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I have something that I’ve been thinking about for a long, long time that I want to bounce off you (my loyal readers). I’ve always had a strong interest in authoring a book, and I’ve managed to half-write several since the age of 16. This year I found myself in talks with a couple of publishers who approached me, and while nothing has come of those talks as yet, I’m interested to see what you guys would think of the prospect regardless of how it’s distributed.
What Book? Why a Book? Why Now?
The subject that I’d be looking to cover would be about starting a web design business, freelancing, working for yourself, marketing, and pretty much everything that I’ve been doing this year and talking about on this blog.
I enjoy writing a great deal, particularly when it’s on a subject that I believe will be able to help other people. That being said; I think that a lot of people write books for the sake of writing books, so that they can spend 200 pages talking about themselves. That’s not what I want to do.
Some of you may be thinking “But why now? You don’t have sufficient experience to write a book on this subject!” and the answer to that is quite simple. People who write books about freelancing and starting a business after they’ve been doing it for 5-10 years forget what it was like in year 1. On top of that, everything that they did in year 1 has completely changed in the last 5 years and it’s sometimes not even relevant any more.
I would be looking to release this on the anniversary of my taking plunge into full-time self employment (about 4 months from now), with everything that happened in year 1 still very fresh in my mind, and still very relevant to the world today. The aim of the book would be to fully disclose and describe everything that worked for me (and what didn’t), with a primary goal of helping those of you out there who are looking to the same.
Yeah Ok, So How Much?
This would depend entirely on how it ends up coming together. If it turns out to be an independent release then I would probably go the 37Signals route of
- Read it online for free
- Get a PDF copy for $x.xx
- Get a printed copy for $xx.xx
If I found a publisher interested in supporting the book then it would probably be the same, but higher quality, and no free option.
What Do You Think?
I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below and in the poll. A book is a lot of hard work and I wouldn’t want to dedicate a lot of time and effort to it unless I thought it was going to be valuable to some people!
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I’m really pleased to read this post actually. I’ve been hoping to see a book from you for a while, so I think this is a great move.
I think there’s a market for it, and I think your approach seems sound to me. I’d totally be interested in purchasing a copy :)
Thanks Japh, means a lot :)
I love the idea, i think you should go for it.
Like you said, people forget what they’ve done and how it really was, so go for it, would love to read more in depth about your experiences and the advice would be helpful to everyone, new or old to web design in general.
The only reason why I would be interested is because you wrote it. I’m not much of a reader, so I’m not target audience. However I do think your book would be a success. The things I read on your blog every once in a while is book-material. I’d go for it if you had the chance..
If the opportunity is there – go for it. Good luck John.
You made an excellent point, I don’t remember all the juicy details about my first year of freelancing, so, if I were to write a book it wouldn’t be as accurate for those just starting out.
You are also an excellent writer, your style is different, but different in a good, interesting, creative, fun way…LOL!! I think if you put in the time to make it creative, interesting, inspiring, and worthwhile to those starting out that you may be on to something. Not only would a lot of people blog about it, talk about it, and buy it….but you would have offers from publishers interested in hiring you for further publications.
I find that one of the problem with technical books is the writers try to make things to technical. I want a book to be interesting and hook me from the start. Sure you can cover in-depth topics, but try to relate them to things that the reader would understand, and hopefully find interesting.
In short, yes, I think you should publish a book!
Good luck John, and as always let me know if there is anything I can do to help you!
Jacob
Thanks for the kind words and support Jacob – really appreciate it :)
Hi John. It is always a brilliant idea to write a book and especially if your experience has been successful in your ventures, others are keen to learn from it.
At the same time, publishing industry is changing phenomenally and with products like kindle and eBooks the paper print is left with an audience that is too used to reading something on paper vis-a-vis the screen and the members of this group are only going to reduce.
I would recommend that firstly, you do a pdf downloadable version available at $x and do a printed book in a print-on-demand offering such that your print provider prints and binds the number of copies ordered on a daily/weekly/fortnightly basis at $3x or $4x. And since this would be a print-on-demand product you could design it in such a way that the book gets customised (such as a dedication page or a mention of buyer’s name on the cover) for the buyer increasing his bond with the book and justifying his $3x-$4x purchase.
Cheers! and hope to see your book soon.
Sid
Hi Sid, thanks so much for you detailed comment and advice – I really appreciate it, and think that those are some really excellent ideas!
It’s the kind of thing I could’ve done with XX years ago (!) when I went freelance. An exciting yet pant-fillingly scary period of my life and, at the time, I knew nobody in the same boat. Just because you go freelance, you don’t turn instantly into a ‘business manager’ yet you have to instantly manage a business. Do the book.
Thanks Martin, appreciate your insight into the matter – I would love for it to help people who find themselves int he same situation!
Hi John
I’d be interested and I’d probably buy a copy. We’re all mature enough to understand that reading a book takes a lot of time and isn’t something to be joked about, because your heart and soul has gone into it; so paying money is really the only way to go with it. Though I’m sure it wouldn’t hurt if you did a ‘giveaway’ when it was released.
Good luck writing the book!!
Luke
Thanks Luke – appreciate the words of encouragement as always, and glad that it would be something you’re interested in!
I like the premise for the book. It sounds very interesting and I would certainly give it a read. I have got a little tired of many recent web design books. Its seems like anyone can write a book now and many titles appear to be rehashes of what other people have already covered. I haven’t seen a title similar to yours and I would certainly give it a read.
As for releasing. I think Mark Boulton did it perfectly with Five Simple Steps. http://www.fivesimplesteps.co.uk/
If I wrote a book I would only consider giving it away for free if it was starting to get a little old or parts were irrelevant. (At which point I would release an updated version.)
Thanks Jason, Mark Boulton did a great job with Five Simple Steps – if I could do as well as him then I’d be doing ok :)
I agree with you about a lot of books around at the moment being samey, I’d definitely want to do something a bit different!
I think it’s a fantastic idea and I would pay for it. I like the way you write and I enjoy this blog so why not?
A book detailed the first year struggles and successes would be great for newcomers to the freelancing world.
Do it John. Be like Nike and Just do it.
I was critical at first, for the reason you pointed out about you only having been doing this a year but you made a good case for why it was a good time.
I’d read it for free but wouldn’t pay (at present) because I don’t see myself going full-on freelance any time soon. It does sound quite good though and I think if you wrote it the right way and didn’t make it too serious it could fly off the e-shelves by the case. Perhaps write it in a semi-autobiographical way. Less of the “You should do…” and more of the “I did…”
Maybe try a title like: Your first year of freelance: Important shit you’ll forget in the next five.
Thanks Dan, really appreciate that and LOVE the title :P
No worries.
If you use it I want 5%.
John there are 3 bloody good reasons why you should write it and write it now:
1. You want to and you’d enjoy it!
2. People would enjoy reading it and get useful insights out of it
3. Just the process of writing it alone will help you crystallise your thoughts and give you new insights into where’s next for you.
And there’s only 1 reason not to:
1. Fear of failure which, let’s face it, you don’t got!
And you’re lucky because you’ve given yourself a firm deadline. I’ve got 2 books half-written but no time at the moment (buying a house next year means I’m working like a Trojan). That deadline is going to be a Godsend in keeping you on track and ‘forcing’ you to make decisions and get it done.
How to publish it? I’ve looked into this a fair bit (and used to work in publishing and have publishing clients now) and I reckon something like how Smashing Magazine has gone about it (less the huge delays) could be a great option… use your impressive skills at whipping-up interest through social media, offer a big pre-release discount so you know what numbers you need to produce and then you can work out the best way to get it to print. That’s for a print version (your readership read stuff on the net all the time and they really appreciate a gorgeously designed ‘coffee-table’ book to get their hands on).
I’d go for that initially – offering an online sample chapter for download. Then later on perhaps going for an online version? Just for me there’s value in a physical product but I instinctively think online info should be free!
Just my ramblings! Good luck and I hope I join you on the shelves one day!
Thanks so much for the awesome comment and insight Wizely! :) Much appreciated and I’m fully taking all of your points on board
have you looked at lulu.com? very reasonable, and excellent quality.
Go for it!
I’d love to read it through as I am a full-time in-house web designer since summer this year, however am thinking of better options for myself to progress and sooner or later become a freelancer. I know it’ll take loads of time as experience matters a lot….
Awiaitng …do launch it to AMazon as I’m in London, UK & am waiting to get it asap
thanks for all your comments. Extremely helpful! Thank you
As I am starting a part-time business in webdesign and web development since Sept. 2009, I would be verry interested in this book. I enjoyed reading your blog which I just discovered today. Looking forward to your first book… :)
Cheers from Germany,
Lars.