HN Explorer

Ask HN: Have you written a book?

44 points by nbashaw ↗ HN
I bet a lot of us have, since this is a group that is inclined towards A) intellectual pursuits, and B) making cool things. I'd be really interested to see what kinds of books we've all made. They don't need to be published through the traditional process. In fact, I'm actually more curious to see creative ways good hackers have gotten their ideas out there.

So, if you've written a book, would you link to it and talk a little bit about what it's all about?

55 comments

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nhangen
Back when I was heavily into blogging, I co authored a book called Beyond Blogging http://amzn.to/mBHONG and self-published it via CreateSpace (for Amazon and BN.com) and Lulu (for iPad).

The idea was to create a Think and Grow Rich type of book for bloggers and writing types, but I'm not sure we executed as well as I wanted to. I think it reads well and a lot of people have enjoyed it (Sold around 750-1k copies to date), but it's on a topic I'm no longer interested in so I'm probably biased against it.

That being said, most of the people we featured in the book continued to be successful, so I'm proud of that (that we chose well).

Was also great to interview people. We had interviews recorded for the 2nd book (including Seth Godin, Andrew Warner, Mitch Joel, and 10 others), but opted against it.

Was a great experience though, and I not only enjoyed writing it, but also enjoyed the pieces of the publishing industry that I was able to experience.

nbashaw
Congrats! Sounds like a success to me. How'd you make the decision to self-publish? Did you try and shop it around to literary agents first, or go straight to the readers?
nhangen
Thanks. We chose to self-publish because it was faster, and because we originally launched it as an ebook only, hoping that a publisher would bite later. That didn't happen, so we just pushed it to print on our own.
davidw
Well... not quite, but I was involved in getting one published and wrote some of it:

http://journal.dedasys.com/2009/09/15/tcl-and-the-tk-toolkit...

It has left something of a bitter taste in my mouth though... I've made an order of magnitude more money from this article that took my a few hours to put together: http://journal.dedasys.com/2008/11/24/slicehost-vs-linode as compared to weeks of work for the Tcl one.

Also, on the subject of authorship, I would be remiss if I didn't link to my latest project, a system to make the Kindle book production process as easy as possible: http://www.liberwriter.com

I originally put it together because I wanted to write something of my own, but I'm more of a hacker than a writer, and got sidetracked growing the program and still haven't got back to the writing.

nbashaw
If you don't mind me asking, why did it leave a bitter taste in your mouth?
davidw
Because it was a lot of work and stress for ... well, pretty much nothing.
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mark_l_watson
I ust looked at liberwriter - a very cool idea! A suggestion: you might want to support some form of easy importing material from Google Docs.
davidw
Thanks! There is an easy way to import material from Google Docs and Word: cut and paste:-)

It's not as cool as using an API, nor as efficient in some ways, but it works for Word, OpenOffice, whatever, and it's very simple to explain to the target market for LiberWriter (hint: it's not people like Daniel Markham who go out and download the spec:-)

metajack
I wrote Professional XMPP Programming with JavaScript and jQuery (http://professionalxmpp.com), which is a book about developing XMPP applications (and not just chat related) using the Strophe.js (http://strophe.im/strophejs) library.

There are a few books about the XMPP protocol itself, but I really wanted to see something that was more about how to get things done with it than schema descriptions. The book has a multiplayer game, collaborative whiteboard, shared document editor, and the usual chat-inspired examples.

People seem to enjoy it, and I had a lot of fun writing it.

rubyrescue
I'd like to do the same with Erlang...Practical apps w/OTP... I have been thinking about it since your talk at Erlang Factory... although i think economically it makes the most sense to write books on iOS programming
metajack
That sounds like a book I would buy, but of course, I have almost all the other Erlang books too.
vnorby
I have that book on my shelf! Loved it, was a great resource when trying to figure out XMPP and Strophe.js.
DanielBMarkham
Agile/Kanban without the Bullshit

For folks who have suffered under various Agile, Kanban, and other improvement regimes and know that it's not supposed to be like this.

I'm about 80% of the way through the first draft. I have a few prominent community members that are going to review (and recommend, if they like it) but it's more of a personal statement than a commercial venture. It's a topic I have a lot of experience in, and the neat thing about a book is that it's there and can provide assistance for a long time.

I plan on taking my time finishing it. I'm also a self-publisher, so I had to learn epub and the ins and outs of self-publishing. There's a lot more to learning that stuff than I suspected. Probably enough for another book.

The website isn't up yet. Email me if you'd like to be on the notification list. (Obligatory cool 3-D book cover image http://www.whattofix.com/ak2%203d%20book%20image.png )

nikcub
What are the best current resources for self-publishing and the epub maze?
DanielBMarkham
I had to scrounge around all over the net finding stuff. The EPUB format alone eventually required downloading the spec. I didn't expect to be reading specs as part of the technical bits of writing a book.

Then there was the question of who to send the book to -- once it's done, where does it go? And, if you ask me, it's very easy to get screwed as an author.

There are about a dozen different decision points you have to go through -- format, topic, compatibility with other formats, distribution, marketing, sales, etc. Each of these is non-trivial.

For instance, you could just offer folks your book from your web site. Click the button and get a download. But do most people know how to take a download and put it on their e-reader? Are you sure you want no DRM at all? Which vendor do you want handling the mechanics of the sale, if any? If you offer a download from your site, does it preclude also offering the book on Amazon or iTunes?

It's issues like that every step of the way. As another example, I found EPUB looked one way on one device, but converting it to MOBI for a Kindle caused subtle changes. It's almost like browser compatibility BS all over again.

Wasn't trying to duck your question, but I basically found nothing that wrapped it all up in one easy-to-understand package. Perhaps if I make a few bucks with the first book I'll go back and write an ebook, "Ebooks for hackers" which assumes you know stuff like CSS, XML, and XHTML and instead concentrates on the other parts.

peterarmstrong
My startup Leanpub (http://leanpub.com) lets you create and sell EPUB (as well as PDF and MOBI) ebooks. You write in HTML or Markdown, save files in Dropbox and publish with 1 click. Assuming you're writing a technical book, if you use Markdown you can even keep code samples in their own files and include them like you'd insert an image. Ping me at peter@leanpub.com if you have any questions...
bioinformatics
A Thesis and a Dissertation, do those count?
nbashaw
Sure - but I'm mostly curious to learn what kinds of experiences good hackers have had in trying to get their ideas out there. The publishing industry just seems terribly archaic, and most people trying to write books are locked into it because they don't know how to _create_ stuff on web, just consume it. HN is full of people who can create web-based stuff, so I was curious to see if there were any neat experiments people had done.
cstross
a) There are about a dozen different industries flying in loose formation and termed "publishing" -- academic press is not like mass market fiction press, or newspapers, or magazines, or self-improvement books or textbooks. The web is the latest and most rapidly changing delivery vehicle but it crosses all of these lines. Beware of thinking of "the web" as a publishing sector; rather, it's a mechanism for delivering the content to the reader's eyeballs, much like offset-litho printing.

b) Today's publishing industry runs on the set of business practices that didn't cause someone [else] to go bust at some point over the past 150 years. It may look archaic and weird, but it's that way for a whole bunch of reasons that looked good at some time.

More here: http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2010/04/common-m...

cturner
Novel-in-a-month, in December 2001. 50k words.
rhhfla
http://roberthackerbooks.com/ Book develops my thinking on a business model for high growth companies. Concepts are illustrated in part by my experience building a billion dollar company.
renkeyes
I co-authored a chapter in "Beautiful Teams" at the urging of a friend, who was coordinating the project.

Writing a chapter is quite a bit of work, so a book must be quite an undertaking. I feel that it's worth doing, though. Writing anything -- a design spec, an email, a story from your past, etc -- forces you to coalesce and clarify thoughts that have floating around your brain. I gained new perspective on events that I thought I had a complete handle on years earlier.

BT: http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596518028

cstross
I write books for a living. Mostly fiction:

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dap...

Which is not to say that I haven't written technical books, back in the day:

http://www.amazon.com/Web-Architects-Handbook-Charles-Stross...

I'm not self-published -- I've got Ace (aka part of Penguin USA), Orbit (aka Hachette) and Tor (aka Holtzbrinck) as my publishers.

Yes, I do this for a day job.

wccrawford
Your fiction books' descriptions are great! I'm going to check out the previews on my Kindle app. If the books are as good, you've got a new fan!
arctangent
I'm currently reading your book "Accelerando" (in parallel with about 20 other books). HN readers would probably enjoy the density of ideas evident in it.
templaedhel
It's times like these I wish hacker news had a user follow ability. You are probably one of my favorite authors of all time, and I had no idea you were present here on HN.
mark_l_watson
I had not heard of your fiction, but based on other comments here, I just bought "The Atrocity Archives" for my Kindle - looking forward to reading it!
ninjaa
"Rule 34" is a great title.
thinkcomp
I wrote a memoir that's mostly about education, leading up to the creation of Facebook.

http://www.amazon.com/Authoritas-Students-Admissions-Foundin...

It's self-published through my company, Think Computer Corporation, under the Think Press label.

The web-based version contains links on a page-by-page basis to primary source documents and is available free here:

http://www.aarongreenspan.com/authoritas.html

In case you're curious, my response to Peter Cooper's Amazon.com comment is here:

http://www.aarongreenspan.com/cooper.txt

jng
Yes, back in 1994. "Lenguaje Ensamblador de los 80x86", which means "80x86 Assembly Language", published by Anaya (major Spanish publisher). It's now out of print, but there were over 20 reprints and it was pretty successful, was recommended at many universities, etc...

http://www.keenzo.com/showproduct.asp?ID=2328952

I wish I had written it in English, it would have helped 10 times as many people and opened 10 times as many doors. Money would have been better too.

I'm writing other stuff now, but it's fiction and as of yet unpublished (and unattempted to). In due time.

arctangent
I wrote a 50k NaNoWriMo entry a few years back. I never tried to publish it (except on the web). On reflection, it was garbage - friends who read it (or pretended to) said they thought I was trying too hard to demonstrate technical ability at the expense of plot. I currently have a second novel in progress (using the excellent Scrivener software) although I don't expect to complete even a first draft for a long time yet.
dctoedt
I've published two law-related books, one for business people, the other for lawyers:

1. When You Sign a Business Contract: A Final Pre-Flight Checklist. http://goo.gl/2PbFM This is a $9.99 PDF, downloadable from e-junkie.com. It lists five points that anyone who signs a contract should check to reduce the chance of personal liability, jail time, dangerous provisions, etc. The extensive notes contain numerous real-life stories. The five-point checklist itself and a link to buy the book are posted on my blog.

2. The Law and Business of Computer Software. http://goo.gl/OnqrO This was a treatise for lawyers, first published in 1990 and still in print. I stopped doing the annual updates about 10 years ago; another author's name is on the second edition.

donnfelker
Writen 3 books Android Application Development for Dummies (wiley) Android Tablet Application Development for Dummies (wiley) Landing your dream tech job (self pub) Two articles in Code Magazine

Not a day job.

Do consulting and bootstrapping work as my main source of income.

xpaulbettsx
I'm working on my first book right now:

http://www.apress.com/microsoft/wpf/9781430237471

It's a lot of work, but it's worth it - I've been working with this technology (Rx) for two years now and I think it's a huge step forward yet very few people understand it. The book will help bring Rx to the masses which is definitely exciting.

mark_l_watson
I have written 16 books, mostly for two reasons: I really enjoy the writing process and it also opens a lot of doors for introducing myself to interesting people (people who are famous or much more talented than I am, that otherwise I would not want to bother).

I take a lot of the hassle out of writing by doing two things: I mostly just write about things I have used for work and only write about things that really catch my interest.

I mostly write about artificial intelligence, Java, Lisp, and Ruby.

Dgriffiths
One on Rails. One intro to programming with Python. Now working on one in C.
nametoremember
I would love to write a book. I have been thinking about spending an hour or two each day this summer working on one. It will be a fictional story. About what? That's still undecided.
rinkjustice
I've written two books. My first book, Zero to Superhero: http://www.zerotosuperhero.com took four years to research, test and write. It was one of the hardest things I've ever done. More than once I broke down and wept in frustration. In the end, for all I learned, it was worth it, times a thousand.

My second book is Economtricks: http://goo.gl/Fd8tW took only a year to write. I got some things off my chest. Not as rewarding, financially or personally.

chromatic
I've written or co-written ten books, seven of them tech books and three novels. I've edited several others. I own and manage a publishing company, so perhaps that makes me part of the traditional process, but we deliberately avoid the (dying) traditional business model:

http://onyxneon.com/