

Show HN: SideProjects.com - 37 Bootstrapped Profitable Projects - sideprojectbook
http://www.sideprojects.com/
Have been working on this for months, hope you guys will like it. Feel free to share your own side project in the comments.
======
sideprojectbook
Hi Guys,

I'm Laksman (@Laksman on twitter), author of SideProject book. I put together
this project over many months with the help of the 37 participants. Launch has
been pretty hectic but is going well, so far the feedback has been positive
and I'm implemented a lot of changes suggested here. Also, feel free to shoot
me an email personally if you have any questions, firstname at gmail.com. Hope
you guys enjoy the book.

Laksman

~~~
ebcase
Great work, Laksman — congrats on shipping this!

(this is Eric from Domainr, p18 in the book)

~~~
sideprojectbook
thanks!

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PaulJoslin
I don't want to be negative, but $34 for a 124 page book seems a bit steep.
What's more, the fact it's 37 interviews over 124 pages means that on average
it's only 3.3 pages (including pictures) per 'interview' / example.

If we expect a standard introduction / conclusion to the book, then I expect
the average number of pages per example would be even less.

Looking at the sample on his site, it doesn't exactly go that in depth with
the questioning.

I think the key attraction to this book and many other 'self help / get rich /
be successful' style books, is that people get drawn in by the 'examples' and
hope that somewhere in the pages there is the answer that they've been looking
for, the golden piece of information that's going to guarantee them success.
However, their time may have been better used trying to execute their idea,
rather than just trying to read things which reiterate the success of others.

\- If this was $12 I would have not been so negative, but for $34 it just
seems steep considering the potential lack of real value it will give.

~~~
rmc
Yes, but if it was $12 they'd have to sell almost 3 times as much to make the
same money. If less than 66% of the customer base would not care if it's 12 or
34, then they get more money! e.g. if only 20% of people are like you and say
"erk $34 no thanks, $12 is ok", then they'd make oodles more money.

Sometimes you don't make it up on volume, but on profit.

~~~
alttab
I should write an eBook called "How to get rich by selling ebooks on how to
get rich for $34"

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bdunn
Purchased!

I'm launching my first book next month
(<http://doubleyourfreelancingrate.com>), which, like SideProjects, is based
on many, many lot of conversations I've had with the freelancers/consultants
who use my SaaS product.

The idea that developers don't pay for things - including infoproducts - is
bunk. My book has netted just over $2,000 in prepurchase sales in the last
week.

Kudos to the author for putting this together (the list of people you've
interviewed is OUTSTANDING)

~~~
zio99
Likewise, there's a lot I learned from conversations I've had with YC founders
and other startups in the accelerator space. I just launched the book
yesterday: <http://sellfy.com/p/9j2z> Here's some background on myself and the
book: [http://startupframework.tumblr.com/post/29634915106/what-
i-l...](http://startupframework.tumblr.com/post/29634915106/what-i-learnt-
from-yc) Loving what I'm reading so far. Very inspirational. +1.

~~~
bdunn
To channel patio11, you should probably raise your prices.

If your book does what it says, it's going to mitigate some of the risk of
deciding what path to go down when starting a startup. That's potentially
weeks/months/years that you might be saving me from chasing after an idea.

That's worth a lot more than $15 (and _especially_ $3.75)

I'm selling my new book for $39 - and that's a discounted, prepurchase rate!
But the value proposition is "if you read this book, and do what it says, and
happen to raise your rates by even a $1 - that's another $2k in your pocket
this year." Emphasize that your book will help people not waste time chasing
the white rabbit, and you can charge a premium.

~~~
paulgb
Anecdotally, I'll pay up to $5 for a book on a whim if I think I might be
interested. If it's more than $5, I download a sample and _might_ by the book,
if and when I even get around to reading the sample, and if I like the sample.

It doesn't matter if you have a great value proposition, without a solid
sample I place it in the same bucket as unsolicited phone calls to lower my
phone bill.

~~~
sideprojectbook
Update: I've added a full length pdf sample to provide an idea of the
questions asked in each interviews.

~~~
paulgb
If I hadn't purchased it already, this would have helped me make up my mind
sooner!

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girasquid
Just a heads-up: when you buy the book, the PDF will be watermarked with your
name, email address, and transaction ID in the footer of every page.

~~~
nathanbarry
I am launching my own book in the next couple weeks and was planning to do the
same. Is PDF watermarking something people find annoying? If so why?

~~~
girasquid
I find it extremely annoying - if I'd known about it beforehand, I wouldn't
have bought the book. It's intrusive, doesn't add anything to the reading
experience, and communicates that you don't trust me enough to not watermark
something I purchased from you legitimately.

~~~
nathanbarry
Thanks for the feedback. I think people (myself included) can get so caught up
trying to limit piracy that we don't think about how it makes the user feel.

I think that having it on every page is definitely over the top. Would you
still be annoyed if it was just on a single page? Say with a thank you for
purchasing message?

~~~
girasquid
If you have to do it, that's probably the least offensive option.

~~~
sideprojectbook
I'll turn off digital stamping when it's updated next week with the mobi/epub
versions, or at least make sure its limited to one page unintrusively.

~~~
girasquid
Cool - thanks!

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beggi
Weird that the purchase link is not built with Gumroad, it's featured in the
book and seems perfect for this kind of a sale.

~~~
unohoo
I was just about to say the same.

~~~
sideprojectbook
I'm trying a few payment options, using paypal for now. I do plan to add
gumroad, and try stripe in a while.

------
duopixel
Looks interesting. I think the sample would work better as an image from the
actual PDF. Currently, there's three snippets that don't make much sense out
of context.

Also, Good Dog (the script font) is barely readable in Webkit Mac. -webkit-
font-smoothing: antialiased; helps, but I think it's better if you change it
for something more legible.

~~~
aik
I agree with this first point -- the samples appear unimpressive as they are
and actually hurt my chance of buying. A PDF or a complete sample of one of
the interviews would be great. If I feel it provides me insight, I'll be
excited to read the 36 other interviews.

------
wasd
On Firefox 14, roll over on the project list is very broken. If I hover over a
project in the first column, it shows in the second column instead. Same for
the second and third column. And third column shows off the project list all
together.

Otherwise looks interesting. I'll wait on what others say before committing
the $25.

Also, if we purchase the PDF today, are we guaranteed the mobi/epub when its
released in the future?

~~~
sideprojectbook
If you purchase the PDF you are guaranteed the mobi/epub next week as well as
any future updates to the book.

------
bherms
I've been speaking with the author for the last year as he worked on the book
and have reviewed it. Lot's of good material and a great read for anyone
interested in building revenue generating side projects. I've got a few of my
own side projects up my sleeve and this book helped inspire me to get going
again. I'd recommend it, especially once the epub/mobi versions come out.

~~~
joshstrange
I will pay for it as soon as the epub/mobi version come out so I can read it
on my kindle, I despise pdf's for reading books.

~~~
stfu
Just to make the contrarian point:

I absolutely hate any format that is not a pdf file. It puts way too much
limitation on the content. Just as an example: I use three "systems" most of
the time, one windows, one ubuntu, one android tablet. Pdf works with each one
out of the box, I can hight text or copy/past it, edit them, heck even open
them in some graphic editing software and extract illustrations as vectors,
save it in different formats. In contrast to that, for epub/mobi I don't even
know what their native editing tool is so I can convert them into pdfs.

~~~
davidw
The problem with PDFs is that they make a lot of assumptions about layout and
formatting, whereas mobi and epub are HTML based, and therefore work on a much
larger array of devices - from mobile phones to Kindle for PC, including,
critically, eInk based readers which are _way_ better for sitting down to read
than anything LCD based.

~~~
nathanbarry
Though if you are writing a book about design you often want the level of
formatting and design ability that a PDF gives you. It's hard to give that up
with an ePub.

~~~
davidw
If you need something to be pixel-precise, you'd probably just include a .png
file.

eBooks aren't perfect for everything, though. I think a design book, for
instance, is something I'd rather read as a paper book.

------
nopassrecover
The price advertised on the site is $25, but when I go to buy it's $34 (which
incidentally is incredibly steep for an eBook). At least where I'm from there
are laws against that kind of advertising.

~~~
sideprojectbook
was updating some things, its fixed.

~~~
ettt
It's back at 34$ 40" after your post What's the official price?

~~~
sideprojectbook
it's $34

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lacerus
Please mention the price somewhere. Having to click the "Get the book" button,
then waiting 5 seconds, then having Paypal finally tell me the price is a turn
off for me.

~~~
pestaa
It's $25 for now, probably will be switched to normal price of $34. I found it
immediately.

------
dawie
Anyone know who the author of the book is? I can't seem to find his name on
the website.

~~~
mikejarema
The WHOIS info on the domain (sideprojectbook.com) is under privacy protection
as well. I find it a bit odd that the author is masking their identity.

The redirect domain, sideprojects.com, is owned by one "Houtan Fanisalek", but
it's unclear if Houtan is the author of the book.

------
sourc3
Did anyone read the book yet? Would you recommend it?

~~~
tangothedog
If the subject interests you, I'd recommend it since I've personally found it
difficult to find detailed information about side projects. I purchased it
partly for the information, but also to hopefully motivate myself to pursue
some projects I've been thinking about. I do feel like $25 is a lot for any
book, let alone a relatively short PDF file, but I understand there's a
limited market.

~~~
sourc3
I feel the same way. I read founders at work before and I am not sure I want
to spend $25 just for motivation at the moment :) Thanks for your replies.

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thiderman
Just FYI; the menu top overlay on the page makes browsing on a mobile device
really bad. It covers more then half the screen, and I'm on a fairly large one
(Galaxy S2).

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wiradikusuma
The listed price is $25 (<s>$34</s>), but when I went to PayPal, it was about
to charge me $34. How do I buy for $25?

~~~
sideprojectbook
email sent.

~~~
mr337
Would like to buy for $25 too. Can't wait for kindle version.

~~~
sideprojectbook
price has just been updated to $34 since launch day is over :(

~~~
ettt
Ah saw this post after replying to your previous one above. This really is the
tipping point (no go) for someone pondering about buying it like me since I
saw it in class earlier this morning. Sorry I'm cheap :( college student
status

~~~
mr337
Same here, $34 is a little steep, college student here too.

------
krmmalik
Any plans to make this book available in iTunes/iBooks? It's just that i have
a gift voucher that i'd love to be able to use.

------
cullenking
Big thanks for including our site! When I have some time over the weekend I'll
be reading all the other interviews, but from the two others I've read so far,
this book should be very informative for people getting into bootstrapping a
business. Nice work!

------
damncabbage
Nice work selling the shovels. :D

~~~
jbigelow76
A lot of people pinning their hopes on the 99 cent appstore lottery are now
probably pretending they didn't just read your comment :)

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joewee
"I don’t really market it much but I working on that department."

Hey, before I pay $34 for your book, can you make sure its edited for grammar?
If this is in the sample, I'm afraid of what the rest of the book will
contain.

~~~
nodemaker
Well I believe that is my typo....So I deserve the blame for this!

~~~
joewee
Well, that's what editors are for! ;)

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earlyriser
I'm interested in doing something like this (not same topic, just structure).
Could you share something about your approach to convince the founders and the
technicalities of the interview process.

~~~
patio11
_your approach to convince the founders_

Just ask.

Seriously.

~~~
sachitgupta
Here's more detail into the process for compiling a similar book - Startups
Open Sourced: [http://www.startupsopensourced.com/2011/05/01/startups-
open-...](http://www.startupsopensourced.com/2011/05/01/startups-open-
sourced-1-week-later-10000-in-revenue/)

------
smartial_arts
It could be just me, but judging by the sample chapter I cannot really justify
spending $34 dollars on this book.

I am sure author has put a lot of work into it, yet still the price feels way
too high.

------
charlesdm
My business is part of this ebook. Had a chance to read the other interviews
earlier this week and must say that there is a ton of great content in there.
Definitely worth its price!

~~~
Osiris
I'm featured in the book as well (BatteryBar). I can say that the interview in
the book is exactly as I submitted it, so the author didn't take any liberties
in editing the content. I assume that the other interviews are also exactly
what the product owners wanted to put out there.

~~~
pbhjpbhj
> _I assume that the other interviews are also exactly what the product owners
> wanted to put out there._ //

So, poor interviewer? Or was that not meant to be as backhanded as it reads??

~~~
Osiris
I just meant that they didn't take poetic license to edit the content, such as
by shortening or summarizing it.

------
b3b0p
Thanks for the book. I bought it after reading some comments on here about it
being motivating and have some good ideas and thoughts.

I figured even if I only learn 1 thing from this, it's money well spent.

Thanks!

~~~
sideprojectbook
your welcome! the goal of the ebook was to be motivating, but a big part of
the interviews contains actionable and tactical advice about getting started,
profit numbers, metrics, traffic/growth charts, marketing, finding users, and
other things you'll likely encounter. the intent is it will be as
knowledgeable as much as it is a motivator.

------
ikbear
What about these 37signals bootstrapped profitable projects?
<http://37signals.com/bootstrapped>

~~~
wiradikusuma
it's a different thing. the book advertised by OP just happen to have 37
"study cases".

------
pc86
I'm sure it's no accident that there are 37 projects. I'd be more interested
to hear feedback from people who aren't featured in the ebook.

Looks interesting to say the least.

------
jbigelow76
@sideprojectbook, if you reprice for a day at $25 ("launch day pricing") when
the epub version is released I'll pick it up. 34 bucks though? eh....

------
stulogy
You should try and get this in the iBook store too?

~~~
nathanbarry
The iBooks store has a maximum price of $15 which doesn't make it very good
for value based pricing.

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stevenp
Will there be a sequel? I want to be in it! :) I'm sure there are lots of us
here that would be happy to participate.

~~~
sideprojectbook
consider this one volume 1!

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BornInTheUSSR
Can't wait to read it - it would be really helpful if the chapters in the
table of contents linked to the content

------
clarky07
Great job on this. Thanks for asking me to be a part of it. Very interesting
thoughts from a lot of great devs.

~~~
sideprojectbook
thanks for being a part of it :) hopefully more good stuff coming soon after
mobi/epub, stay tuned.

------
alecdibble
Just bought! I was looking for a book EXACTLY like this yesterday. I got lucky
that HN pushed one into my lap.

------
allardschip
Great book and I just bought it. Is it possible to get a version with a white
background for better printing?

~~~
sideprojectbook
working on it!

~~~
allardschip
Awesome!

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dmix
It'd be nice to have a way to get notified when the Mobi/Kindle version is
available.

I have no way to read a long form PDF.

~~~
sideprojectbook
it will be available by the end of next week. it's already in process. anyone
who buys the pdf will receive an update via email with mobi/epub asap.

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gadders
How do these things work? Do the interviewers get a cut of the profits? Or do
they do it for the kudos?

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azat_co
Seems like a great book. Please publish it on Kindle and I would buy it
immediately ;)

~~~
sideprojectbook
coming next week, if you purchase you'll receive the update

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zander1229
Please please change the type. Otherwise, looks interesting.

~~~
sideprojectbook
Ah, yeah. Changed, should be clearer.

------
derekja
nice book. I've only glanced over a couple of the chapters but I'm looking
forward to reading it!

------
bignoggins
Great job. Humbled to be part of it!

