Ask HN: I want to write a niche (e)book, but don't know where to start | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: I want to write a niche (e)book, but don't know where to start

6 pointspassword0310 comments

Hello,

I recently read a thread on here about passive income. One suggestion was to write an ebook on a niche topic. I have experience on a niche topic and would welcome the challenge of condensing the knowledge into an ebook.

Simply put the book would be a practical guide on writing software around the topic. With chapters on background info, fundamentals etc and a bunch of sample code for a variety of languages.

The problem is I don't know where to start. Am I going for a simple ebook that I will host, market and sell myself, like Mark Murphy does with Commonsware for Android development, do I use a publisher like PragProg or go for a traditional publisher?

Apart from researching the content and writing yourself, what other tasks/costs should I be aware of that typically aren't fulfilled by the author. e.g. graphics/cover design.

Many thanks

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He's moved on to bigger and better things, but authority (http://nathanbarry.com/authority/) is supposedly the definative guide to this topic. I haven't read it yet because he removed the eBook only option (this, as I understand it, is part of the trick to making money self publishing: present everything as a premium package instead of a boring old book).

Second this book. Btw, seems like on audible for $10

Niche topic books earn very little income for the author. Publishers are generally disinterested in anything that doesn't sell in the 10,000s. There is insufficient return on their investment in time and money.

Hosting your own book is potentially too much bother. Using a self-publishing approach, e.g. Amazon, Lulu, etc is far less hassle. You might want to consider the combination of print-on-demand together with eBook technologies. POD is great if you want to give books away as a value add to any consulting activities.

With niche books your only effective option is to do all the marketing yourself. That can be a lot of effort if you want to gain any sort of traction for your book. Perhaps you are also offering consulting and related services.

Editing is the biggest effort that publishers provide. You might have to consider getting a professional editor unless you have exceptional writing skills and attention to detail. You can use freelancers to do any graphic and cover design.

Just get started with the writing and see how you progress. Many people embark upon book writing and then falter. If that happens to you, you can pivot and release the material as a blog.

your question is very basic, and you should use google to find answers.

https://amylynnandrews.com/how-to-write-an-ebook/

That's a great link. Thanks for sharing.

I read your reply to the OP and was not sure whether you meant to help or, perhaps, you were condescending. I have deep respect for the HN community because a lot of people (including myself) continue to derive value from the frank and insightful conversations that take place here, often between total strangers (that is, Away From the Keyboard). The issue of how to write an e-book may seem basic to you (and a host of other people), but they can often be the sort of bottlenecks that derail an honest project (as someone that is about to embark on writing a book some time next month, I am painfully familiar with what it takes to even start with the outline). OP needed a pointer; I am convinced a pat in the back for conceding their lack of knowledge on the matter and explaining how you have (or would) gone about it. "Use Google" might not cut it.

> The problem is I don't know where to start.

Can you write a page a day? On this James Altucher is brilliant > http://www.jamesaltucher.com/2014/09/can-you-do-one-page-a-d...

Searching Google will get you the answer but here are a few tips to start.

The dream is to write a book and sell millions of copies. Nice but not likely. Niche is nice but it's hard to figure out which is profitable. Write the book for the joy of the project don't expect to be inundated with cash or get any cash for that matter.

Even if you can get a book contract from a publisher, they take most of the cash and you see some money only once all the expenses are covered.

If the subject is additive for your career and expertise then do it with out question. It's always good when you can bring it up to add to your credibility.

Set the tone of the book. Who is your ideal reader? Research your audience they will tell you what they need.

If you're the expert and you're teaching novices then make sure you don't write above what they understand. The book's goal is to teach not have to buy another book to understand what you just told them.

Experts are usually bad teachers. As an expert you forget the basics that got you to understand what you know. You'll need to get someone else to tell you what's not understandable.

Create an outline, and refined it with your potential reader helping you.

Once you have the outline start writing. You'll want to write a few thousand pages. Write whatever comes to mind. The outline will help you. What you want is to have enough to edit it to a point that's clear enough to teach and you'll need to cut it down to a few hundred pages. It's easier to have independent editing and writing sessions. Avoid doing both at the same time. Your writing will be more difficult and take longer. You'll have to be your own editor.

Once you have a finished manuscript. You can get the technical procedure on how to convert it to the different book formats by using Google. Also you'll need to learn how to promote it. Good luck with that, that's a whole other rat hole.

I would get it to a point where you have a printed copy. You can give copies away and have a copy to look at yourself. It will be something you'll be proud to display.

Lastly, don't use a word processor until you think you have a final copy. You'll waste so much time fiddling with the different word processor's options that it's just not worth it. Text editors are your friend.

Create things. Tell people.

I'm making broad assumptions about what you're good and bad at. Read the following through that filter and throw out anything that you are confident doesn't apply.

1. The best first step for this is to begin writing regularly on the topic in public and get comfortable being more self-promotional than most developers are. I suggest blogging since it's approachable and people regularly read blogs. Think of your blog as an MVP. It will help you determine if there is an audience who are interested in this type of content and where they hang out online. Knowing these two things is critical in successfully promoting and selling an eBook.

2. Most people that I know who are successful at this believe that you should begin doing email capture straight away. Basically, you want to give people a mechanism by which to receive regular updates from you. If blogging is the simplest MVP for writing, the simplest MVP for email capture is setting up a list that gets emailed every time you create a new blog post. I'm an engineer, I get it, that's what RSS is for. It works. Some subset of people who are keenly interested in a niche subject are happy to get emails when something about that subject is published by an authority that they trust.

On this one, you don't want to stop with the MVP. You need to step it up and build a list of people who are comfortable opening email from you regularly. A good step in the right direction is offering access to exclusive content to members of your list. You're looking for the people who would trade hard earned money for your book. So, create something that the same category of people would be willing to give up an email address for. You're pre-qualifying leads.

3. Start writing your book… while maintaining a blog, a list, and occasionally offering exclusive content to that list. To juggle these things you're going to have to learn how to create relatively thin content that's still compelling. Stuff that doesn't take forever to create but is still compelling and interesting enough to keep people around. Also, note that most of the people on your list understand that you're an individual so it's reasonable to say "I'm working hard on my book for the next two weeks so the next blog post is three weeks out."

This isn't as bad as it sounds once your comfortable writing regularly.

4. Hopefully, you've built a following of a few dozen to a few hundred people at this point. Some large percentage of whom feel like they know and trust enough to pay a bit to support your work.

The MVP here is to promote your book and ask people for their money. But like all of the above it goes a lot deeper. Guest blogging, getting influencers who have similar niches to promote, paying for promotion if it makes sense given your costs and what kind of conversion rate you can drive. This is a rabbit hole.

edit: You asked a few other questions. Publisher: As other's have noted, you probably won't be able to land a real publisher. Cover design: You can pay someone to design a cover for you if you want, you can also do it yourself. There is an art to cover design and I'm confident that it makes a difference but I have no data on the subject. Other costs: Gumroad is a good service for selling this type of thing, they will take a small cut. Cover design can run you a few hundred. A good professional editor will probably run you a few grand. The software that you use to do layout will probably be somewhere between free and $200. Assuming your self funded and it's your first book, you can mitigate these costs by doing it all yourself (except for a payment processor).

Create things. Tell people.

Do you know how I can tell you're a self-published author who thinks very highly of himself without reading a single word you wrote?

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