TE
TechEcho
Home24h TopNewestBestAskShowJobs
GitHubTwitter
Home

TechEcho

A tech news platform built with Next.js, providing global tech news and discussions.

GitHubTwitter

Home

HomeNewestBestAskShowJobs

Resources

HackerNews APIOriginal HackerNewsNext.js

© 2025 TechEcho. All rights reserved.

How I wrote, crowdfunded, and independently published a book

227 pointsby melpomenealmost 5 years ago

12 comments

jfengelalmost 5 years ago
The expensive part isn&#x27;t the writing, editing, or publishing. The expensive part is the marketing. He spent years building a following, which is fantastic. That&#x27;s the hard part.<p>A publisher can help you jump start that step by getting your book in stores, on lists, and otherwise talked about. They take a steep cut for that, so it&#x27;s up to you if it&#x27;s worth it. But if you don&#x27;t want to run a weekly podcast, monthly newsletter, and speaking tour, it is worth considering.
评论 #24009827 未加载
alwaysLrng27almost 5 years ago
Amazing job. I think your portuguese cover&#x2F;book title needs work if you plan to publish&#x2F;sell in the brazilian market.<p>It has a typo and doesn&#x27;t sound natural.
评论 #24004558 未加载
评论 #24003596 未加载
评论 #24004521 未加载
评论 #24003462 未加载
swyxalmost 5 years ago
for those seeking more info i collected other book launches (developer focused) here <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;sw-yx&#x2F;launch-cheatsheet&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;sw-yx&#x2F;launch-cheatsheet&#x2F;</a>
评论 #24003752 未加载
shahinrostamialmost 5 years ago
Thank you for sharing this - it was an interesting read. Would be interested to see how the book does if you end up sharing something similar a few months from now. I&#x27;ve released a few technical e-books this year to adapt to the lockdown situation - so it&#x27;s nice to read on similar journeys.
评论 #24003279 未加载
tkgallyalmost 5 years ago
Excellent article. The best part is the author&#x27;s recognition of the importance of getting help with the editing—not only checking the grammar and spelling but also working with the author on the content and tone. That can really make a difference in how well a book is received, and it&#x27;s something that seems to be overlooked by many people who publish their own books. (Design is important, too, though maybe not as much as he thinks, especially for books sold online.)<p>I wondered, though, whether he was able to get the same quality control with the translations. His budget of $3,700 for &quot;Foreign translations &amp; ebook production&quot; isn&#x27;t very much even for one language. A good translation requires a lot of time and skill to produce, especially if one wants it to read smoothly and be culturally appropriate in the target language.
评论 #24007604 未加载
评论 #24009843 未加载
blakeboalmost 5 years ago
Hi everyone, I&#x27;m the author of the post &amp; book. Thanks for commenting!
评论 #24010604 未加载
Veenalmost 5 years ago
Is it common to refer to typography as &quot;interior design&quot; in the book world? I&#x27;ve not come across it before.
wrshpFAANGalmost 5 years ago
I&#x27;m curious how much profit you can make especially after touring the country.<p>That sounds extremely expensive.
评论 #24009881 未加载
imvetrialmost 5 years ago
Congratulations!
评论 #24009891 未加载
chrismorganalmost 5 years ago
About the page itself rather than its content:<p>Users that prefer to disable JavaScript: just zap the .fx-preloader element, the content’s all there behind it.<p>I wish people wouldn’t use this sort of technique. Even if you have JavaScript running, it slows site loading down for no good reason (avoiding a flash of unstyled or misstyled page is the typical reason, but it’s a terrible replacement at best). Just let the browser do its thing, please. (And if it’s loading really badly, fix your HTML and CSS so that it’s not.)
Seasonwreckagealmost 5 years ago
Heart tingled thinking it was Blake Bortles
quirkafleeg3almost 5 years ago
So you self-published a book. Well done. Join the crowd. The very, very big crowd.<p>&lt;selfpromotion&gt; <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.amazon.co.uk&#x2F;Ridiculous-Misadventures-Foxglove-Woods-Welch&#x2F;dp&#x2F;B086B71MS9&#x2F;ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&amp;keywords=foxglove+woods&amp;qid=1596185973&amp;sr=8-1" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.amazon.co.uk&#x2F;Ridiculous-Misadventures-Foxglove-W...</a> &lt;&#x2F;selfpromotion&gt;