
Ask HN: Have you written a book? - nbashaw
I bet a lot of us have, since this is a group that is inclined towards A) intellectual pursuits, and B) making cool things. I'd be really interested to see what kinds of books we've all made. They don't need to be published through the traditional process. In fact, I'm actually more curious to see creative ways good hackers have gotten their ideas out there.<p>So, if you've written a book, would you link to it and talk a little bit about what it's all about?
======
cstross
I write books for a living. Mostly fiction:

[http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-
alias%3Dap...](http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-
alias%3Daps&field-keywords=Charles+Stross&x=0&y=0)

Which is not to say that I haven't written technical books, back in the day:

[http://www.amazon.com/Web-Architects-Handbook-Charles-
Stross...](http://www.amazon.com/Web-Architects-Handbook-Charles-
Stross/dp/020187735X/)

I'm not self-published -- I've got Ace (aka part of Penguin USA), Orbit (aka
Hachette) and Tor (aka Holtzbrinck) as my publishers.

Yes, I do this for a day job.

~~~
templaedhel
It's times like these I wish hacker news had a user follow ability. You are
probably one of my favorite authors of all time, and I had no idea you were
present here on HN.

~~~
lotharbot
Now that you know he exists, you can track his HN posts with
<http://hackerfollow.com/> (I'm not affiliated in any way, I just think it's a
nice tool.)

------
davidw
Well... not quite, but I was involved in getting one published and wrote some
of it:

[http://journal.dedasys.com/2009/09/15/tcl-and-the-tk-
toolkit...](http://journal.dedasys.com/2009/09/15/tcl-and-the-tk-toolkit-2nd-
edition)

It has left something of a bitter taste in my mouth though... I've made an
order of magnitude more money from this _article_ that took my a few hours to
put together: <http://journal.dedasys.com/2008/11/24/slicehost-vs-linode> as
compared to weeks of work for the Tcl one.

Also, on the subject of authorship, I would be remiss if I didn't link to my
latest project, a system to make the Kindle book production process as easy as
possible: <http://www.liberwriter.com>

I originally put it together because I wanted to write something of my own,
but I'm more of a hacker than a writer, and got sidetracked growing the
program and still haven't got back to the writing.

~~~
mark_l_watson
I ust looked at liberwriter - a very cool idea! A suggestion: you might want
to support some form of easy importing material from Google Docs.

~~~
davidw
Thanks! There is an easy way to import material from Google Docs and Word: cut
and paste:-)

It's not as cool as using an API, nor as efficient in some ways, but it works
for Word, OpenOffice, whatever, and it's very simple to explain to the target
market for LiberWriter (hint: it's not people like Daniel Markham who go out
and download the spec:-)

------
nhangen
Back when I was heavily into blogging, I co authored a book called Beyond
Blogging <http://amzn.to/mBHONG> and self-published it via CreateSpace (for
Amazon and BN.com) and Lulu (for iPad).

The idea was to create a Think and Grow Rich type of book for bloggers and
writing types, but I'm not sure we executed as well as I wanted to. I think it
reads well and a lot of people have enjoyed it (Sold around 750-1k copies to
date), but it's on a topic I'm no longer interested in so I'm probably biased
against it.

That being said, most of the people we featured in the book continued to be
successful, so I'm proud of that (that we chose well).

Was also great to interview people. We had interviews recorded for the 2nd
book (including Seth Godin, Andrew Warner, Mitch Joel, and 10 others), but
opted against it.

Was a great experience though, and I not only enjoyed writing it, but also
enjoyed the pieces of the publishing industry that I was able to experience.

~~~
nbashaw
Congrats! Sounds like a success to me. How'd you make the decision to self-
publish? Did you try and shop it around to literary agents first, or go
straight to the readers?

~~~
nhangen
Thanks. We chose to self-publish because it was faster, and because we
originally launched it as an ebook only, hoping that a publisher would bite
later. That didn't happen, so we just pushed it to print on our own.

------
DanielBMarkham
Agile/Kanban without the Bullshit

For folks who have suffered under various Agile, Kanban, and other improvement
regimes and know that it's not supposed to be like this.

I'm about 80% of the way through the first draft. I have a few prominent
community members that are going to review (and recommend, if they like it)
but it's more of a personal statement than a commercial venture. It's a topic
I have a lot of experience in, and the neat thing about a book is that it's
there and can provide assistance for a long time.

I plan on taking my time finishing it. I'm also a self-publisher, so I had to
learn epub and the ins and outs of self-publishing. There's a lot more to
learning that stuff than I suspected. Probably enough for another book.

The website isn't up yet. Email me if you'd like to be on the notification
list. (Obligatory cool 3-D book cover image
<http://www.whattofix.com/ak2%203d%20book%20image.png> )

~~~
nikcub
What are the best current resources for self-publishing and the epub maze?

~~~
dpapathanasiou
My startup runs eBookBurn (<https://ebookburn.com/>), which lets you create
valid epub and mobi files w/o having to learn the underlying spec or do any
coding.

------
metajack
I wrote Professional XMPP Programming with JavaScript and jQuery
(<http://professionalxmpp.com>), which is a book about developing XMPP
applications (and not just chat related) using the Strophe.js
(<http://strophe.im/strophejs>) library.

There are a few books about the XMPP protocol itself, but I really wanted to
see something that was more about how to get things done with it than schema
descriptions. The book has a multiplayer game, collaborative whiteboard,
shared document editor, and the usual chat-inspired examples.

People seem to enjoy it, and I had a lot of fun writing it.

~~~
rubyrescue
I'd like to do the same with Erlang...Practical apps w/OTP... I have been
thinking about it since your talk at Erlang Factory... although i think
economically it makes the most sense to write books on iOS programming

~~~
metajack
That sounds like a book I would buy, but of course, I have almost all the
other Erlang books too.

------
lsc
<http://nostarch.com/xen/>

This was probably the most difficult project I've ever completed.

It was funny; no-starch actually approached me about writing a book, I believe
because some of my diaries at Kuro5hin were the first hits for 'pygrub' and
'pvgrub' and a few other xen keywords for a while. But my diaries, I thought,
were rather poorly written. The man didn't mention my diaries, so it could
have been something else, but that's the only thing I could figure.

I said "I'm semi-literate, but I know a guy"[1] and I called up my employee's
roommate, a long-term student who switched from computer science to English.
If it's readable, he deserves the credit, really.

Do I regret it? no. I didn't go to school, and this seems to help make up for
that lack of credibility, and yeah, it was difficult, but it was also a lot of
fun.

The book beginning to hit the bargain shelves, so I've been considering a
second edition, but I've been busy with other things.

Really, I think no-starch press deserves a lot of credit; there is zero chance
that Chris and I would have finished such a large undertaking without their
prodding, and they gave us a really excellent technical editor.

[1] Actually, I think I said "My English skills are presidential." At the
time, George W Bush was our leader.

------
asanwal
I wrote a book on optimizing corporate portfolio management (publisher:
Wiley). In English, portfolio mgmt means how large organizations handle
resource allocation, i.e., whether to spend that next dollar on a marketing or
IT or operations investment.

In terms of money from book sales, it is no Harry Potter but it's done well
for a book with a very specific demographic of corporate types. From a larger
business perspective, it's brought me opportunities for paid speaking
engagements with the likes of the World Bank and companies/conferences
throughout the US and Europe. And resulted in consulting opportunities and
opened the door as being a "published author" does have some cache at times.

We actually created a training simulation/game (facilitated in-person) based
on principles in the book which has done very well.

Book link - <http://amzn.to/jp0Xf8> Portfolio Management Game -
<http://www.portfoliomanagementgame.com/>

------
dctoedt
I've published two law-related books, one for business people, the other for
lawyers:

1\. _When You Sign a Business Contract: A Final Pre-Flight Checklist._
<http://goo.gl/2PbFM> This is a $9.99 PDF, downloadable from e-junkie.com. It
lists five points that anyone who signs a contract should check to reduce the
chance of personal liability, jail time, dangerous provisions, etc. The
extensive notes contain numerous real-life stories. The five-point checklist
itself and a link to buy the book are posted on my blog.

2\. _The Law and Business of Computer Software_. <http://goo.gl/OnqrO> This
was a treatise for lawyers, first published in 1990 and still in print. I
stopped doing the annual updates about 10 years ago; another author's name is
on the second edition.

------
thinkcomp
I wrote a memoir that's mostly about education, leading up to the creation of
Facebook.

[http://www.amazon.com/Authoritas-Students-Admissions-
Foundin...](http://www.amazon.com/Authoritas-Students-Admissions-Founding-
Facebook/dp/1606690000)

It's self-published through my company, Think Computer Corporation, under the
Think Press label.

The web-based version contains links on a page-by-page basis to primary source
documents and is available free here:

<http://www.aarongreenspan.com/authoritas.html>

In case you're curious, my response to Peter Cooper's Amazon.com comment is
here:

<http://www.aarongreenspan.com/cooper.txt>

------
jasonb05
I wrote a book on AI: Clever Algorithms: Nature-Inspired Programming Recipes
<http://www.CleverAlgorithms.com>

It's about algorithms drawn from the fields of Computational Intelligence,
Metaheuristics, and Biologically Inspired Computation and is intended as a
reference for research scientists, engineers as well as a bootstrap for
interested amateurs. Each algorithm has sample code in Ruby. I wrote it out of
frustrations I had as a PhD student in not having a consistent "little black
book of algorithms" for my field.

------
xpaulbettsx
I'm working on my first book right now:

<http://www.apress.com/microsoft/wpf/9781430237471>

It's a lot of work, but it's worth it - I've been working with this technology
(Rx) for two years now and I think it's a huge step forward yet very few
people understand it. The book will help bring Rx to the masses which is
definitely exciting.

------
chromatic
I've written or co-written ten books, seven of them tech books and three
novels. I've edited several others. I own and manage a publishing company, so
perhaps that makes me part of the traditional process, but we deliberately
avoid the (dying) traditional business model:

<http://onyxneon.com/>

------
fakelvis
Not yet, although I'm just starting the process for a non-fiction topic I find
fascinating: the intersection of wine and psychology.

I'll soon be starting to blog on the topic at <http://winepsychology.com>
(subscribe if it's something you might like) and will be using that format to
structure my thoughts and the material for the book.

I have no ideas of grandeur (i.e. making money or even being traditionally
published), just a desire to create a long form collection of information that
is hopefully accessible and enjoyable to a wider audience.

I'll look at self-publishing closer to completion and how to market and track
my progress throughout. Hopefully this will spawn some good HN-worthy posts,
too. Wish me luck!

------
swalberg
I wrote CCSA Exam Cram 2 ([http://www.amazon.com/Check-Point-CCSA-
Exam-156-210-4/dp/078...](http://www.amazon.com/Check-Point-CCSA-
Exam-156-210-4/dp/0789731096/)) which is a study guide for a Check Point
firewall exam, and was the primary author for Wireless All In One for Dummies
([http://www.amazon.com/Wireless-All-Dummies-Sean-
Walberg/dp/0...](http://www.amazon.com/Wireless-All-Dummies-Sean-
Walberg/dp/0470490136/))

I don't think I've got another book in me. For now I enjoy writing technical
articles, mostly for IBM developerWorks. See <http://seanwalberg.com> for the
list of articles.

------
donnfelker
Writen 3 books Android Application Development for Dummies (wiley) Android
Tablet Application Development for Dummies (wiley) Landing your dream tech job
(self pub) Two articles in Code Magazine

Not a day job.

Do consulting and bootstrapping work as my main source of income.

------
jng
Yes, back in 1994. "Lenguaje Ensamblador de los 80x86", which means "80x86
Assembly Language", published by Anaya (major Spanish publisher). It's now out
of print, but there were over 20 reprints and it was pretty successful, was
recommended at many universities, etc...

<http://www.keenzo.com/showproduct.asp?ID=2328952>

I wish I had written it in English, it would have helped 10 times as many
people and opened 10 times as many doors. Money would have been better too.

I'm writing other stuff now, but it's fiction and as of yet unpublished (and
unattempted to). In due time.

------
renkeyes
I co-authored a chapter in "Beautiful Teams" at the urging of a friend, who
was coordinating the project.

Writing a chapter is quite a bit of work, so a book must be quite an
undertaking. I feel that it's worth doing, though. Writing anything -- a
design spec, an email, a story from your past, etc -- forces you to coalesce
and clarify thoughts that have floating around your brain. I gained new
perspective on events that I thought I had a complete handle on years earlier.

BT: <http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596518028>

------
rinkjustice
I've written two books. My first book, Zero to Superhero:
<http://www.zerotosuperhero.com> took four years to research, test and write.
It was one of the hardest things I've ever done. More than once I broke down
and wept in frustration. In the end, for all I learned, it was worth it, times
a thousand.

My second book is Economtricks: <http://goo.gl/Fd8tW> took only a year to
write. I got some things off my chest. Not as rewarding, financially or
personally.

------
kalid
I've self-published an ebook & screencast series on math
([http://betterexplained.com/articles/math-betterexplained-
ebo...](http://betterexplained.com/articles/math-betterexplained-ebook-
available/)) based on my blog content.

I've written more about the numbers and process here:

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=870015>

The parent thread by Peter Cooper is very interesting too:
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=869106>

------
jasonshen
While in college, I self-published a collection of stories featuring the
stories, passions and dreams of students at my school. Sold a box of 50 copies
to my bookstore. Got my own ISBN number and everything. You can still buy them
on Lulu or read it online for free.

<http://www.stanford.edu/~jashen/home.html>
<http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/stanford-spirit/448066>

------
mark_l_watson
I have written 16 books, mostly for two reasons: I really enjoy the writing
process and it also opens a lot of doors for introducing myself to interesting
people (people who are famous or much more talented than I am, that otherwise
I would not want to bother).

I take a lot of the hassle out of writing by doing two things: I mostly just
write about things I have used for work and only write about things that
really catch my interest.

I mostly write about artificial intelligence, Java, Lisp, and Ruby.

------
arctangent
I wrote a 50k NaNoWriMo entry a few years back. I never tried to publish it
(except on the web). On reflection, it was garbage - friends who read it (or
pretended to) said they thought I was trying too hard to demonstrate technical
ability at the expense of plot. I currently have a second novel in progress
(using the excellent Scrivener software) although I don't expect to complete
even a first draft for a long time yet.

------
DrMJG
I have written the following books:

a)Differences in Venture Capital Financing of U.S., UK, German and French
Information Technology Start-ups — A Comparative Empirical Research of the
Investment Process on the Venture Capital Firm Level": <http://bit.ly/gDPwz9>

b) "M&A, Cooperations and Networks in the e-Business Industry":
<http://amzn.to/ltiKv4>

------
rhhfla
<http://roberthackerbooks.com/> Book develops my thinking on a business model
for high growth companies. Concepts are illustrated in part by my experience
building a billion dollar company.

------
petervandijck
<http://petervandijck.com/iabook/> Information architecture. Took me about 4
months in the library of Colombia university (Peter Parker!) to write it :)

------
nametoremember
I would love to write a book. I have been thinking about spending an hour or
two each day this summer working on one. It will be a fictional story. About
what? That's still undecided.

------
davemabe
I wrote BlackBerry Hacks several years ago:

<http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596101152>

Definitely a lot of work and a worthwhile pursuit.

------
bioinformatics
A Thesis and a Dissertation, do those count?

~~~
nbashaw
Sure - but I'm mostly curious to learn what kinds of experiences good hackers
have had in trying to get their ideas out there. The publishing industry just
seems terribly archaic, and most people trying to write books are locked into
it because they don't know how to _create_ stuff on web, just consume it. HN
is full of people who can create web-based stuff, so I was curious to see if
there were any neat experiments people had done.

~~~
cstross
a) There are about a dozen different industries flying in loose formation and
termed "publishing" -- academic press is not like mass market fiction press,
or newspapers, or magazines, or self-improvement books or textbooks. The web
is the latest and most rapidly changing _delivery vehicle_ but it crosses all
of these lines. Beware of thinking of "the web" as a publishing sector;
rather, it's a mechanism for delivering the content to the reader's eyeballs,
much like offset-litho printing.

b) Today's publishing industry runs on the set of business practices that
didn't cause someone [else] to go bust at some point over the past 150 years.
It may look archaic and weird, but it's that way _for a whole bunch of reasons
that looked good at some time_.

More here: [http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-
static/2010/04/common-m...](http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-
static/2010/04/common-misconceptions-about-pu-1.html)

------
kirpekar
Me --> <http://amzn.com/3836474948>

------
Dgriffiths
One on Rails. One intro to programming with Python. Now working on one in C.

------
cturner
Novel-in-a-month, in December 2001. 50k words.

