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by polysaturate 3393 days ago
Second time in a week I've seen you post about this(not a dig). Not quite sure there is the same sort of market for 120k in eBook sales for programming books, but your success definitely helps me hold hope my pre-sale continues to gain traction.
4 comments
austenallred 3393 days ago
Talk to the people who wrote the first book on Meteor.js. I know they pulled in over $500k.

That's probably a unique case because in the beginning the documentation was so bad, but especially in new and esoteric programming languages/methods $50 is no big deal, and there are lots of willing buyers. I'd bet the HaskellBook authors pulled in 100k+ too.

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polysaturate 3393 days ago
True, but that seemed like a really trending market. Anyway, do you know if there are any articles, etc about their experiences?
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blennon 3393 days ago
This is not meant to be a dig but just an observation for you to think about. Your last two comments are about how it isn't or shouldn't be possible to make money.

It's true that market opportunities are hard to find, but you'll never find one if all you see is the "yes, buts". You miss 100% of the shots you don't take.

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polysaturate 3393 days ago
No offense taken. I'm just trying to have a healthy optimism about writing, marketing and selling a book. 500k and 120k in sales seems like outliers. Would just be great to hear more about those experiences though.
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jamiesonbecker 3393 days ago
Outlier results come only from methodically searching for, taking chances on, embracing, and building on outliers.

Search for the things that no one else sees or has the vision or boldness to turn into an outlandish success.

Take a chance. Live a little. Dig deep down for your inner crazy.

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austenallred 3393 days ago
Not that I'm aware of
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polysaturate 3392 days ago
I found the GumRoad Case Study on the meteor book:

https://s3.amazonaws.com/gumroad/blog/DiscoverMeteorCaseStud...

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michaelbuckbee 3393 days ago
Adam Wathan (PHP + Laravel stuff) had a $100k book launch - http://www.productpeople.tv/81

I know a half dozen other authors of technical/programming books who have probably made between $50k to $100k over the life of their books.

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graeme 3393 days ago
I wouldn't be so sure. Programming has a distinct advantage: people can make money from programming skills. And also, people can save money on programming costs if a book teaches them/their programmer enough knowledge that outside talent isn't required.

So there's a lot more money potential for the average programming book than there is for the average novel. (Bestselling novels make much more, but only a few books get that status)

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puranjay 3393 days ago
The thing about business/education/training books is that they don't have to be priced like conventional non-fiction books. You sell them on the value they provide.

If you give me a system that will help me become a full-time programmer in 12 months, making $75/hour, then I'll gladly give you hundreds of dollars for the book.

Out of 100, at least 3 people will see that value. If you charge $50/month for the book/course, and have a list of 3,000 people, you are effectively looking at a full-time income

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