31–36 of 36 posts
What I am basically looking for is to create a strong resume and some bit of passive income.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Even though I wouldn't want the publisher to make the outline of my book for me, I have to say that Manning books were some of my favourites. Their structure is pretty good.
Manning have a fair amount of docs and support for preparing a TOC, including soliciting opinions from outside experts. I imagine it's similar for other publishers. I didn't feel like I was being made to follow a template. In fact the TOC changed a lot over the course of writing.
As a curious 'outsider' (Developer, not a writer), is it worth the time and effort to publish a book on Self-Publish platforms like Amazon Kindle? What I am basically looking for is to create a strong resume and some bit of passive income.
- Writing a book is a lot of writing--even if you do a shorter one. At a minimum, I'd start blogging on the topic before tackling a book.
- "create a strong resume" Under the right circumstances, the right book can add to a strong resume but it's not going to create one by itself. And books from name publishers in the space will have more effect--fairly or not.
- "some bit of passive income" Don't count on it. There are outliers but you're going to have to pay up-front for services like editing and probably design. (And these aren't really optional.) You may or may not earn the cost of those back.
I've written books and they've been useful reputationally. They're also a lot of work, I've been able to write them partially on company time, and they're a direct fit with my day job.
Having recently released a "technical" book with a large traditional publisher (Wiley) [0], here are a few of my learnings: - Expect nothing from the publisher in terms of marketing support. In fact, a good nonfiction book proposal is going to spend most of its length explaining to the publisher how you will sell the book for them through your connections and credibility - not the other way around. It's all on you. -…
Point 1 is familiar; of expecting nothing from the publisher, only extend that to nothing at all . A relative of mine wrote a technical book, got nothing from the publisher in terms of support, advice or feedback, and when published they did absolutely zero marketing. Other than putting ink on paper, absolutely nothing.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Point 1 is familiar; of expecting nothing from the publisher, only extend that to nothing at all . A relative of mine wrote a technical book, got nothing from the publisher in terms of support, advice or feedback, and when published they did absolutely zero marketing. Other than putting ink on paper, absolutely nothing.
Which publisher was it? Surely this varies quite a bit between publishers.
This is a nice summary, and shows the benefit of working with a publisher, when you are writing a book that is similar to ones they have published already. You get a lot of support, and will definitely benefit distribution-wise later as well. Congratulations to the author - especially on publishing relatively quickly, in 10 months from the idea! And it's very nice to read that all royalties are going to Girls Who Cod…
[1] https://www.amazon.com/Software-Engineering-Google-Lessons-P...