
How I wrote, crowdfunded, and independently published a book - melpomene
https://www.blakeboles.com/2020/07/book-story/
======
jfengel
The expensive part isn't the writing, editing, or publishing. The expensive
part is the marketing. He spent years building a following, which is
fantastic. That's the hard part.

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's
up to you if it's worth it. But if you don't want to run a weekly podcast,
monthly newsletter, and speaking tour, it is worth considering.

~~~
blakebo
100% agreed. But as I learned from a friendly agent, publishers are
increasingly expecting authors to bring their own marketing platforms (social
media followings, blog followers, email newsletters) before offering
contracts. Either that or you should have written an article or given a TEDx
talk that went viral and thereby demonstrated a market potential.

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alwaysLrng27
Amazing job. I think your portuguese cover/book title needs work if you plan
to publish/sell in the brazilian market.

It has a typo and doesn't sound natural.

~~~
kentosi
> It has a typo and doesn't sound natural.

What's the typo and why doesn't it sound natural?

If it's about the "porque" then please keep this in mind:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUYzlYg_axo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUYzlYg_axo)

~~~
nunorbatista
Portuguese here: there's no error, it's fine.

~~~
pc86
Brazilian market.

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swyx
for those seeking more info i collected other book launches (developer
focused) here [https://github.com/sw-yx/launch-
cheatsheet/](https://github.com/sw-yx/launch-cheatsheet/)

~~~
shahinrostami
Thanks for sharing! Through your link, I found my way to this image. It
reminded me of the time I thought I had a similar inbox indicating a
successful launch, but it was just the same person's "payment failed"
notification coming through!

~~~
swyx
what image?

~~~
shahinrostami
I have no idea why it removed the link... it was a link to an image displaying
an email inbox with many customer order emails, i.e. many sales being made.

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shahinrostami
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've released a few technical e-books this year to adapt to the
lockdown situation - so it's nice to read on similar journeys.

~~~
rhizome
How are yours doing?

~~~
shahinrostami
We can say... slow and steady! I can go days without a sale, and most of the
time it requires active promotion. I list them directly
([https://store.shahinrostami.com/](https://store.shahinrostami.com/)) and not
through Amazon/Gumroad etc, so maybe that makes it more difficult... but I'm
still enjoying it!

~~~
mjayhn
I don't know what I was expecting but nice work that's really great. Now I
want a data is beautiful coffee book..

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tkgally
Excellent article. The best part is the author'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'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.)

I wondered, though, whether he was able to get the same quality control with
the translations. His budget of $3,700 for "Foreign translations & ebook
production" isn'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.

~~~
akuji1993
I recon this book might not be as well translated as he might think. The
subtitle in German is sub-par translation at least. Can't say anything about
the content of the book itself, but if it's a similar quality, the book might
not gain that much traction or raving reviews in other languages.

~~~
klmr
I’m also not sure how well the _contents_ translate to German. After all,
Germany has not only compulsory education but the “allgemeine Schulpflicht”
(i.e. compulsory school attendance), meaning homeschooling is, for the most
part, strictly illegal (Switzerland and Austria have different rules, though).

~~~
blakebo
The fact that Germany has such strict restrictions was a major factor in
wanting to produce in a German edition! They need as much inspiration as they
can get to change their system.

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blakebo
Hi everyone, I'm the author of the post & book. Thanks for commenting!

~~~
brensmith
Hi Blake! Kieran's dad here. So great to see your article on Hacker News. Your
old bike is safely heading back to Colorado soon.

~~~
blakebo
Ha, that's incredible!

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Veen
Is it common to refer to typography as "interior design" in the book world?
I've not come across it before.

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wrshpFAANG
I'm curious how much profit you can make especially after touring the country.

That sounds extremely expensive.

~~~
blakebo
I managed to break even on the tour by charging small speaking fees, selling
my other books after the talks, and staying with friends / Couchsurfing
frequently.

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imvetri
Congratulations!

~~~
blakebo
Thanks!

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chrismorgan
About the page itself rather than its content:

Users that prefer to disable JavaScript: just zap the .fx-preloader element,
the content’s all there behind it.

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.)

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Seasonwreckage
Heart tingled thinking it was Blake Bortles

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quirkafleeg3
So you self-published a book. Well done. Join the crowd. The very, very big
crowd.

<selfpromotion> [https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ridiculous-Misadventures-
Foxglove-W...](https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ridiculous-Misadventures-Foxglove-
Woods-
Welch/dp/B086B71MS9/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=foxglove+woods&qid=1596185973&sr=8-1)
</selfpromotion>

