Ask HN: Who reads all of the constantly published software book?

1 points by Distozion 4 years ago | 3 comments

Almost every week I see new software books being published, sometimes on extremely niche topics. A good number of them get outdated within the year it was published.

At the same time, every workplace I worked at had some books, but mostly it was books-as-decor or ones that the management liked the title of (The Lean Startup, agile/scrum ones, etc). And no one ever read them.

When it comes to the software engineers I know of, a few mention they do read books, but AFAIK, it's mostly hobby reading and almost never work related (I think the closest I got was the 4h workweek or The Lean Startup).

So who is the target audience reading all these books? Is there actual demand and I just happened to miss all those hidden readers who churn through swats of these technical writings on their free time? Are they all published just for the sake that the person in question becomes a "published author"?

kstenerud 4 years ago |

Books are like apps: Most people don't make money at it.

Distozion 4 years ago | |

Even if the goal is not to make money, I'd think that most would at least want an audience to read their work. Publishing a book, especially paperback is a considerable commitment, yet there's no lack of them coming out in paperback. Even a kindle version is a huge time commitment.

Do you consider that most authors simply have unreasonable expectations when deciding to publish?

kstenerud 4 years ago | | |

Very few authors have reasonable expectations when publishing. In the old days they just wouldn't find a publisher willing to publish their work, or only after many edits for quality. In today's world, publishing is so cheap that there are no standards anymore.