出版与作家生涯2016news.ycombinator.com编辑精选
Ask HN：有人请你写书时需要考虑哪些问题？
Ask HN: Considerations when asked to write a book?
导读
一位技术作者因几篇文章写得好，被两家老牌出版社邀请写书，于是到 HN 上请教该考虑什么、该问什么、什么样的合同算公道。几位写过多本技术书的老作者从合同经济账、选题、写作节奏到营销给出了很实在的经验，值得任何想把自己写的东西变成一本书的人读。
可以直接用的写作要点
- 01
别指望靠版税赚钱：典型条件是几千美元预付款加约 8% 版税，而多数技术书作者根本卖不到"回本"线，动机应是热爱主题、热爱写作和建立专业声誉。
- 02
选题要同时满足四点：你热爱、你懂、你能写得够多、并且一年半后仍然卖得动；写到一半发现方向不对，也允许自己调整。
- 03
先写大纲和第一章，然后丢掉重写大纲——宁可损失已写的稿子，也不要沿着无效方向硬走下去。
- 04
尽早拿到反馈；写作时保持零干扰（早起或熬夜），卡壳时把自己当成在给听众演讲，大声讲出来往往能解开。
- 05
如果打算自己出版赚钱，先积累邮件列表和读者，再卖书和打包产品（书、书加视频、书加视频加代码），定价可以远高于你的舒适区。
HN 评论精选
出版社的预付款加版税模式基本赚不到钱，想盈利应自出版并经营自己的读者名单。
你多半会被报价惊到。他们的套路是先原话告诉你"别为了钱做这件事"，然后给你一份条款，等于说他们自己不是为了其中约 92.5% 的钱。典型条件是 5000 美元预付款、平装书 8% 版税（电子书或许略高），预付款按里程碑发放；版税要先"抵完"预付款才开始真正付给你——也就是说，按这个比例你得先卖出约 62500 美元的书才拿得到额外收入。多数技术作者都卖不到这条线，能指望的就是预付款，加上书特别畅销时（比如被译成日文）偶尔一两千美元的外文版权费。真想靠写书赚钱是可行的：开始收集邮箱、持续发布能让人愿意拿邮箱交换的内容、自出版、通过自己的网站和邮件列表卖；再进一步就卖打包产品（书、书加视频、书加视频加代码），定价远高于你的舒适区（49/99/249 美元这种档位很常见）。
patio11查看英文原文
What is a fair, market-rate deal for a first-time technical author writing about a popular subject? You're going to be shocked and dismayed by the offer they give you. Let's get that out of the way now. This is the model: they'll tell you to not do it for the money, in exactly those words, prior to explaining to you terms which imply that they're not doing it for ~92.5% of the money. You will likely be offered something akin to a $5k advance and a 8% royalty rate on paperback sales with, perhaps, a modestly higher royalty rate on e-book sales. The advance is guaranteed contingent on milestones. The royalties first "earn out" the advance and then start getting actually paid to you. (i.e. You have to sell $5k/0.08 = $62,500 of books on those terms prior to receiving any additional money.) Most tech authors do not earn out advances. You should expect to receive just the advance and then occasional minor payments ($1k to $2k) for foreign rights if the book turns out to be so popular that e.g. it gets translated into e.g. Japanese. If you want to make money in writing books, it is very possible. You'll want to start collecting email addresses, start publishing more things which get more people interested in trading you their email address, publish the book yourself, and sell via your own site/email list. For bonus points, sell packages (book, book + videos, book + videos + code samples) and price much, much higher than you're comfortable with ($49/$99/$249 is popular and works well). There exist numerous people on HN who have successful businesses doing the second model. Understand that the second model is far more akin to running a business than it is to writing books. This is true of writing books generally, but it is more obviously true when you don't have a publisher to blame for your marketing/sales outcomes.
谈判要低报页数、书面锁定出版社的义务，选题要兼顾热爱与一年半后的市场。
我是 O'Reilly 的作者，写设计相关主题，前后花了一年半，现在接近收尾。谈判：一切都是可谈的；页数估计要往低报，他们按这个定价，之后又会让你填满；出版社要出什么力，必须写进合同。选题：选你热爱的、你很懂的、你能写很多的、一年半后还卖得动的主题，中途改题也不必害怕。写作：先写大纲和第一章，然后扔掉重写大纲；宁可损失工作成果，也别继续走错方向；写书期间要像写一样多地读别的书；早起或熬夜，零干扰最佳；卡壳时像给观众演讲一样大声说出来；尽早拿到反馈。营销：尽量把出版社会做的营销写进合同，谈好你能拿多少本赠书送人，亚马逊销量很重要。
jonshariat查看英文原文
I'm currently an author with O'Reilly, writing about the design space. (http://shop.oreilly.com/product/0636920038887.do) I am in the final stages after over a year and half. I was in your position not too long ago and researched as much as I could before accepting, so I will skip things you will find in a quick Google search. Negotiating: 1. Everything is negotiable, remember that 2. Under promise on #pages, they ask you for an estimate but lowball it because thats how they price it and then will ask you to fill it. 3. Get in writing what they will be contributing. Choosing the topic: 1. Choose a topic you are passionate about 2. Choose a topic you know a lot about 3. Choose a topic you can write a lot about 4. Don't be afraid to tweak the topic half way in. 5. Choose a topic that will sell in a year and half. Writing the book: 1. Write an outline, write the first chapter, throw it away, and rewrite the outline agin. 2. Its better to lose work than to keep going in a direction that isn't working 3. You'll be busy but be reading other books as much as you are writing. 4. Wake up early or stay up late, 0 distractions is the best for writing 5. Talk out loud, like youre presenting to an audience to get unstuck from writers block. 6. Get feedback as soon as possible. Marketing the book: 1. If you can, get in writing what marketing they will do for the book. 2. Negotiate on how many free books you can get to give away 3. Sales on Amazon are important, direct sales there, esp on launch day. 4. Start a newsletter (yay more writing!) Other: 1. This is a second job 2. It does open a lot of doors 3. Consider a co-author for your first book. I added one towards the end and wish I had done it sooner. Its easier to collaborate and bounce ideas off each other and keep each other accountable.
找经纪人帮你清理合同陷阱，并接受"写书本身不赚钱、回报在后续机会"这个现实。
我写过三本技术书，强烈建议找经纪人（我用的是 studiob.com）。他们不但替你谈钱，还能删掉那些烂条款，比如你从没听说过的"交叉结算条款"。我上一份合同的初始报价里甚至包含我下一本书的优先拒绝权，连收购编辑看到我们提出这个问题都笑了，因为她根本不知道有这条。经纪抽 15%，绝对值得。不管谈成什么条件，都当作它不会卖过预付款线，因为很可能真的不会。正如大家说的，你不是为钱写，是为热爱主题、热爱写作、以及被视为这个领域的专家。写书本身给我带来的钱很少，但后续的文章、以及在薪资谈判中用这本书，回报远超付出。建议先把你想写的书定下来，再拿去各家出版社询价（经纪人能帮上忙），并且对出版社要挑剔，去问用过它的其他作者——出版社之间差别很大：一家雇编辑、付技术审稿费，另一家指望你自己编辑、只给审稿人一本书，结果天差地别。
swalberg查看英文原文
I've written 3 technical books. I highly recommend talking to an agent. I used studiob.com. Not only will they negotiate money on your behalf, but they'll get crappy clauses taken out. Stuff you've never heard of like "cross accounting clauses". My last contract had a right of first refusal for my next book in their opening offer. The acquisitions editor even laughed when we asked about it because she didn't know it was there. The agent will take 15% and believe me it's worth it. Whatever deal you cut, pretend like it's not going to earn out its advance. Because it probably won't. As everyone says, you're not doing it for the money. You're doing it because you love the topic, love to write, and to be seen as an expert in the field. Writing the books themselves earned me very little money. Follow on work, like articles, and using it in salary negotiations, more than paid for itself. I'd suggest you figure out the book you want to write then shop it around the publishers (again, agent helps). And be picky about the publisher, talk to other authors that used them. They're not all the same. When one publisher hires editors and pays their technical editors and another expects a lot of self-editing and offers a free book to the tech reviewers, the outcomes will be vastly different.
比起争版税，更该用谈判筹码争取按自己的判断写市场真正需要的书。
作为给"老牌出版社"写过好几本书的作者，我的主要建议是：你对自己领域的了解比出版社多一千倍，你也比他们更清楚一年半后这本书该写成什么样才好卖。让一本书在财务上成功的最好办法，不是谈到最高版税，而是确保书写成之后人们真的想买。先拿到一份合理的合同，然后把剩下的所有筹码都用在"让我写成市场真正需要的那本书"上。
drcode查看英文原文
As an author of several books with an "established publisher" I guess my main advice is that you know 1000x more about your domain than your publisher and you have a better idea than them what the book should be like so that it will sell a year and a half from now. The best way to write a financially-successful book is not to negotiate the best royalty rates possible, but instead to make sure you write a book people are actually going to want to buy once the book comes to market... make sure you get a reasonable contract, but after that use any remaining leverage you have to make sure you get to write the right book for your market.
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