I dunno, I bought the book and he comes across as pretty real and transparent, check out his blog posts on iPhone Development. One of his major points is that if you aren't teaching, you aren't adding value. Something a lot of coders could learn from . . . not to mention being able to make money doing what you love.
Nathan is a good friend of mine (we used to work together) and he does have other books: http://nathanbarry.com/books/
I believe the impetus was more that self publishing is not that hard (although, writing is hard, just the other parts are easy) and you can make some money at it.
Congrats Nathan. I've been following you for a few weeks now. You've basically inspired me to start turning my naming business into a book/video program.
I've got a couple questions (which I could email you, but I figured others might be interested):
- Any thoughts on an email subscriber discount? Those who sign up for your newsletter get an extra X% discount.
- Does the giant, repeated format really work? I personally find it kind of annoying that every interview and product feature is repeated for each package.
- Any quick thoughts on how to "test out" an idea before committing to writing 200+ pages?
Nathan, how long do you reckon it would take for a newbie to go from not having any audience to $15,000 in sales (including time for writing the book)?
I did it with my first book (The App Design Handbook) in 6 months. The first 3 were writing in secret, then the last 3 involved basic promotion with a landing page, email list, and blog posts. All while I finished the book.
It took 1.5 days after launch to hit $15,000.
Though it depends a lot on the skill you plan to teach—do people value it?
[+] [-] cmonkey|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jmduke|13 years ago|reply
I can't comment on the content or the author -- as I'm familiar with neither -- but the copy here set off more than a few red flags and alarms.
[+] [-] cwbrandsma|13 years ago|reply
I believe the impetus was more that self publishing is not that hard (although, writing is hard, just the other parts are easy) and you can make some money at it.
[+] [-] keiferski|13 years ago|reply
I've got a couple questions (which I could email you, but I figured others might be interested):
- Any thoughts on an email subscriber discount? Those who sign up for your newsletter get an extra X% discount.
- Does the giant, repeated format really work? I personally find it kind of annoying that every interview and product feature is repeated for each package.
- Any quick thoughts on how to "test out" an idea before committing to writing 200+ pages?
Thanks!
[+] [-] nathanbarry|13 years ago|reply
The packages format does seem to work. Though I'd be interested in better ways to design it.
AS for testing, put up a landing page first and ask for email addresses. If you can't get 200-300 (at least) don't write the book.
[+] [-] revorad|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] nathanbarry|13 years ago|reply
It took 1.5 days after launch to hit $15,000.
Though it depends a lot on the skill you plan to teach—do people value it?
[+] [-] pdebruic|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] aidscholar|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] rhapsodyv|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] stephengillie|13 years ago|reply