Ask HN: What's keeping you from writing a book?
We're all experts in something; or at least we all have a unique viewpoint to share with the world. What's keeping you from writing a book to share your expertise?
16 comments
I wrote a fair chunk of a technical book once, thirty-ish years ago, but technology was changing very quickly back then, and I had too many other irons in the fire to finish it before the content became obsolete.
An idea for a book did occur to me a couple years ago: I thought I might write down everything I know about throwing renegade-style rave parties. What kept me? I'm not certain my knowledge is unique enough to be useful, and I think maybe it's better for people to figure it out organically, as part of a community. I wouldn't want to help people throw such events as a business.
An idea for a book did occur to me a couple years ago: I thought I might write down everything I know about throwing renegade-style rave parties. What kept me? I'm not certain my knowledge is unique enough to be useful, and I think maybe it's better for people to figure it out organically, as part of a community. I wouldn't want to help people throw such events as a business.
Only procrastination and juggling other things these days. I've released a few fiction books now (self-published) so I know what I need to do and how to market it. But actually getting the time to sit down and power through that first draft is always a challenge for me.
I prefer to release the information for free on the internet. It benefits more people and it still pays better.
In my field of expertise, the books are already written. I don't know what else I could add.
As for a fiction novel, I don't have any storyline in mind. I have images in my mind, short videos/films I find enjoyable, but not a grand story that could fill 400 pages.
I'm also not a famous person, so my autobiography wouldn't be of much interest.
As for a fiction novel, I don't have any storyline in mind. I have images in my mind, short videos/films I find enjoyable, but not a grand story that could fill 400 pages.
I'm also not a famous person, so my autobiography wouldn't be of much interest.
I have grammar issues and they say I write like a child on Amazon.
I'm still gaining the requisite wisdom that is necessary to avoid embarrassing myself.
I was going to convey this same message, but the words I would have chosen would have been inferior to these I am replying to -- indicating I have even further to go down the path to embarassment-avoiding wisdom.
It’s very easy, I know from your disparate thoughts but once you are into, it’s very nice.
It would be incredibly time consuming
The rewards i reap will not be proportional to what i deserve for my efforts. Come to think of it, a lot of people aren’t rewarded appropriately for their work. But why pursue a path of diminishing returns?
Time, and writer's block, and some things I do not know how to write them clearly.
Also I have many things that I could write about and do not know what are all of the things that I will want to write about.
Also I have many things that I could write about and do not know what are all of the things that I will want to write about.
> We're all experts in something; or at least we all have a unique viewpoint to share with the world.
No, we really all are not, and not everyone does. I don't write because I have nothing to say that hasn't been said more eloquently. It's also a hell of a lot of work and unlikely to break even in strictly financial investment, valuing my time at $0.
No, we really all are not, and not everyone does. I don't write because I have nothing to say that hasn't been said more eloquently. It's also a hell of a lot of work and unlikely to break even in strictly financial investment, valuing my time at $0.
I've written 2 books, so I suppose I'll answer the reverse question - how come nothing stopped me?
The first one was an accident of sorts. I went to a lot of conferences in the late 90's, early 2000's around the world to hawk our wares, and wanted a way to supplement the returns, so I'd visit user groups and do some training with them.
I started with simple notes, which gradually grew up to about 120 pages, which accompanied a full day course. After one event in 2002 I was pestered to sell extra copies of the notes, by folk who weren't there.
Initially I resisted, they weren't written with that in mind, but capitulated, edited, added a bunch of things, and sold them for $50 plus postage - I cleared about $25 per copy and sold in total about 1000 copies.
The second one was more deliberate, although again borne out of a 2 day training class. That costs $200,is PDF only, and I've sold maybe 300 or so. I update that one and am currently working on the 4th edition. (in 13 years)
It's not terribly profitable. The time it takes to write is insane. Unlike casual speaking or blogging every tiny detail has to be checked. It has to have a coherent voice. It ultimately needs to teach difficult concepts and make them easy.
To describe the topic as niche is an understatement. It's a pimple on niche. If it was 100 times bigger it'd still be a small niche. So upside, no competition. Downside, tiny market. Its not really profitable, but it is a nice side project.
So maybe the right answer to your question, for most people, is that they haven't accidentally tripped into it (yet).
The first one was an accident of sorts. I went to a lot of conferences in the late 90's, early 2000's around the world to hawk our wares, and wanted a way to supplement the returns, so I'd visit user groups and do some training with them.
I started with simple notes, which gradually grew up to about 120 pages, which accompanied a full day course. After one event in 2002 I was pestered to sell extra copies of the notes, by folk who weren't there.
Initially I resisted, they weren't written with that in mind, but capitulated, edited, added a bunch of things, and sold them for $50 plus postage - I cleared about $25 per copy and sold in total about 1000 copies.
The second one was more deliberate, although again borne out of a 2 day training class. That costs $200,is PDF only, and I've sold maybe 300 or so. I update that one and am currently working on the 4th edition. (in 13 years)
It's not terribly profitable. The time it takes to write is insane. Unlike casual speaking or blogging every tiny detail has to be checked. It has to have a coherent voice. It ultimately needs to teach difficult concepts and make them easy.
To describe the topic as niche is an understatement. It's a pimple on niche. If it was 100 times bigger it'd still be a small niche. So upside, no competition. Downside, tiny market. Its not really profitable, but it is a nice side project.
So maybe the right answer to your question, for most people, is that they haven't accidentally tripped into it (yet).
I don't think most people realise:
- how much you gain writing a book about a technical viewpoint you have (from researching all of your "instincts" and figuring out a way to explain them to beginners)
- you don't have to start with a book - just write blog articles about sub-problems in the space
- a book can literally just be a collection of blog articles (see Freakonomics: https://freakonomics.com/blog/)
- it's not about the money - unless you've spent the last decade being well known in your field, most folks will likely not hear about your book. Doesn't mean it isn't a worthwhile endeavour.
(I write this having written https://useeffectbyexample.com/ for my React blog's audience, has made low 4 figures)
- how much you gain writing a book about a technical viewpoint you have (from researching all of your "instincts" and figuring out a way to explain them to beginners)
- you don't have to start with a book - just write blog articles about sub-problems in the space
- a book can literally just be a collection of blog articles (see Freakonomics: https://freakonomics.com/blog/)
- it's not about the money - unless you've spent the last decade being well known in your field, most folks will likely not hear about your book. Doesn't mean it isn't a worthwhile endeavour.
(I write this having written https://useeffectbyexample.com/ for my React blog's audience, has made low 4 figures)
I have written an ebook ("Stratospheric - From Zero to Production with Spring Boot and AWS": https://stratospheric.dev/). So, technically, I'm not qualified anymore to answer that question.
However, looking at it ex negativo, I can tell what convinced me to write this particular book: A subject to write and learn more about and two co-authors to write the book together with.
Making writing a collaborative effort is enormously helpful, not only since it helps with staying motivated but also because it allows you to more easily break down what can otherwise seem like a daunting amount of work. We even organically arrived at a "pull request"-style review process that allowed us to release quickly and iteratively without getting a third-party editor involved, which could've been a bottleneck and hence might've slowed down progress (more on our writing process: https://progmot.com/post/self-publishing-a-book-with-almost-...).
Another key factor was a relevant target audience we could relate to. Knowing that there's a problem (How to become productive with developing Spring-based applications on AWS?) which hadn't been explored and addressed in an in-depth, comprehensive manner before and being aware that we weren't the only ones having that problem but a significant number of people from our peer group were facing the same issue, was vital for our decision to write this ebook.
However, looking at it ex negativo, I can tell what convinced me to write this particular book: A subject to write and learn more about and two co-authors to write the book together with.
Making writing a collaborative effort is enormously helpful, not only since it helps with staying motivated but also because it allows you to more easily break down what can otherwise seem like a daunting amount of work. We even organically arrived at a "pull request"-style review process that allowed us to release quickly and iteratively without getting a third-party editor involved, which could've been a bottleneck and hence might've slowed down progress (more on our writing process: https://progmot.com/post/self-publishing-a-book-with-almost-...).
Another key factor was a relevant target audience we could relate to. Knowing that there's a problem (How to become productive with developing Spring-based applications on AWS?) which hadn't been explored and addressed in an in-depth, comprehensive manner before and being aware that we weren't the only ones having that problem but a significant number of people from our peer group were facing the same issue, was vital for our decision to write this ebook.
Time and motivation. Personally, I just dont see the point in writing a book.