Show HN: I just released my first self-published book

Nice work. I passed it along to a couple of magento developers I know. A bit of feedback. I get that you want to be clear what the book isn't, but when you say

"This book only focuses on a handful of tools and few specific approaches that in my opinion work the best. Be Pragmatic and use what works best for you."

That makes me (with my 'Magento developer who doesn't test' hat on) think, wait, I don't know what works for me, that's why I'm buying the book.

Instead, I'd write something like:

"This book discusses one toolset I've used with success. There are other ways to test Magento extensions, but this book will walk you through setting up a method that I've tested and used for years."

If this is a book aimed at beginners (magento testing beginners, not necessarily magento beginners), which your copy implies, give them definitive statements, especially in the marketing copy. That's what beginners like. (You can, of course, offer more shades of gray in the book, but not too much.)

Hi,

I really love it and I'm very impressed. I'm actually just a high schooler and I was working a book for Java that I was planning on self-publishing as well. I was wondering if you could lend some insight into how you formatted your book (especially with the code)? Did you use any software or get it done by someone else? Or did you use any template that you recommend?

Congrats on publishing your book! I did one back a few years ago, and I know it's a ton of work but really fun / gratifying :)

May I make a suggestion? In the early bird access, I would also include part of the get hands dirty. Knowing why I should do something isn't that valuable on its own - it's the stuff showing me how that's more valuable. So give me a taste, get me started and then wanting the rest so I know how to finish it!

The only downside is that it'll create demand but that will also create pressure on you to make the rest available soon, otherwise people may try to find how to finish elsewhere so when you release the rest some of the demand will have dissipated.

Looks awesome. I just wanted to mention a couple stylistic things I noticed in the sample copy: subsubsection under Part 1 named "It;s all about communication" (the it;s), and the capitalization style for section titles is pretty inconsistent.

I don't know if you'll have an editor go through everything later on, but just wanted to mention a couple of the things from the early access sample :)

Congrats on finishing your book! I know exactly how much work that can be.

I hate to be picky but I know I'd want someone to point these out in my work, so I'll hope you feel the same way. You have a few grammatical errors on your page:

"Building proper tests for a Magento extension can be difficult for seasoned veterans let's not say the junior developer just getting started with Magento."

You at least need a comma before "let's not say", but even then it still feels like a strange construction to me. Maybe "...veterans, not to say..."

"After all, you have written code like this a thousand times before; You know what you are doing right?"

Turn that semicolon into a period. I have a simple rule on when to use a semicolon:

    Should I use a semicolon?
    1. Nope.
    2. There is no second answer.

"And yet, how much time of your day to day do you spend tracking and fixing bugs?"

If you really want to use "day to day", hyphenate it. But I would simplify it to "how much of your day do you spend...".

"What if you could do something that gave you confidence, not only on the quality of the code that is being promoted, confidence that if and when, someone has to make changes to the code there are tests that can confirm that nothing has been broken and the application still performs as expected."

There's some dead weight here and the clauses sort of run on. How about:

"What if you could do something that gave you confidence — not only on the quality of the code, but confidence that when someone changes the code, there are tests that confirm nothing has broken."

When I write, I do (at least) three drafts:

1. Get all the words down. Put all the clay on the table.

2. Rearrange and control structure and pacing. Push the clay into the right shape.

3. Edit every single sentence to tweak or remove words that don't add value. Trim the sculpture down to its final shape and texture.

My goal on the third draft isn't to strip it down to Hemingway. There's still room for character and charm to shine through. But it's to make sure that every ounce of prose adds some value, be it information, clarity, cadence, or humor.

Good for you! Magento isn't in my wheelhouse, but I'd be interested in hearing how you've gone about marketing your book before release — building a mailing list, sharing articles to social media, guest blog posts, etc. Do you have anything you'd do differently if you were to write another book in the future?

Congrats

Couple of points - I had to dig back to your blog to find anything about you personally. It was odd to read about the book but not the author - especially for something like this where personal expertise counts. I suggest a small about me section on the landing page.

Good luck

Have you written at all about the tools you used to work on the book? I'd be interested for sure.

Congrats and Good luck.