出版与作家生涯2011news.ycombinator.com
Ask HN：你写过一本书吗？
Ask HN: Have you written a book?
导读
这是一个 HN 讨论串，问大家有没有写过书，回复里有职业小说家、技术书合著者、自出版作者和还在写初稿的人。它值得写作者读，因为它把「写书」从浪漫想象拉回到现实：收入、时间成本、自出版的具体麻烦，以及选题该怎么选。
可以直接用的写作要点
- 01
选题要挑自己长期积累、真正在意的领域，因为书是能长期存在、持续帮到读者的载体，别只图一时热度。
- 02
别指望写书赚钱：有人几小时写的博客文章，收入比他花几周写的书稿还高一个数量级，写书更像是在换影响力和体验。
- 03
自出版前要先估清写作之外的成本，比如 epub 制作和平台流程，这些琐事花的时间往往远超预期。
- 04
收录或采访他人案例时，选人就是选书的质量，选对了人，书的长期价值才站得住。
HN 评论精选
职业写作是靠传统出版和稳定产出养活自己的正职，并非副业。
我靠写书为生，主要是虚构类作品，早年也写过技术书。我不是自出版，出版社包括 Ace（企鹅美国）、Orbit（阿谢特）和 Tor（霍尔茨布林克）。没错，这是我的正职工作。
cstross查看英文原文
I write books for a living. Mostly fiction: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=Charles+Stross&x=0&y=0 Which is not to say that I haven't written technical books, back in the day: http://www.amazon.com/Web-Architects-Handbook-Charles-Stross/dp/020187735X/ I'm not self-published -- I've got Ace (aka part of Penguin USA), Orbit (aka Hachette) and Tor (aka Holtzbrinck) as my publishers. Yes, I do this for a day job.
短文的投入产出比可能远高于写书，写书前要想清楚自己的真实动机。
我参与过一本书的写作和出版，但心里有点不是滋味，因为我花几小时写的一篇博客文章，赚到的钱比花几周写的 Tcl 书稿多一个数量级。另外我做了 LiberWriter，本意是想自己写点东西，但我更像个 hacker 而不是作家，结果跑去折腾工具，写作一直没回去。
davidw查看英文原文
Well... not quite, but I was involved in getting one published and wrote some of it: http://journal.dedasys.com/2009/09/15/tcl-and-the-tk-toolkit-2nd-edition It has left something of a bitter taste in my mouth though... I've made an order of magnitude more money from this article that took my a few hours to put together: http://journal.dedasys.com/2008/11/24/slicehost-vs-linode as compared to weeks of work for the Tcl one. Also, on the subject of authorship, I would be remiss if I didn't link to my latest project, a system to make the Kindle book production process as easy as possible: http://www.liberwriter.com I originally put it together because I wanted to write something of my own, but I'm more of a hacker than a writer, and got sidetracked growing the program and still haven't got back to the writing.
自出版可行，但要接受选题会过时，选对人能延长书的生命力。
我 blogging 最投入的时候合著了 Beyond Blogging，通过 CreateSpace 和 Lulu 自出版。想法是做一本博主版的《思考致富》，但执行得不如我预期。书本身读起来还行，至今卖了大概 750 到 1000 本，只是这个主题我现在已经不感兴趣了，所以评价可能有偏见。不过书里写的人后来大多很成功，这点我挺自豪，说明当初选题、选人没选错。采访过程也很棒，第二本书还录了 Seth Godin、Andrew Warner、Mitch Joel 等十多位，最后没做。整体是很值的一段经历。
nhangen查看英文原文
Back when I was heavily into blogging, I co authored a book called Beyond Blogging http://amzn.to/mBHONG and self-published it via CreateSpace (for Amazon and BN.com) and Lulu (for iPad). The idea was to create a Think and Grow Rich type of book for bloggers and writing types, but I'm not sure we executed as well as I wanted to. I think it reads well and a lot of people have enjoyed it (Sold around 750-1k copies to date), but it's on a topic I'm no longer interested in so I'm probably biased against it. That being said, most of the people we featured in the book continued to be successful, so I'm proud of that (that we chose well). Was also great to interview people. We had interviews recorded for the 2nd book (including Seth Godin, Andrew Warner, Mitch Joel, and 10 others), but opted against it. Was a great experience though, and I not only enjoyed writing it, but also enjoyed the pieces of the publishing industry that I was able to experience.
自出版真正难的是写作之外的技术和流程，值得慢慢来。
我在写一本暂定名 Agile/Kanban without the Bullshit 的书，写给那些被各种敏捷、看板之类的「改进运动」折腾过、知道事情本不该这样的人。初稿完成了大约八成，会找几位社区里有名的人来审读和推荐，但这更像个人观点的表达，不是商业项目。这个领域我经验很多，书的好处是它一直在那儿，能长期帮到人。我打算慢慢写完，因为是自出版，还得学 epub 和自出版的各种门道，比我想象的多得多，大概够再写一本书了。
DanielBMarkham查看英文原文
Agile/Kanban without the Bullshit For folks who have suffered under various Agile, Kanban, and other improvement regimes and know that it's not supposed to be like this. I'm about 80% of the way through the first draft. I have a few prominent community members that are going to review (and recommend, if they like it) but it's more of a personal statement than a commercial venture. It's a topic I have a lot of experience in, and the neat thing about a book is that it's there and can provide assistance for a long time. I plan on taking my time finishing it. I'm also a self-publisher, so I had to learn epub and the ins and outs of self-publishing. There's a lot more to learning that stuff than I suspected. Probably enough for another book. The website isn't up yet. Email me if you'd like to be on the notification list. (Obligatory cool 3-D book cover image http://www.whattofix.com/ak2%203d%20book%20image.png )
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