25
67 Comments

Any self-published authors in the IH community?

A couple IH authors I'm aware of:

Anyone I'm missing?

  1. 6

    @arvidkahl has been doing wonders lately on this!

    1. 3

      True! Shame on me for forgetting.

    2. 2

      This comment was deleted a year ago.

  2. 5

    I've self-published a book that made about $100k in sales in the first year with no ads or paid marketing https://productdesigninterview.com/

    I've shared some insights about publishing here: https://medium.com/@hvost/what-i-learned-from-self-publishing-an-amazon-best-seller-4ecc7e721106

    My second book for indie hackers is coming out later this month: https://dashinsky.com/generating-product-ideas/

    1. 3

      This comment was deleted a year ago.

  3. 5

    Yup—you're missing me! I self-published The Developer's Guide to Content Creation in January and The Developer's Guide to Book Publishing in May. I've sold over 1,100 copies of both books. :)

  4. 4

    Missing @swyx who just published https://learninpublic.org

    I hope to self-publish this year or next!

  5. 4

    I'm working together with self-published authors to create interactive novels like This One.

    In 3 weeks time have around 40k downloads and a 4.9 average rating.

    1. 1

      Very cool! I had a similar idea when I was younger (~2002) glad to see someone working on this!

  6. 4

    @amyhoy wrote Just Fucking Ship and we've sold several thousand copies on our own!

    And my first is coming out in the next 30 days or so :)

  7. 3

    I am. But I write fiction!

    1. 2

      This comment was deleted a year ago.

  8. 3

    I've self-published two books on Amazon:

  9. 3

    I published a novel a few years ago on Amazon. I didn't do any SEO and I need to rewrite it. 🤣

    1. 1

      This comment was deleted a year ago.

  10. 3

    Hi! I self-published Writing for Software Developers (https://philipkiely.com/wfsd) which features an interview with Courtland. It came out 2 months ago and just hit $25K in sales.

  11. 3

    I've published 10 books the traditional way, with a publisher and written three under contract for online distribution. All non-fiction, technical books.

    Looking forward to trying my hand out at writing fiction and in that case I will definitely go self-published.

    1. 1

      This comment was deleted a year ago.

      1. 2

        No. It is all ancient history. Last book I Published in the traditional way was back in 2002.
        The digital ones were for free distribution and done under contract, back in 2007 and 2008. They are no longer distributed as they were about a product that has changed a lot.

        I have just started trying my hand at fiction and I am really enjoying the experience.

        1. 1

          This comment was deleted a year ago.

  12. 3

    And before Just Fucking Ship, I wrote a JavaScript ebook that did probably $80k in sales (it's been a long time, I'd have to look it up). You've got a recency bias going on there with just 2 guys ;)

    1. 1

      You've got a recency bias going on there with just 2 guys ;)

      Trick of the trade: short OP = long comments section ;)

      1. 1

        why you sneaky little minx!!

  13. 3

    I am writing my first book now. A book about the Postgres database.

  14. 3

    Went through a publisher for my first book. It's been good, but strongly leaning towards self-publishing in the future.

    1. 1

      This comment was deleted a year ago.

      1. 2

        I'm interested in having more flexibility in how the book is sold and marketed -- for instance, making the book just part of a larger package (e.g. including a course and training, or a toolkit, etc etc). And potentially being able to more rapidly update and iterate the book on my own, even after publication.

        It was really great for my career and reputation to have a book in the technology space published by a reputable publisher, and since it was an ebook and print-on-demand, the royalty checks have been decent compared to what I hear from folks who worked with larger publishers and print-first runs. But I think there's a lot more "indie hacker" potential with self-publishing.

        1. 1

          This comment was deleted a year ago.

  15. 3

    wrote this a while back

    i learnt no one gives a s*** abut your book (unless you've got an audience) so i put it online

    1. 2

      I know this feeling. Being a writer is tough.

    2. 1

      Or as Steven Pressfield would put it:

      Nobody Wants to Read Your Shit

  16. 3

    Depending on your definition of self-published, I put out a novel released under a Creative Commons license with the Markdown files on GitHub.

    1. 4

      That definitely fits my definition. My trajectory pre-IH was fiction writing, and I'm planning on getting back into the trenches soon!

      1. 2

        love this. my best pal writes fiction. unfortunately awful at marketing himself.

        thinks a publisher will sweep up his novel ...

        not sure if you're doing it for the fun or want to make it big, but if the latter how would you go about promoting it?

        1. 1

          not sure if you're doing it for the fun or want to make it big, but if the latter […]

          Wouldn't quite say I'm doing it to make it big, but I am seeking meaningful distribution and impact.

          […] how would you go about promoting it?

          This is a work in progress! I actually have a literary agent here in NYC (via cold email) and we began shopping my novel to publishers shortly before I teamed up with Courtland on IH. Not long after, I told my agent I'd rather go it alone (traditional publishers give authors almost zero control of their books), and he gave me his blessing while offering to continue to represent me for things like film and international rights.

          Anyway, I'll soon start building an audience around some of the themes of my fiction, which mainly fall under the cognitive sciences and self-help. Novels are a content business, and you have to be prolific and solve people's problems just as you would with any other such business. Sadly I won't have time to really work on this again for a little while.

          1. 2

            Oh cool, well I wish you the best.

          2. 2

            This comment was deleted 4 years ago.

          3. 2

            This comment was deleted a year ago.

  17. 2

    @tracymakes has self-published three books and I believe you had her on the podcast.

    1. 1

      Thanks Jeff! Yup — while Hello Web Design is moving to a full-publisher, Hello Web App is remaining self-published.

  18. 2

    Following this thread! I'm new to the IH community, first time engaging. I'm working on writing a memoir at the moment. I'm Indian/Australian and was surprised to find that in the history of all time only 4 women in our community have published a memoir/autobiographical text!

    1. 1

      I'm new to the IH community, first time engaging.

      Welcome, Daizy!

      I'm Indian/Australian and was surprised to find that in the history of all time only 4 women in our community have published a memoir/autobiographical text!

      Interesting! Hopefully you'll be number five.

  19. 2

    Hi Channing,
    I am a medical doctor and author of the book Africanism that's just out on Amazon.
    A critical view of African history and the current predicament of black people around the world. Extremely relevant to the racial crisis in the US today.
    https://www.amazon.com/Africanism-Across-Africas-Psychological-paradigm-ebook/dp/B08BG5ZJ6K/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=africanism+obiamiwe&qid=1592818166&sr=8-1

  20. 2

    I just published my first book about Imposter Syndrome. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B087R5RPJM

    It's up there as a kindle, but I'm taking the content and putting it into leanpub. I think a lot of tech people suffer from Imposter Syndrome, and I've suffered from it over the years. That's why I wrote a book about it. It's really, really, good, and I had it professionally edited. I haven't seen a ton of sales (I think in the first month I got $20 on Amazon, and about $100 from leanpub, but I haven't marketed it either.). But my time will come!

  21. 2

    I wrote Production Ready GraphQL this year, and talked about the process of writing / audience building at the Entrepreneurial Coder Podcast!

    1. 1

      This comment was deleted a year ago.

  22. 2

    I have written a book on email marketing - The Art of Email List Growth

    www.artofemaillistgrowth.com

  23. 2

    I self published the Jest Handbook (https://jest handbook.com) which has made about 100 sales (~1k revenue) & am now working on the Alpine.js Handbook (https://alpinejshandbook.com)

  24. 2

    Not sure if this counts. Selling single reports feels like selling books.

    And we have @gill_works with Maker Minions

    1. 2

      Thanks for the mention Nikola! 😊
      Hey @channingallen I'm writing Start With A Side-Project where I share my experiences of building, marketing and selling a side-project in 3 months.

  25. 2

    Wrote 3 tech books about Spring Boot (+ several updates), 1 about minimalism, about finding your why, and recently started with a short read series about overcoming self-sabotage and developing your full potential.

  26. 2

    I have also published a Guide on Quora Marketing named Quorific

  27. 2

    I wrote my first ebook called Think Outside The Box: https://www.amazon.com/Think-Outside-Box-Immediate-Passion-ebook/dp/B07P1CWNG1/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=brianna+flemings&qid=1594429140&sr=8-1

    It is a guided and educational book (yet quick and small) book that will inspire creators of all kinds: musicians, artists, designers, photographers, videographers, writers, etc, to start making money from their passion. This isn't a get rich quick book, this is a book that challenges you to believe and invest into yourself without going broke, or in debt.

  28. 2

    I've done self publishing through LeanPub, published through a publisher, and also combined both approaches: start with self-publishing and then go to a publisher.

    https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bilgin-Ibryam/e/B00J0LZUPK

    I quite like the combined approach as you can start w/o commitment on a platform such as LeanPub (which is a publishing platform and also a marketplace) and once the idea (content) is validated and there is an interest you can go to a publisher for professional book

  29. 2

    I've published a 2 hr read on Amazon about getting your first software engineering job as a self taught developer. Still experimenting a lot with different price points, fb vs amazon ads, etc. I don't have a huge social media following so I gotta say, it's been a very very uphill battle.

  30. 2

    I have not, yet. But, If anyone needs publishing insights, my partner works on the books team at a large ebook vendor and knows all the ins and outs of self-pub. PM me for a connect.

  31. 2

    I wrote and published a kid's book called Norman's Architecture Adventure two years ago.

    1. 1

      How did that go, working on one myself

      1. 1

        I thought it was a lot of fun. Since I also did the illustrations it was a chance to shift my mind over to a more relaxed creativity. I didn't have to be so technical.

  32. 2

    I have as well, a few short books.

    1. 2

      What have you written about?

  33. 1

    Me!

    I've self published a couple of books on Amazon.

    https://www.amazon.com/Greg-Lim/e/B06XP6FHDK

  34. 1

    I'm a fiction writer, and I've just launched a data analysis service for self-publishers.

  35. 1

    Hi @channingallen
    I'm writing Web Performance Recipes https://webperformance.recipes/
    I just created the project page here https://www.indiehackers.com/product/web-performance-recipes
    So excited about it! I launched a landing page and I already got more than 100 interested in the book :)

  36. 1

    I've self-published three books:

    1. Ancient Pyramid of Profit
    2. Multiply Your Customers: Terminator's Shot
    3. The Ultimate Business Plan Guide

    Here's the link to all of three: https://gum.co/mSafL

  37. 1

    Hi @channingallen,

    There's @robwalling with Start Small, Stay small, Keeping your Sh?t Together with Sherry Walling, and Start Marketing the Day you Start Coding. https://robwalling.com/#books

    @LimahlAsmall has the Cheap Meals Cookbook, and Eat Delicious, Eat Well.

    @pjrvs wrote Company of One.

    @brikis98's Hello, Startup was published by O'Reilly so I suppose that doesn't count. :-)

    @Aprildunford's book on product positioning is Obviously Awesome!

    @joshlock and Phil Sturgeon's Leanpub is PHP: The Right Way.

    @adamwathan and Setve Schoger's Refactoring UI may have had some success.

    @justinmares co-authored Traction and I think that was self-published initially before being pe-pe-pe-picked up by Penguin.

    Hope that's some help. You should listen to some of @csallen's podcast interviews; he has quite a few authors on. :-)

    Cheers, Ralph.

  38. 1

    I just self-published a book Team Lead 101: How to Manage and Grow Engineering Teams in Small Startups https://gum.co/team-lead-101

  39. 1

    Haven't published a book, but I've been publishing blog posts each day since January 1 of this year. I've learned so much just by sticking to this routine. Been slowly building an audience by converting my blog posts to Instagram slides.

  40. 1

    Hi Channing, I'm a lapsed author of science fiction — now, if I could either clone myself, or travel backwards in time a decade I'd stand a chance of finishing those other novels!

  41. 1

    I am a traditionally and self-published author.

  42. 2

    This comment was deleted a year ago.

Trending on Indie Hackers
How I grew a side project to 100k Unique Visitors in 7 days with 0 audience 47 comments Competing with Product Hunt: a month later 33 comments Why do you hate marketing? 27 comments $15k revenues in <4 months as a solopreneur 14 comments Use Your Product 13 comments How I Launched FrontendEase 13 comments