.
Re: Ask HN: Have you written a book?
#28I wrote Professional XMPP Programming with JavaScript and jQuery ( http://professionalxmpp.com ), which is a book about developing XMPP applications (and not just chat related) using the Strophe.js ( http://strophe.im/strophejs ) library. There are a few books about the XMPP protocol itself, but I really wanted to see something that was more about how to get things done with it than schema descriptions. The book has…
I have that book on my shelf! Loved it, was a great resource when trying to figure out XMPP and Strophe.js.
Thanks for the kind words!
Re: Ask HN: Have you written a book?
#29I write books for a living. Mostly fiction: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dap... Which is not to say that I haven't written technical books, back in the day: http://www.amazon.com/Web-Architects-Handbook-Charles-Stross... I'm not self-published -- I've got Ace (aka part of Penguin USA), Orbit (aka Hachette) and Tor (aka Holtzbrinck) as my publishers. Yes, I do this for a day job.
It's times like these I wish hacker news had a user follow ability. You are probably one of my favorite authors of all time, and I had no idea you were present here on HN.
Re: Ask HN: Have you written a book?
#30I've published two law-related books, one for business people, the other for lawyers:
1. When You Sign a Business Contract: A Final Pre-Flight Checklist. http://goo.gl/2PbFM This is a $9.99 PDF, downloadable from e-junkie.com. It lists five points that anyone who signs a contract should check to reduce the chance of personal liability, jail time, dangerous provisions, etc. The extensive notes contain numerous real-life stories. The five-point checklist itself and a link to buy the book are posted on my blog.
2. The Law and Business of Computer Software. http://goo.gl/OnqrO This was a treatise for lawyers, first published in 1990 and still in print. I stopped doing the annual updates about 10 years ago; another author's name is on the second edition.