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I'm Josef. I was a Linux packager and I'm a longtime Ruby on Rails developer. Apparently, I'm also a retired serial author.
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Yes, I changed my shirt for you so you could feel the relaxed, retired atmosphere.
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I want to start my introduction by talking about my first job. Why my first job? Well, the first reason is that I am currently unemployed.
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The second reason is that it all started in Brno, Czech Republic. I attended Masaryk University where I studied computer science.
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Red Hat happens to be one of the biggest employers in Brno, and my story with Red Hat started completely out of the blue.
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A friend of mine wanted to apply for an internship and encouraged me to apply as well. The night before the interview, we looked at the test.
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The test was supposed to be a Linux test, and since I didn’t know much about Linux, we searched online for the test format.
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As we looked, we found it was multiple-choice, so we thought we could just write something for the answers.
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However, when we actually took the test, it turned out to be fill-in-the-blank, and I was quite unprepared for that.
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Despite my limited knowledge, there was a programming section where I was able to write solutions in Ruby.
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Apparently, they were looking to hire someone for their Ruby team, and I was invited for the second round.
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This was the very first building that Red Hat constructed, and where I started my career. There's a nice terrace that isn’t visible in this picture.
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I would often escape to it with my friend, both of us coffee lovers, enjoying our drinks while joking about the IBM folks in the adjacent building.
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Little did we know that IBM would buy Red Hat a few years later.
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Another interesting point is about Red Hat Enterprise Linux, which is sometimes mistakenly thought of as purely American.
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In reality, the largest development center is in the Czech Republic, and every year they would build a new building and hire hundreds of developers.
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While that was great for growth, it meant that meetings would often take place in Brno, and I hoped that maybe I would get to travel to the U.S.
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However, that didn’t really happen. During my time at Red Hat, Ruby was quite popular, and many people don't know it, but Red Hat had substantial Ruby applications.
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For example, OpenShift 2, a pure Ruby application, was succeeded by OpenShift 3, which is a Kubernetes distribution.
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At one conference, I jokingly mentioned the big news that Aaron Patterson was joining Red Hat, but I didn’t even know at the time.
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Despite working on the Ruby platform team, I never had the chance to meet or email him.
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But let's move on to the main topic today, which is how to live off book royalties.
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As a bonus, let’s also talk about the fun with the phrase 'prancing horse.'
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Step one is obvious: you need to write a very popular book.
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We’ve already heard about various successful series today, like Dune, and I've noticed children's books do really well too.
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So that's a critical step, but there’s also step two: you absolutely must sell movie rights.
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Don't underestimate this step.
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If you get it right, that leads to profit and raises an interesting question: Do you want to drive Porsches or Ferraris?
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Personally, I prefer Porsches, but look closely, and you'll see the horse logo is somewhat similar between the two.
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You may not have thought about it, but I was curious, so I investigated why they look alike.
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Porsche originates from the coat of arms of Stuttgart where they are produced, but what about Ferrari?
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According to legend, the horse on the Ferrari logo is the same horse that was adopted by a famous Italian fighter pilot.
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He had the idea to paint this horse after shooting down a plane from Stuttgart.
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The official story, however, indicates that the horse was originally a banner from a former cavalry regiment.
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His parents met Enzo Ferrari after a race, and his mother suggested adopting the horse as a lucky charm.
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However, it's worth noting that the pilot died in WWII before reaching the age of 30.
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So, I guess it's important to drive safely if you're in a Ferrari.
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Now, let’s talk about the reality check: technical books do not sell movie rights.
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Have you ever taken a date to see a movie called 'Rails 6 and a Pecker Pain'? Probably not.
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Writing technical books is indeed a tougher sell.
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Throughout my journey from starting to finish my book, I've earned a total of $44,000 in revenue since its inception.
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This brings me to reality, as the entry-level Porsche starts at just under $70,000.
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So, the retired part for me feels more like being tired of writing rather than enjoying financial freedom.
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I wanted to gauge the interest of programmers about writing technical books on Twitter, and it seems they are keen.
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There are reasons why you might want to write. You may want to feel more popular, showcase your book to your kids, or learn more about a particular topic.
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For me personally, I had reached a point in my life where I was starting to deal with health issues, with nerve pain radiating from my back down to my leg.
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I decided it was time to quit my job for a while and take a break, but I didn't want to squander my time.
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So, I thought, why not write a book? It should be manageable in about five months, right?
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The idea came to me while thinking about topics that both fit my background and were somewhat unique.
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I wanted to avoid writing about common topics like Rails or other known frameworks. Instead, I focused on deployment, but using pure Bash.
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This meant explaining the core basics of Linux, Bash scripting, and essential components.
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Before diving in, I needed validation to ensure people would actually want to read the book.
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As part of this, I wrote a blog post and shared it on the Ruby subreddit, asking if people would be interested.
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To my surprise, I garnered around 50 subscribers to my mailing list, which seemed promising.
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Encouraged by this response, I pressed forward with the project. I also wanted my book to be more engaging.
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I thought many technical books can be a bit dry, so I created a character to lighten the tone: Tiger, the cat.
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Tiger offers amusing commentary throughout the book. He introduces himself with a self-deprecating style, mentioning he likes to follow people on Twitter, coffee, and DevOps.
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For example, he provides readers with early insights about how to register a domain name.
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Though I initially had a solid kick-off, reaching subscribers was a long and arduous journey.
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I was receiving about 300 visitors daily to my blog, which was negligible, and it took more than a year to accumulate just 200 email subscribers.
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Even more daunting was the writing process. My day would begin with coffee and donuts, often leading to procrastination with shows on Netflix.
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As a result, I often found myself tired by afternoon, which leads to a question:
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How do you sustain the writing process over the long term?
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The initial five months pass quickly, but keeping momentum is challenging.
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I found myself in Colombia after those first five months, where the scenery provided a change of pace.
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Colombia is known for various things that lift spirits, making book editing feel effortless.
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Just to clarify, it's coffee, not the more commonly discussed recreational substances.
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In fact, I visited an organic farm where I planted my first coffee sapling. Unfortunately, I won't be able to drink that coffee as it takes three years to grow.
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Coffee became essential to my daily productivity while traveling. The change of scenery was invigorating.
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Even with my newfound part-time job, I was allowed greater flexibility while on the road, though it limited the time I could dedicate to writing.
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I waited patiently until I received a call that I needed to return home to celebrate my father's birthday.
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Returning home meant I'd likely catch COVID-19 during the harshest lockdown in the Czech Republic.
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Predictably, I caught it during my first week back home.
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While it may sound uneventful since everything was closed, my illness prompted thoughts of escape.
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So, I sought refuge in Albania, a neighboring country where fewer people adhered to strict regulations.
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I settled in Durrës, a beautiful coastal city in Albania, just as winter began to fade.
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This was my first experience that felt like a true beach vibe; I enjoyed waking up, sipping coffee by the beach, and enjoying life.
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Interestingly, my brother was also in town and began writing a book, which served as motivation.
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During lunch one day, he shared his achievement of raising $10 with a crowdfunding campaign, making me realize my struggles.
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Here I was, 2.5 years into my own project without a finished book or any sales.
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This was a wake-up call. I put together a pre-sale for my book, crafted the first ten chapters, and marketed them.
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Utilizing the character of Tiger, I kicked off the pre-release campaign, selling the first 80 copies that month.
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This initial success felt fantastic since it showed that someone was genuinely interested in my work.
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In the months that followed, I earned around $700 monthly from my 600 subscribers, which was quite rewarding.
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I consistently updated them and was able to generate additional sales from those communications.
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One crucial aspect of the pre-sale was the feedback. Some readers printed my work, annotated it, and sent it back to me.
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This engagement was invaluable. As someone who isn't a native English speaker, having editors is vital.
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Since hiring a professional editor was not in my budget, I turned to Grammarly Pro to help refine my writing.
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I would run each chapter through Grammarly to address any mistakes—much better than doing nothing at all.
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After what felt like an eternity, my book was finally finished—three years later.
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Upon launching, I sold a further 97 copies, gathering nearly $4,000 from the announcement on my blog.
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I shared it on Reddit as well, highlighting my return after three years of commitment to complete my book.
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This call-back to my original Reddit post generated excitement and led to consistent sales.
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This period was enjoyable as I could check my sales while traveling, watching the numbers increase regularly.
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I was lucky enough to go on safari in Tanzania, in Selous National Park, the largest game park in Africa.
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It’s not as well-known as other parks, but it is vast, and I found a correlation to the ease of seeing lions.
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For whatever reason, lions were easy to spot while on safari, juxtaposed with deer-like animals that would flee.
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Lions, as apex predators, don't run away from vehicles. They view associated groups as singular threats.
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As a result, you can approach much closer without fear. Additionally, lions are often well-fed and relaxed.
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While in Tanzania, I decided it was time to ramp up my marketing efforts.
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I crafted a post for Hacker News and was thrilled when it hit the front page.
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This single post generated 10,000 visits in a day and pushed some sales.
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This marked my third time featured on Hacker News throughout the writing process, and it significantly helped sales.
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I was even invited to a podcast where I was able to discuss my work.
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To date, I have sold approximately 1,100 copies without the support of a publisher.
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I’ve solely used Gumroad for sales and have yet to explore other marketplaces.
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Some may be wondering if sales wane after launch, but I make around $900 a month from my book.
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This brings me to my forthcoming book, which at the time of applying was still in its infancy.
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While in Albania, I felt like it was the right opportunity to dive into writing a sequel.
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I decided this time I would approach it completely differently. Instead of taking three years, I aimed for five weeks.
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Additionally, I didn’t bother with a homepage, mailing list, or art—just straightforward marketing via Twitter.
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I launched a pre-sale without even a clear idea about the content. However, I did manage to achieve 115 pre-sales.
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Before launching, I reached out to Don McBroom, a principal engineer at 37 Signals, to write the foreword.
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He graciously agreed and provided it just in time for my launch.
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In just five weeks, I managed to finalize the book and ultimately achieved over 400 sales worth $7,000.
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Gumroad has been instrumental in my selling experience. Without it, I'm uncertain if I would have made any sales.
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While they do take a 10% cut and a small processing fee, they handle a lot of local tax nuances, making things easier.
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With multiple tiers and a built-in marketplace, they offer features that generate passive sales, even if you're limited in your promotion.
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They even provide email marketing capabilities as part of their service.
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Additionally, I bundled my two books together, leading to much higher sales than I'd initially expected.
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My first book, 'Deployment from Scratch', is priced higher at $50 because it includes code examples.
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In contrast, the K Handbook is shorter and priced lower, allowing for customer acquisition and maintaining a steady income.
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It's addicting to receive a sales email from Gumroad. If I go a few days without one, I start to worry about potential issues.
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Luckily, I've received mostly positive reviews, but I had one customer request a refund after using the book.
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I initially offered a partial refund, but they insisted on a full refund, even escalating it to Gumroad.
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Their complaint contained untrue claims about my book being 'disgusting,' which left me perplexed.
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Though the refund was managed quickly, it seemed amusing since Gumroad does not display reviews from refunded customers.
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As for my publishing process, I employed Pandoc and LaTeX for the first book specifically to allow for flexibility.
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Creating Tiger’s character required intricate macros, while the second book was straightforward, using Asciidoctor.
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To conclude, I’ve prioritized my health and no longer experience pain from the nerve issues.
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In these three years, I’ve had many experiences, including being a guest on a podcast for the first time.
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Despite the financial outcome not being enough for a Porsche, if I calculate based on average salary, it’s comparable.
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I feel that I created my own job through this journey.
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I missed out on some revenue because I spent time writing instead of working.
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However, this experience has been invaluable and enjoyable, and meeting folks at the conference is a rewarding conclusion.
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As for the future, I have not fully explored proper SEO for my book. I'd like to consider optimizing.
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Right now, I'm feeling tired, and if you'd like to support me, consider buying a copy of my book.
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Purchasing a copy would ensure I can enjoy lunch that day.
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And just to finish on a high note, I received an email today from Gumroad confirming my payouts.
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This payout includes sales from my other book as well, so who knows, maybe sales will keep coming in the future.
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Thank you for your attention!
