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Hey,
TL;DR
Has anyone had any success writing technical books (specially software development books) and courses? I'd like to see how other people are doing in this space.
Longer version
I've been studying this for a while, trying to see whether it's a viable strategy for make FU-money eventually (for which you need to provide FU-value, obviously). A couple of observations I've made:
As some know, I'm a software developer. I've been dabbling into a couple of things (video games, mobile apps), which little success so far. I'm probably going to take a break from this as I've burned myself out a bit (and my current full-time contract is quite draining, coding like an animal - thank God I enjoy coding, but little energy left). I probably want to explore other avenues.
TL;DR
Has anyone had any success writing technical books (specially software development books) and courses? I'd like to see how other people are doing in this space.
Longer version
I've been studying this for a while, trying to see whether it's a viable strategy for make FU-money eventually (for which you need to provide FU-value, obviously). A couple of observations I've made:
- Technical books don't tend to make much money unless you are already a famous developer and can get a publisher (lower revenue (royalties), probably more sales), or have a big following you can leverage to self-publish a book (higher revenue, probably less sales).
- *Some* people out there did make 50-100k with some books. It's not pocket money, but it's not game over money either. Some made 100-200k with at least one book. This is difficult to estimate as most people don't disclose their earnings, but just to give an idea. Most people probably make way less though. Selling, say, 5,000 copies of a technical book is not an easy task if you are self-publishing.
- I think what might work is a snowball effect: the first 1-3 books or courses aren't too successful, but later ones are once you get traction. Previous products help getting your name out there.
- A quality 200-300 pages book can easily take 1-2 years to write. I'm not sure the value generated is that big compared to the effort put in it.
- It has good synergy (authority, reach) with freelancing. I don't want to be selling my time for money forever though.
- It has good synergy with a blog where you can test ideas to see if there's interest on a particular topic. Maybe eventually monetise the blog as well, and sell the books/courses directly there to cut the middleman.
As some know, I'm a software developer. I've been dabbling into a couple of things (video games, mobile apps), which little success so far. I'm probably going to take a break from this as I've burned myself out a bit (and my current full-time contract is quite draining, coding like an animal - thank God I enjoy coding, but little energy left). I probably want to explore other avenues.
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