Ask HN: Do I need to be an expert on some technology to write a book on it?
I agreed to write the book because I though it would be a nice challenge, and I couldn't miss the chance to call my self an author on my profile! But having gone through the year long process of writing and publishing it, I now would love to do it again. The whole process felt pretty awesome, and I learned a ton of new things about Django that I would not otherwise have looked into. I have approached a publisher with an idea for another Django book but they say that the target market isn't big enough. However they say they'd be happy to hear about other ideas from me.
What I'd like to ask the HN crowd is that should I be experienced in a technology before I can even consider writing about it? Or should I just pick something I'm interested in and start writing, figuring out the details along the way? Do you guys have any experience with this?
3 comments
[ 3.1 ms ] story [ 15.8 ms ] threadYou would also do a disservice to users who pick up your book hoping to learn from it.
As an example Learn C the hard way was written by Zed A Shaw of Learn python the hard way fame. He did not know C before he started and the book is currently on the "to be avoided" list on this page about C books
http://www.iso-9899.info/wiki/Books
But maybe I can pick up something I find interesting, learn it and create a few projects with it, and then I can write about it.
Good luck.