

Ask HN: As an average coder, should I try to sell programming ebooks? - c250d07

A few months ago I started to poke around with Clojure. As this is my first serious dance with a functional language, I've been compiling a lot of notes and code samples as part of the learning process.<p>A thought has wedged its way into my brain; I'd like to take my informal scraps of knowledge, put together an ebook and sell it. Not sure about the length yet, but my hope is that it would be short, dense, and cheap ($15/100 pages max). Kinda like "Learn Python the Hard Way" for Clojure, but with training wheels.<p>Problem: I'm not a known person in the software world. Heck, I've done some websites, written some scripts, done some sys admin stuff, but I'm just an average guy with average skills.<p>I know credibility helps sell copies, but I kinda feel like selling such a product would be (for lack of a better word) cheating people. To be honest, this thought has surfaced in other ideas as well. I find myself unable to create and sell things, despite a &#62;tremendous&#60; urge to do so.<p>I'm just a mere mortal. Should I wait until I'm more skilled to make and sell these types of things, or try to get better by doing it? Or not even worry about such things?<p>Have any of you ever experienced this feeling?<p>Maybe this is just be a problem of low/no self-esteem, but any thoughts would be very much appreciated.
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guynamedloren
Yes, do it, if for no other reason than to improve your own skills.

What's the saying - _the best way to learn is to teach_?

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dllthomas
Should you write it? Absolutely. The fact that you're not a ninja coder could
actually work to your benefit: if you have difficulty in the places most
people have difficulty, you might be better able to hold their hands there.

Should you charge for it? Maybe. Money is great. The counterargument being
that putting up good writing can itself help you make a strong name for
yourself, and people are still skittish around ebooks (in my experience).

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pawelwentpawel
You don't need to be a ninja programmer to write great books. I would say that
it might be even an advantage - you might write something more approachable.
If you had any problem with learning a new language there is a big chance that
other people did too. In the very worst case you will only have something to
put on your resume and obviously you will learn a lot.

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prehnra
You say you are an average coder. How are you as a writer?

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brudgers
Ship version 1.

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yashchandra
Go ahead. Do it. What is the worst that can happen ? You learn a lot more
while trying to create the book. What is the best that can happen ? You make
some money along the way. Win-win situation I would say.

