Cheers from Germany,
Lars.

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!

If you use it I want 5%.

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’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.

A book detailed the first year struggles and successes would be great for newcomers to the freelancing world.

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.)

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

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

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

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.

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 :)