Ruby on Rails
Writing and marketing "Deployment from Scratch"
Writing and marketing "Deployment from Scratch"
by Josef StrzibnyThe video titled "Writing and Marketing 'Deployment from Scratch'" features Josef Strzibny, a seasoned Rails developer, freelancer, and author, sharing his journey in writing and successfully marketing his technical book. Josef reflects on his professional background, which began unexpectedly in Brno, Czech Republic, at Red Hat, a major employer known for its strong Ruby development team. During his talk, he addresses the primary theme of generating income through book royalties, emphasizing the realities and challenges of writing technical books.
Key Points Discussed:
- Background and Motivation: Josef shares insights into his career path, explaining how a decision to take a break from work due to health issues led him to write a book, initially expecting it would take about five months to finish.
- Book Writing Journey: He narrates the ups and downs of his writing process, from initial inspiration to the reality of prolonged writing timelines and struggles with maintaining motivation, detailing an engagement strategy that included creating a character named Tiger to add humor to the technical content.
- Marketing Strategies: Josef highlights the importance of validating demand for the material by gauging interest on platforms like Twitter and subreddit, which ultimately helped him build a mailing list of potential readers.
- Pre-sale Success: Utilizing feedback from early subscribers, he successfully conducted a pre-sale campaign, selling 80 copies initially, which validated market interest and provided financial encouragement.
- Sales Performance: He discusses the impressive gradual sales growth, culminating in approximately 1,100 copies sold since launch, and earning him around $900 per month through his ongoing marketing efforts and updates to subscribers.
- Technical Aspects of Publishing: Josef explains his choice of tools like Gumroad for sales processing and discusses his publishing experiences using tools such as Pandoc and Asciidoctor to streamline the writing process.
- Personal Reflection: He concludes with a reflection on the journey, noting how it has transformed his life, allowing him to prioritize his health while creating a sustainable income through his writing.
Overall, Josef Strzibny’s experience showcases the complexities and rewards of writing and marketing a technical book, emphasizing that perseverance and strategic planning are crucial for success in self-publishing.
00:00:08.440
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.
00:00:24.119
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.
00:00:38.879
Red Hat happens to be one of the biggest employers in Brno, and my story with Red Hat started completely out of the blue.
00:00:54.160
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.
00:01:02.640
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.
00:01:36.840
Apparently, they were looking to hire someone for their Ruby team, and I was invited for the second round.
00:01:47.439
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.
00:02:09.280
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.
00:02:22.640
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.
00:02:33.360
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.
00:02:41.959
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.
00:03:04.160
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.
00:03:12.080
Despite working on the Ruby platform team, I never had the chance to meet or email him.
00:03:20.000
But let's move on to the main topic today, which is how to live off book royalties.
00:03:27.920
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?
00:04:07.880
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.
00:06:01.080
This brings me to reality, as the entry-level Porsche starts at just under $70,000.
00:06:08.320
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.
00:06:42.680
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.
00:07:06.720
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.
00:08:01.160
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.
00:09:02.640
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.
00:09:52.960
I waited patiently until I received a call that I needed to return home to celebrate my father's birthday.
00:10:01.480
Returning home meant I'd likely catch COVID-19 during the harshest lockdown in the Czech Republic.
00:10:10.920
Predictably, I caught it during my first week back home.
00:10:19.880
While it may sound uneventful since everything was closed, my illness prompted thoughts of escape.
00:10:28.560
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.
00:10:53.120
Interestingly, my brother was also in town and began writing a book, which served as motivation.
00:11:02.000
During lunch one day, he shared his achievement of raising $10 with a crowdfunding campaign, making me realize my struggles.
00:11:10.480
Here I was, 2.5 years into my own project without a finished book or any sales.
00:11:18.560
This was a wake-up call. I put together a pre-sale for my book, crafted the first ten chapters, and marketed them.
00:11:25.240
Utilizing the character of Tiger, I kicked off the pre-release campaign, selling the first 80 copies that month.
00:11:36.000
This initial success felt fantastic since it showed that someone was genuinely interested in my work.
00:11:43.920
In the months that followed, I earned around $700 monthly from my 600 subscribers, which was quite rewarding.
00:11:52.960
I consistently updated them and was able to generate additional sales from those communications.
00:12:01.640
One crucial aspect of the pre-sale was the feedback. Some readers printed my work, annotated it, and sent it back to me.
00:12:08.440
This engagement was invaluable. As someone who isn't a native English speaker, having editors is vital.
00:12:16.320
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.
00:12:35.840
After what felt like an eternity, my book was finally finished—three years later.
00:12:43.400
Upon launching, I sold a further 97 copies, gathering nearly $4,000 from the announcement on my blog.
00:12:52.760
I shared it on Reddit as well, highlighting my return after three years of commitment to complete my book.
00:13:01.800
This call-back to my original Reddit post generated excitement and led to consistent sales.
00:13:10.680
This period was enjoyable as I could check my sales while traveling, watching the numbers increase regularly.
00:13:20.560
I was lucky enough to go on safari in Tanzania, in Selous National Park, the largest game park in Africa.
00:13:29.680
It’s not as well-known as other parks, but it is vast, and I found a correlation to the ease of seeing lions.
00:13:38.480
For whatever reason, lions were easy to spot while on safari, juxtaposed with deer-like animals that would flee.
00:13:46.560
Lions, as apex predators, don't run away from vehicles. They view associated groups as singular threats.
00:13:55.040
As a result, you can approach much closer without fear. Additionally, lions are often well-fed and relaxed.
00:14:03.120
While in Tanzania, I decided it was time to ramp up my marketing efforts.
00:14:09.600
I crafted a post for Hacker News and was thrilled when it hit the front page.
00:14:18.560
This single post generated 10,000 visits in a day and pushed some sales.
00:14:26.880
This marked my third time featured on Hacker News throughout the writing process, and it significantly helped sales.
00:14:35.440
I was even invited to a podcast where I was able to discuss my work.
00:14:42.880
To date, I have sold approximately 1,100 copies without the support of a publisher.
00:14:49.440
I’ve solely used Gumroad for sales and have yet to explore other marketplaces.
00:14:57.760
Some may be wondering if sales wane after launch, but I make around $900 a month from my book.
00:15:04.880
This brings me to my forthcoming book, which at the time of applying was still in its infancy.
00:15:14.320
While in Albania, I felt like it was the right opportunity to dive into writing a sequel.
00:15:21.840
I decided this time I would approach it completely differently. Instead of taking three years, I aimed for five weeks.
00:15:29.920
Additionally, I didn’t bother with a homepage, mailing list, or art—just straightforward marketing via Twitter.
00:15:36.560
I launched a pre-sale without even a clear idea about the content. However, I did manage to achieve 115 pre-sales.
00:15:44.720
Before launching, I reached out to Don McBroom, a principal engineer at 37 Signals, to write the foreword.
00:15:52.240
He graciously agreed and provided it just in time for my launch.
00:15:59.680
In just five weeks, I managed to finalize the book and ultimately achieved over 400 sales worth $7,000.
00:16:07.680
Gumroad has been instrumental in my selling experience. Without it, I'm uncertain if I would have made any sales.
00:16:15.640
While they do take a 10% cut and a small processing fee, they handle a lot of local tax nuances, making things easier.
00:16:25.080
With multiple tiers and a built-in marketplace, they offer features that generate passive sales, even if you're limited in your promotion.
00:16:33.440
They even provide email marketing capabilities as part of their service.
00:16:41.920
Additionally, I bundled my two books together, leading to much higher sales than I'd initially expected.
00:16:48.960
My first book, 'Deployment from Scratch', is priced higher at $50 because it includes code examples.
00:16:56.960
In contrast, the K Handbook is shorter and priced lower, allowing for customer acquisition and maintaining a steady income.
00:17:06.320
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.
00:17:16.560
Luckily, I've received mostly positive reviews, but I had one customer request a refund after using the book.
00:17:25.920
I initially offered a partial refund, but they insisted on a full refund, even escalating it to Gumroad.
00:17:35.480
Their complaint contained untrue claims about my book being 'disgusting,' which left me perplexed.
00:17:46.440
Though the refund was managed quickly, it seemed amusing since Gumroad does not display reviews from refunded customers.
00:17:54.360
As for my publishing process, I employed Pandoc and LaTeX for the first book specifically to allow for flexibility.
00:18:02.720
Creating Tiger’s character required intricate macros, while the second book was straightforward, using Asciidoctor.
00:18:10.560
To conclude, I’ve prioritized my health and no longer experience pain from the nerve issues.
00:18:19.600
In these three years, I’ve had many experiences, including being a guest on a podcast for the first time.
00:18:26.360
Despite the financial outcome not being enough for a Porsche, if I calculate based on average salary, it’s comparable.
00:18:35.760
I feel that I created my own job through this journey.
00:18:43.520
I missed out on some revenue because I spent time writing instead of working.
00:18:52.080
However, this experience has been invaluable and enjoyable, and meeting folks at the conference is a rewarding conclusion.
00:19:00.480
As for the future, I have not fully explored proper SEO for my book. I'd like to consider optimizing.
00:19:09.520
Right now, I'm feeling tired, and if you'd like to support me, consider buying a copy of my book.
00:19:16.160
Purchasing a copy would ensure I can enjoy lunch that day.
00:19:23.360
And just to finish on a high note, I received an email today from Gumroad confirming my payouts.
00:19:27.360
This payout includes sales from my other book as well, so who knows, maybe sales will keep coming in the future.
00:19:35.360
Thank you for your attention!
