Ask HN: As an average coder, should I try to sell programming ebooks?

10 points by c250d07 14 years ago | 6 comments

A few months ago I started to poke around with Clojure. As this is my first serious dance with a functional language, I've been compiling a lot of notes and code samples as part of the learning process.

A thought has wedged its way into my brain; I'd like to take my informal scraps of knowledge, put together an ebook and sell it. Not sure about the length yet, but my hope is that it would be short, dense, and cheap ($15/100 pages max). Kinda like "Learn Python the Hard Way" for Clojure, but with training wheels.

Problem: I'm not a known person in the software world. Heck, I've done some websites, written some scripts, done some sys admin stuff, but I'm just an average guy with average skills.

I know credibility helps sell copies, but I kinda feel like selling such a product would be (for lack of a better word) cheating people. To be honest, this thought has surfaced in other ideas as well. I find myself unable to create and sell things, despite a >tremendous< urge to do so.

I'm just a mere mortal. Should I wait until I'm more skilled to make and sell these types of things, or try to get better by doing it? Or not even worry about such things?

Have any of you ever experienced this feeling?

Maybe this is just be a problem of low/no self-esteem, but any thoughts would be very much appreciated.

guynamedloren 14 years ago |

Yes, do it, if for no other reason than to improve your own skills.

What's the saying - the best way to learn is to teach?

dllthomas 14 years ago |

Should you write it? Absolutely. The fact that you're not a ninja coder could actually work to your benefit: if you have difficulty in the places most people have difficulty, you might be better able to hold their hands there.

Should you charge for it? Maybe. Money is great. The counterargument being that putting up good writing can itself help you make a strong name for yourself, and people are still skittish around ebooks (in my experience).

pawelwentpawel 14 years ago |

You don't need to be a ninja programmer to write great books. I would say that it might be even an advantage - you might write something more approachable. If you had any problem with learning a new language there is a big chance that other people did too. In the very worst case you will only have something to put on your resume and obviously you will learn a lot.

prehnra 14 years ago |

You say you are an average coder. How are you as a writer?

brudgers 14 years ago |

Ship version 1.

yashchandra 14 years ago |

Go ahead. Do it. What is the worst that can happen ? You learn a lot more while trying to create the book. What is the best that can happen ? You make some money along the way. Win-win situation I would say.