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Writing a software book and making over $100k

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Re: Writing a software book and making over $100k

#41

Post by vladmihalcea »

petercooper wrote: post #40
xchaotic wrote: post #19

I consider this a success story similar to an NBA star making it. So if 100k is very successful in terms of computer book revenues, then I’d say money should not be the main motivation to do it, as there’s better, more reliable ways to earn money in the software industry - working for any SP500 company will easily get you the same amount of money in less than a year, more or less guaranteed. I know it’s not either or…

working for any SP500 company will easily get you the same amount of money in less than a year Horses for courses, as we say in the UK, but working for an SP500 company means a boss, reporting, office politics, and spending most of the day doing things that other people want you to to do. If you're independently minded and want to break out of that world, stories like the OP's are nice to see.

> If you're independently minded and want to break out of that world, stories like the OP's are nice to see.

I was approached by recruiters asking me if I wanted to work for Google in Zurich. I had to decline them.

I'm happier being a solo-entrepreneur. The best part is that I get to learn a lot of stuff about running a business, which was impossible when I was a employee.

Re: Writing a software book and making over $100k

#42

Post by hnick »

hohenheim wrote: post #20
vladmihalcea wrote: post #2

I'm the book author, so if you have any questions, let me know.

You mentioned publishers leave you with 10% of the sales. I can't wrap my head around that, how is that possible and acceptable by authors?

I don't think it's unreasonable that for many people, a publisher with experience and an existing distribution network & agreements, perceived authority as a "real" publisher, and a marketing budget and plan will result in 10x the sales. I've had a friend self publish in another industry and getting books shipped around the world and in stores is a hassle as a lone operator - and that's if people even know you exist.

If you live in the US (she didn't) then Amazon can be a decent option for a lot of reach though.

Amazon and other similar print on demand services also help with this but it's not suitable for all products (full colour can be a problem).

Re: Writing a software book and making over $100k

#43

Post by _the_inflator »

hohenheim wrote: post #20
vladmihalcea wrote: post #2

I'm the book author, so if you have any questions, let me know.

You mentioned publishers leave you with 10% of the sales. I can't wrap my head around that, how is that possible and acceptable by authors?

Same practice here in Germany as well.

Sad practice is, that some local publishers which have a working niche refuse to sell ebooks. They rely solemly on traditional hardcover publishing.

No ebooks, yes. But it is - sadly - working for them.

Re: Writing a software book and making over $100k

#44

Post by swalsh »

xchaotic wrote: post #19

I consider this a success story similar to an NBA star making it. So if 100k is very successful in terms of computer book revenues, then I’d say money should not be the main motivation to do it, as there’s better, more reliable ways to earn money in the software industry - working for any SP500 company will easily get you the same amount of money in less than a year, more or less guaranteed. I know it’s not either or…

Writing a highly niche book like this, probably compensates you more in the "exposure" side of things (i realize that word has negative connotations now, but it is a real thing).

I have to imagine consulting gigs would go up. And as the "guy who wrote the book on it" you can probably charge significantly more.

Re: Writing a software book and making over $100k

#45

Post by eafkuor »

vladmihalcea wrote: post #39
eafkuor wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> working for any SP500 company will easily get you the same amount of money in less than a year If you live in the US. Which I'm (maybe wrongly) going to assume the author doesn't. 100k dollars is a life changing amount of money in a lot of countries.

> Which I'm (maybe wrongly) going to assume the author doesn't. I'm not living in the US. I live in Romania. In Europe, salaries are not as high as the ones in California. But then, even in the US, the Silicon Valley salaries are much higher than in other states. The great thing about selling products is that there is no upper boundary to how much money you can make. So, over time, you can end up making 250k $ from a…

Oh man, I completely agree with you. People here or on reddit who are constantly talking about US salaries and cost of life forget that there's other parts of the world where people are programmers.

I live in Poland and a one-off 100k USD as a side income in a year would absolutely change my life. I am _not_ exaggerating.

Re: Writing a software book and making over $100k

#46

Post by scarface74 »

vladmihalcea wrote: post #27
scarface74 wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ll go a step further. I agree going through all of the trouble writing and promoting a book for only a $100K seems like a lot of work. Especially when you consider the risk adjusted return. Anyone that smart could make more than that - guaranteed just by consulting. I’m most familiar with the Apple related ecosystem, but there you see people with a following making a money via optional subscriptions (Accidental Tec…

The book made more than 100k as it's still selling pretty well. In fact, the sales have increased over time, even if the book is now 5 years old. I keep on updating it and will release a second edition soon. The marketing effort is not just for the book. It also helps me sell: - video courses - on-site training - online training and workshops - find consulting opportunities - subscription licenses for a software prod…

That makes sense. From what I’ve seen, most authors don’t write books just to make money from the books themselves but as the center of the “flywheel”.

Re: Writing a software book and making over $100k

#47

Post by ghaff »

hnick wrote: post #42
hohenheim wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You mentioned publishers leave you with 10% of the sales. I can't wrap my head around that, how is that possible and acceptable by authors?

I don't think it's unreasonable that for many people, a publisher with experience and an existing distribution network & agreements, perceived authority as a "real" publisher, and a marketing budget and plan will result in 10x the sales. I've had a friend self publish in another industry and getting books shipped around the world and in stores is a hassle as a lone operator - and that's if people even know you exist.…

>perceived authority as a "real" publisher,

With certain professional books publishing with a known publisher definitely gives the book a certain "gravitas" (deserved or not) that it may not have if you independently publish. And if you're mostly writing a book to burnish your professional reputation (as is often the case) rather than to make money, that may be a pretty good tradeoff even if you could have made more in direct sales if you published yourself.

To be honest, I'm not sure publishers do an awful lot for you directly though you will probably have to pay out of your pocket for things like editing services if you go it yourself, but the name does still often matter.

Re: Writing a software book and making over $100k

#49

Post by scarface74 »

chrisseaton wrote: post #31
scarface74 wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ll go a step further. I agree going through all of the trouble writing and promoting a book for only a $100K seems like a lot of work. Especially when you consider the risk adjusted return. Anyone that smart could make more than that - guaranteed just by consulting. I’m most familiar with the Apple related ecosystem, but there you see people with a following making a money via optional subscriptions (Accidental Tec…

> Anyone that smart could make more than that - guaranteed just by consulting. I'd have absolutely no idea where to even start consulting, or whether I'd have any aptitude for it. I'd be very surprised if anyone anywhere wanted to pay me $100k for consulting! But I could probably write a book. People have strengths in different areas.

Yes you could write a book, but no one would buy it or even hear about it unless you put in the work that he did to make a name for himself.

By the time you established yourself as an expert in the field like he did, consulting opportunities would open themselves up.

I just have a very small network compared to him, haven’t tried to market myself and just through word of mouth, I’ve had a couple of people asking me about consulting for their startups that could have easily netted $30K - $40K at $125-$150/hour.

I have a strict policy about not doing side gigs so I turned them down. But now, I probably would have had to turn them down regardless because of a conflict of interest since I do consulting as part of $day_job.

Re: Writing a software book and making over $100k

#50

Post by chrisseaton »

scarface74 wrote: post #49
chrisseaton wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Anyone that smart could make more than that - guaranteed just by consulting. I'd have absolutely no idea where to even start consulting, or whether I'd have any aptitude for it. I'd be very surprised if anyone anywhere wanted to pay me $100k for consulting! But I could probably write a book. People have strengths in different areas.

Yes you could write a book, but no one would buy it or even hear about it unless you put in the work that he did to make a name for himself. By the time you established yourself as an expert in the field like he did, consulting opportunities would open themselves up. I just have a very small network compared to him, haven’t tried to market myself and just through word of mouth, I’ve had a couple of people asking me a…

> Yes you could write a book, but no one would buy it or even hear about it

Lol thanks for the attack on my writing skill and ability to promote myself!

Being an expert in a field and being able to write a book doesn't mean you're any good at consulting. That's my point. It's a different skill.

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