
Step by step guide on how to publish a book (how we made xkcd: volume 0) - kn0thing
http://breadpig.com/blog/2010/02/19/step-by-step-guide-on-how-to-publish-a-book-lessons-learned-from-xkcd-volume-0/#tada
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kn0thing
Please steal this model. And even if you don't go the 'dead tree inventory
route' consider selfpublishing via Lulu.com or the like once you've got a
blog/website with a solid userbase (OnStartups, I'm looking at you).

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edw519
_...once you've got a blog/website with a solid userbase..._

Do hacker news posts count?

I just determined via searchyc.com that I've posted over 3300 comments here. I
imagine there must be some value for someone in there. I'd love to share "the
best of edw519" via hardcopy (with pg's permission, of course).

I wouldn't be interested in making money with this. Just sharing my favorite
thoughts about programming / business with people who don't normally come here
(clients, prospects, colleagues, friends, family, etc.) Any thoughts?

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jrockway
Why would you need pg's permission to publish your own work?

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pg
You don't, of course.

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njharman
$150 for an ISBN? Really?

I'm pretty sure you can get them for free or less from government (or at least
could 20 years ago. More recently my friend got an ISSN (magazine version of
ISBN) for cost of filling out form.

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njharman
I might be totally misremembering, but I sure thought it was from government
and not Bowker. Seems like something that has been privatized and of course
prices jacked up tremendously.

IRRC I wasn't getting an individual ISBN either I was getting a publisher
code, and could issue thousands of ISBNs under it.

What a scam/racket, esp the barcodes. (like https certs, domain registration
and other government mandated monopolies) It doesn't flippin cost $150 to
track a number in a database.

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kn0thing
Yes, Bowker is definitely baking a lot of unnecessary 'features' and thus
justifying extra costs. Looking for better options and will definitely update.

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tylerritchie
Find any better options?

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wmf
It's missing step 7 about getting distribution for the book.

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kn0thing
Ah, this is unfortunately something I know little about, because it was
handled by xkcd's distribution center. I'd love to update the entry with
suggestions, but this was operating under an assumption that the book would be
an extension of an existing merch system (shirts, etc). The best
recommendation I can make atm is Amazon, but unfortunately, it's without
experience: <http://aws.amazon.com/fws/>

