[quickthrower2]

I've started on a journey like this, and I have settled on the idea of writing short eBooks, guides and eventually full length books. However I am also learning about digital marketing (encompassing social media / SEO etc.) so that I have a chance of seeing some success and sales. I am taking this a step at a time, so I am creating an information site for a popular programming language. I am already finding writing challenging, because I now know a bit more about marketing and I want to make sure I don't just create content, but that people read it! That means that unlike this comment, I will be writing and rewriting and crafting blog posts.

I am finding this exciting because it is different from coding, but I get to use and share my coding knowledge and help other people. Even if I make little or no money, doing this kind of work might help position myself in a better role the next time I need to look for a new job, or help me advance in my current job. So I see it as a form of hedging - I might make an income to quit the job, or if not it will still help me in my career, by improving my written communication and my understanding of programming. The reason it will improve my programming is because you have to really understand something well to write about it.

[throwawaymlc]

That's cool, I hope it works out for you! I've thought about this kind of thing too.

I think for most mainstream programming languages, the market for books, blogs, tutorials, youtube channels is pretty much saturated. However, I have worked with several proprietary / vendor products over the years that have perfunctory documentation, not much in the way of a user community, where serious users end up having to experiment + reverse engineer things to get it working well.

I think it could be interesting to become a third party "expert" for such a product, blog about tips and tricks, offer training and consulting, write books, etc. I guess it's the same as what you're doing, just not for a "popular programming language", but for something slightly specialized but still actively used.

[quickthrower2]

Yes indeed, while the market for say Python books is saturated, there might be room for a Python for X, where X is some shared characteristic. E.g. Python lessons to prepare for a coding Bootcamp.

The vendor product idea sounds good. I think the money there is from consulting or software products, as the book won’t sell in volume. However the book can position you as the expert so people buy other things from you.