Lessons learned from a year as a self-published author • Hacker News Board

Re: Lessons learned from a year as a self-published author

#21

Post by nathanbarry » Thu, Jan 09, 2014, 5:11 PM UTC

carlmcqueen wrote: post #9

I find it more refreshing to read success stories of $16,920.12 rather than $250,000 on my first book success stories. Perhaps it comes from the fear of the 'I know a guy who...' stories that you hear as an anecdote why someone who really shouldn't take a huge risk is about to take one. Congratulations on your first book, hopefully the lessons learned will lead to continued success with future endeavors.

That actually made a big difference for me as well. When I had heard about self-published ebooks making money it was 37signals making $400,000+. That didn't inspire me at all since they had a massive audience.

But when I read Sacha Greif and Jarrod Drysdale share their numbers from small audiences (an audience size I knew I could achieve) I was inspired. They made $6500 and $8000 from their ebook launches.

Since I didn't have any kind of an audience at the time I thought if I did half that I would consider it a success. Turns out I did 2x!

I still share numbers, since I always have, but I agree that it is the smaller numbers that are truly inspiring.

Re: Lessons learned from a year as a self-published author

#22

Post by wikwocket » Thu, Jan 09, 2014, 5:18 PM UTC

I have seen a lot of articles like this pop up recently.

I'm curious; do people think that any given software guy or other specialist can just decide to launch a book based on their domain knowledge, and have a shot at success like this? Or are these all the self-selected outliers, the minority of self-publishers that actually make a buck and so decide to blog about it instead of quietly abandoning the project?

I've gone so far as to draft an outline table of contents for a possible book myself, but I never know if it would have a shot at taking off, or just be likely to flounder in obscurity.

Re: Lessons learned from a year as a self-published author

#23

Post by poopsintub » Thu, Jan 09, 2014, 5:32 PM UTC

thejteam wrote: post #13

Does anybody have any experience with selling books like this outside of the software realm? By which I mean publishing beta books as you go or bundling other resources. and charging a premium. It seems to be something that the software community finds acceptable, but does this extend to other fields? Non-fiction or fiction.

I'm not sure how you would have a beta version of a fiction book. That would be like selling jumbled ideas. I have a friend whose mother just released her first book on amazon and I believe Barnes and Noble. It sat up next to Koontz on the amazon best selling new releases for the first few days in that category. She put it on sale for $.99 as a new release, then I assume, will raise the price to $2 or $3 eventually. If you find the right audience, and know how to promote and market it well, people will buy.

Re: Lessons learned from a year as a self-published author

#24

Post by gadders » Thu, Jan 09, 2014, 5:35 PM UTC

I think LeanPub needs to work on how it categorises its books. Most seem to be software but are showing up under weird categories like Fitness.

Re: Lessons learned from a year as a self-published author

#25

Post by nonrecursive » Thu, Jan 09, 2014, 5:44 PM UTC

wikwocket wrote: post #22

I have seen a lot of articles like this pop up recently. I'm curious; do people think that any given software guy or other specialist can just decide to launch a book based on their domain knowledge, and have a shot at success like this? Or are these all the self-selected outliers, the minority of self-publishers that actually make a buck and so decide to blog about it instead of quietly abandoning the project? I've…

It sounds like what you might be asking is - it worth it to risk taking the time and effort to write a book? I'm going through the process right now, so maybe my thoughts can help.

I'm writing a free online book, "Clojure for the Brave and True" (http://www.braveclojure.com/), that has been picked up by No Starch. A couple of the chapters, "Start Using Emacs" and "Functional Programming" have done pretty well here on HN. I've made about $1k on leanpub so far for the unfinished book (ebook buyers will get the full No Starch ebook when it's ready).

The main thing that has worked for me has been to constantly get feedback from readers. Every time I release a chapter I tweet it, send it to my mailing list, and post it on reddit and G+. The comments have been overwhelmingly supportive. If it weren't for that kind of enthusiastic feedback, I'm pretty certain I would have given up.

Other people might have other ways to stay motivated, but this make the project much more "real" for me. I feel proud to provide my readers with quality content, and that they would choose to spend their time reading my work. It also helps to get those leanpub emails saying that someone has paid for the PDF - it's very encouraging when people pay for a free resource. To sum up this point - try thinking about what kind of process will make the risk worth it for you.

The second thing that's worked for me has been to write in a way that I, personally, find entertaining. When I sit down to write, I crank up the Lady Gaga and let out my inner idiot. It's way more fun that way, and people seem to like the result.

I hope this helps!

Re: Lessons learned from a year as a self-published author

#26

Post by teh_klev » Thu, Jan 09, 2014, 5:57 PM UTC

nonrecursive wrote: post #25

wikwocket wrote: post #22

I have seen a lot of articles like this pop up recently. I'm curious; do people think that any given software guy or other specialist can just decide to launch a book based on their domain knowledge, and have a shot at success like this? Or are these all the self-selected outliers, the minority of self-publishers that actually make a buck and so decide to blog about it instead of quietly abandoning the project? I've…

It sounds like what you might be asking is - it worth it to risk taking the time and effort to write a book? I'm going through the process right now, so maybe my thoughts can help. I'm writing a free online book, "Clojure for the Brave and True" ( http://www.braveclojure.com/ ), that has been picked up by No Starch. A couple of the chapters, "Start Using Emacs" and "Functional Programming" have done pretty well here…

Just curious about this:

"I've made about $1k on leanpub so far for the unfinished book (ebook buyers will get the full No Starch ebook when it's ready)."

What happens if you burn out and decide you can't finish the book? Do people get their money back or did they pay less for a beta/unfinished copy and accept that this is what they're paying for?

Re: Lessons learned from a year as a self-published author

#27

Post by teh_klev » Thu, Jan 09, 2014, 6:03 PM UTC

Well done Josh, this looks like a book I'm going to pony up for on pay day.

How did you manage the editorial, proof reading and technical review aspects of the book? Do LeanPub provide these services or do you do this yourself, if so how?

Re: Lessons learned from a year as a self-published author

#28

Post by eloff » Thu, Jan 09, 2014, 6:06 PM UTC

My brother writes scifi books and publishes them on Kindle. Without getting too specific his take home has been over $10k per book, with 3 books published this year. Which is amazing for a new author. Lookup Jasper T Scott on amazon if you're curious.

Re: Lessons learned from a year as a self-published author

#29

Post by peterarmstrong » Thu, Jan 09, 2014, 6:09 PM UTC

teh_klev wrote: post #26

nonrecursive wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It sounds like what you might be asking is - it worth it to risk taking the time and effort to write a book? I'm going through the process right now, so maybe my thoughts can help. I'm writing a free online book, "Clojure for the Brave and True" ( http://www.braveclojure.com/ ), that has been picked up by No Starch. A couple of the chapters, "Start Using Emacs" and "Functional Programming" have done pretty well here…

Just curious about this: "I've made about $1k on leanpub so far for the unfinished book (ebook buyers will get the full No Starch ebook when it's ready)." What happens if you burn out and decide you can't finish the book? Do people get their money back or did they pay less for a beta/unfinished copy and accept that this is what they're paying for?

[Leanpub cofounder here.]

We have an unconditional 45-day refund policy. This is so readers of the in-progress book can judge whether they think it has stalled. If so, they can decide whether they've gotten their money's worth, and if not, get a refund in 2 clicks.

In situations where books are abandoned after being dormant for a long time, we can't issue refunds since we literally can't. (We take PayPal and we take credit cards via PayPal Website Payments Pro, and we can only do refunds for 2 months with credit cards.) So, in these cases, it is up to the author to make things right.

This happens very, very rarely though: having actual readers of your in-progress book that you will disappoint if you stop is a great incentive for you to finish.

Re: Lessons learned from a year as a self-published author

#30

Post by alan_cx » Thu, Jan 09, 2014, 6:13 PM UTC

RobAley wrote: post #17

leoplct wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you not afraid that people may send each other the .pdf file without paying ?

As an author on Leanpub ( http://www.leanpub.com/php ) and one who's book has made it onto at least one torrent tracker site, I can say that if your book is worth pirating, it will be, and by trying to protect it with DRM you are only going to lose readers. It's only my first book, but it doesn't seem to have hurt my sales figures, and I've had plenty of complimentary feedback about the leanpub experience.

From what I can make out, if something is worth pirating, other people will happily pay for it. IMHO, the main question is; are there enough people paying to make it worth it in itself, regardless of people sharing it freely? If so, then the sharing doesn't matter.