Playbook Thirtynine
Ship interactive web apps with minimal tooling.
Publishing this Ruby on Rails book has always been a goal of mine, and I'm really happy that I was finally able to do that!
Yesterday I just crossed over 15K in sales from only 137 purchases.
There's an insane amount of value packed into the book + app, and overall I'm really thankful that others are able to see the same.
This project has been a roller coaster of emotions. At one point I thought about just shelving it all together, but I decided to push forward.
In 90 days this book on Ruby on Rails as made $10K in revenue.
If you have doubts about your project, or on the verge of quitting, don't! You could be so close. There's always going to be friction with whatever you're pursuing, but the key is determining what's worth fighting for.
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Congrats Nick!
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Great book! Really helped me understand how to get somethings working together that I didn't really understand how to do before (or why they worked).
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Hell yes!!!
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Hey, @nphaskins, I've ordered your book. Pretty nice content, but...
I've tried to contact you via twitter, email, website, anything and got no answer at all - and you are daily active on Twitter, as I thought that maybe you are in some remote location with your Camper. So taking into account that you probably don't have hundreds of message daily, and your product is not $1 value, I think would be nice if you have some time do some support of your product/selling platform.Some feedback about book:
- You have provided code snippets, but they don't have any numbering same as captions of images in book, so it is hard to check every snippet, so maybe include caption with snippet numbers in the book?
- You mention some things in the book which are not implemented in the example app at all - ahoy tracking and displaying later. I'm not saying full implementation but some example.
- The app does not include a test at all, I'm not saying that it should be 100% tested, but you have a custom approach for writing some things, would be nice to share what is best way to test it etc. I mean if you are showing the best practice of app design, would be nice to have test included as well to see your approach.
Maybe these are not most important things, but i think are nice to have.
I think apart from this book is very nice:) It is always nice to see some production best practices:)
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Hey Baaart! Thanks for the feedback!
I have a community forum that I've been answering questions on just in case you missed that:
https://playbook-thirty-nine.mavenseed.com/community
- You are right!
- Yep that's correct. I didn't want to make assumptions about the app. Not everyone uses tracking. The purpose of the app was to show the basic implementation of the most important concepts like service object use.
- Correct! I'm a one man show. I don't use TDD, nor do I write tests. This is more suitable for teams, not solo developers.
Happy to answer any other questions!
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Thanks for quick answer:)
I will definitely check community forum.
#2. I understand that app is just help to the book, but still, having even basic example of the concept within the whole app is I think better than code snippet. For example just one event type and very simple dashboard.About #3. I'm one-man show very often as well, and unfortunately, not having test and changing bigger and bigger applications, makes regression errors more often as the application grows. And if you will want at some point to sell your app, or outsource some stuff, tests are very good, not to mention any bigger refactor:)
Especially if you are not looking at your code for some time - I know that you are involved in multiple projects, so hard to believe that you have a perfect mental model of each of them in your head all the time:)I will do some post in the community forum, so we will not do offtopic here:) I have some suggestion, what else could be included.
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I'm not a developer but know how hard it is to write a book then hit $10k in sales. Nice work Nick!
Just crossed over $5K in sales. It's been challenging because I don't have a large audience, and the book is on a tech that not a lot of developers utilize.
At any rate, I would consider this a success.
Some of the top feedback includes:
- "Your book is too expensive."
- "Your landing page needs some SERIOUS work."
0 refund requests.
Fuck the haters. Just do your own thing and ignore everyone else.
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Nick, fantastic job and definitely a great dedication to what you live to do. I have been looking at your webpage and a think it's pretty easy to read and understand. "Sometimes it's as they say keep it simple."
Let's keep in touch!Best Regards,
Milo-
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Thanks Milo!
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That's awesome. If you have no audience, I'd love to know how you drove sales?
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A lot of Tweeting, a lot of wearing my heart on my sleeve, and it's a great, well designed product (feedback says).
Twitter has been instrumental in the success.
I also did a pre-order phase, which went terribly because I launched it as Covid-19 was ramping up. But the great thing about doing pre-orders, was that you get to launch twice.
When the book actually launched, I had collected about 130 emails.
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Your sales per twitter followers is very good. I'd say you did well.
The thing I'm curious about though, is since your Blender Market business is at more than 200k MRR, what motivates you to sell a Rails book?
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Why you are using Mavenseed for ecommerce? They take 8% as a fee and support only bank cards. You can use e.g. payproglobal.com - their fee is 5% and they support over 200 payment methods (of course including bank cards, paypal, alipay, wechat, webmoney and everything else that one can pay with)
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Because it's free, and I built the platform! Why not support a fellow IH'er?
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Mavenseed takes 8% from your revenue, so it's not free for you.
If I were you, I would a/b test payproglobal in your case, may be (due to availability of 200 payment methods instead of 1) your sales will double!
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"your sales will double!"
LMAO LOLOLOLOLOLOLI don't think you get it.
I built Mavenseed. I'm a co-founder. I don't pay 8%. And why would I use some ecommerce platform I've never heard of instead of my own tools?
Nice try, but you're barking up the wrong tree.
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The fact that you've never heard about something does not mean that it's of low quality.
I'm selling software online since 2003.
From my experience, yes, just switching ecommerce provider can double your sales, I've seen that for a lot of projects. Just stop thinking that nobody lives outside of US/UK/Canada.Just curious, how do you accept payments in Mavenseed under the hood - what do you use for billing? Stripe? Anyway any billing backend that you use should charge you for at least 2%.
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" just switching ecommerce provider can double your sales,"
O.K. care to share a link with data that backs this?
Somehow you're still missing the fact that Mavenseed is my startup. I wouldn't use anything else. I use my own software so that I know what it's like for our end users. It enables me to spot bugs and issues first-hand.
We're using Stripe Connect. This means that each of our users connects and processes charges through their own Stripe account.
And just a word of caution, as a business owner and engineer, a low credit card processing fee is the VERY last of my concerns.
IMO you need to change your pitch angle.
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OK, so you pay 2.9% to Stripe for billing..
Just curious - why I'm not allowed to pay using AliPay for your book? Have you disabled it in your Stripe Connect account or what? according to list of Stripe features this option should be available. Same question about Giropay, Sofort, ACH and other payment options that Stripe provides - but all I see is input of bank card number.
Why I can't pay for it using paypal? Yes, I know that Stripe does not support it, but it's not my problem!
On your checkout page I'm prompted to enter bank card details. Most people who have a clue about computer security will be afraid to enter it, because the page runs on your website, so you (or somebody who hacked your site) can put a javascript code that steals bank card numbers and sends them to thieves. I guess only this fact drops your sales by 50% or more.
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It's a tough sell to get someone to switch away from their own product!
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Nick, congrats on launching the book.
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Awesome!!
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The beauty of building your own thing also means you are not at the mercy of anyone else.
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+1!! keep going!
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I had to look because of "the book is on a tech that not a lot of developers utilize."
-> It's Ruby on Rails. Ha! A TON of developers utilize it. It may not be as popular as it used to be, but it's a damn fine tool for the job.
Disclaimer: I use Rails everyday, and know a ton of people who do too.-
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I agree David! But unfortunately that's not currently how the state of the web is. Te reality is that most web devs opt for JS frameworks. I mean, just look at this thread posted just today...
https://www.indiehackers.com/post/anyone-using-rails-in-2020-44f53a6b0b-
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Look at all those "Yes'!" to Rails on that page- not many JS ones to be honest.
I agree in general (the curent state of the web) is more JS-focused, but there's always going to be a large amount of people using any given technology. You just have to find them :D
Oh- and congrats on the sales!
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Thanks David! Yep I totally agree.
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Hi Nick,
Very very nice! I'll definetly take a look at it.
Also, I've send you a PM.
Best regards,
Freddy -
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This comment was deleted 3 years ago
It’s been a labor of love, but I’m finally able to say that I have finished it! I wrote a 270 page book detailing my simplistic approach to building and maintaining web apps that serve millions of visitors, and generate millions of dollars in revenue. This project took three months to complete, in between the full-time job, side hustles, and living remotely in an off-grid RV.
I’m especially grateful to everyone who has supported this, and the folks who pre-ordered. I’m also thankful for my editor, who really took this diamond in the rough and made it shine!
You can pick up the book here:
https://playbookthirtynine.com
Yesterday I got a peak at the final copy from the editor, and it really made me super proud of this project.
Writing a technical eBook was a lot more time consuming than I had thought. I think that's mostly due to the shear number of code samples that I included, and the fact that the topics I covered are pretty complex.
https://playbookthirtynine.com
I've gotten some good feedback about the initial draft from pre-order customers, and after adding a few sections, the project is finally coming to a completion point.
More to come on launch day!
With pre-orders coming to a close on Monday, I'm pretty happy with the results. I'll be able to hit the publicly announced date for pre-sale deliveries, and that includes the Rails companion app for the project. The app that's paired with the book is a must see. Check out my recent tweet with some screenshots .(https://twitter.com/nphaskins/status/1248037365039296513)
The eBook ballooned in size to 230 pages and 40k words.
It's with a copy editor right now, an aside from a few missing screenshots, and a pass at a design, the project is coming to a point of completion.
During the next two weeks those who pre-ordered will have first access, with the official release to follow on April 27th.
Pre-Order Stats
Price - $79
Purchases - 20
Revenue - $1,520
Some projects take off and make millions. Most don't. What matters the most, is finishing.
For the next four days I'll be working to complete the initial draft of my eBook on Rails (https://playbookthirtynine.com). With 165 pages and 35K words, there's a hint of excitement because the light at the end of the proverbial tunnel, is just within reach.
The first draft is still on target to be delivered to pre-order customers by April 13th, with the final release on April 27th.
Thanks to everyone who has been sharing my Tweets!
Pre-Order Stats:
Price - $79
Purchases - 17
Revenue - $1,343
Follow me @nphaskins (https://twitter.com/nphaskins)
It's been 15 days since I launched pre-orders for my eBook on Rails (https://playbookthirtynine.com) , and so far I've had 14 sales. I've been consistently sharing on Twitter, including pages and snippets, but I don't have a large following.
I guess I just expected more interest. I definitely expected more sales, especially when you look at the popularity of other eBook. I have so many years of experience across multiple apps. I built and sold a business in two years. Surely developers would want to read about my approach and techniques.
But who am I?
I'm just another fish in the ocean.
This project has felt like pushing a rock up a hill. There's a number things that are just out of my control:
- Rails is not popular
- We're in a pandemic
- It's a pre-order
- I don't have a large megaphone (Twitter followers)
What can I do?
Finish the book. Finish the app. Deliver the book and app on time to those who pre-ordered. Complete the project.
Who knows, maybe this will just be a late bloomer.
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Hey Nick,
Sorry to hear it's been a tough slog for you. I'm sure it's a really tough time in general to be launching a book.
That said, while I'm not a rails developer, I have to believe that there is a large enough community of users that your book could be selling much better.
Looking at your website, to me you've just barely scratched the surface on marketing your book. If you want to make your book a success, you're going to have to spend almost as much time and effort marketing your book as you did writing it.
Some feedback for you:
- First, you absolutely must have the keywords "Ruby on Rails" in your title. I have no idea what "Playbook Thirty-Nine" means ... is that something that has meaning in Rails? Newbies will have no idea. Without those critical keywords, you are fighting an uphill battle getting the word out.
On your website:
- Must have a table of contents
- Must give away at least 1-2 chapters.
- Make some sort of free item or items (e.g. a downloadable Rails cheatsheet or some other useful goodie) that users get in exchange for an email signup. That's a way to start building your list.
- Get reader reviews/testimonials, especially from Rails influencers, bloggers, community leaders, experts etc.
- Give special promo codes (either discounts or bonus materials) that these Rails influencers/bloggers/experts can give to their audience.
- Have a link to a live demo of your companion app
Compare your website to this: https://www.railstutorial.org ... TBH, if I were interested in learning Rails, this would be the book I would pick up.
Here's another example of a pretty good book website:
https://www.newline.co/fullstack-react/This one isn't as good, but the basics are there:
https://www.singlefounderhandbook.com/You should also seriously consider selling your book on Amazon and iBooks (skip Kobo/B&N, the sales volume isn't there). About 85% of the ebook market is Amazon. iBooks probably around 15%. Go to Amazon and search for "Ruby on Rails". Your goal should be to get your book to page 1 of the search results. There's an entire playbook on how to market on Amazon, but basically it takes a lot of elbow grease to get the ratings/reviews, manage ad spend on Amazon and prime the pump. Your price point may be too high for Amazon, but it's worth a shot. The good news is that the competition isn't that strong here. The number one result "Ruby on Rails Tutorial" by Michael Hartl has only 87 ratings. Also, it looks like he's working on the 6th edition which is coming out in June 2020 for $49.99. If you can get your book to page 1 (preferably in the top 3), then you will get a constant stream of buyers who search for the keyword "Ruby on Rails".
I know this is a lot to take in. Most people don't like marketing books. It's a lot of work, and honestly not much fun, but it's the cost of being a successful author these days. I hope you find this advice useful. Good luck!
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Do you have already some free rails content out there? Blogs? Youtube?
If not, than I would highly recommend to write some.
At the very least I would show first chapter on the website and tried to promote it somehow.
I did the same mistake as you did. Pre-launched non-existing course in the field I wasn't known in. Of course nobody bought, so I scraped the project.
I just reached $1K in revenue from pre-orders for my eBook. It's validating to have some interest, and it's really inspiring me to complete the project.
This morning I crossed over 25K words, and so far sitting at 116 pages. It's coming close to the end, and it's starting to feel pretty good!
Based on some user feedback, I decided to add two free chapters as a download. You don't even have to pre-order to get the free-chapter, it's right at the bottom of the book page.
I'm hoping that this spurs a few more pre-orders, because in the last 24 hours I've only gotten 8.
2 Comments
Hi, I just noticed that the link to the sample chapter on your landing page is no longer working. The "Download Free Section" button leads to a 404 page.
Thanks for the heads up! Just fixed the link.