Thoughts on writing a book and self publishing

I have started preparing copy for a book idea I've been noodling on for a long time. I'll go into the premise soon enough (in some future random post), although at this stage I've been thinking about the method of distribution I want to use. Without going too deeply into it, my first pass lead me to the current crop of self-publishing services.

I am a big believer in the notion that "obscurity is a far greater threat to authors and creative artists than piracy" espoused by Tim O'Reilly in a post Piracy is Progressive Taxation (2002). I am motivated to write because I want people to read and comment on what I have to say. I want to capture attention, inspire, and shed light in facets I think are truly interesting.

My planed book is technical. As a consumer of technical material my typically use case these days involves a search on google (web, scholar, books), visiting a small set of sources that have the potential of addressing my needs, and reading the slices of the opened sources relevant to my needs. When I was an enthusiastic kid with an interest in technical subjects (mostly programming related) my typical use case was very similar to what it us now, although it more typically ended with my completing a small code tutorial to grasp the concept or principle I was interested in at the time (the target audience and premise of the proposed book).

The commonality between these two examples is that I typically only ever needed a slice of the source that addressed my need a the time, not the source in its entirety. Services like google book search and similar are wonderful tools towards this end. A critical elaboration to these ideas is that when I locate a source I keep revisiting and/or a source I or peers respect, I typically acquire it. I buy the PDF or the dead tree book because I expect possessing the source will be more efficient for addressing my future needs. This is typically the case, although in non-linear ways such as concept seeding and discovery during a cover-to-cover read.

These thoughts lead me to the decision that I want to release the entire book as a series of web pages. The book idea is modular, so would translate neatly into a series of articles or posts on a dedicated website. The posts would be index by search engines, and if any good (referenced by readers) will float up in the search results and naturally accrue a readership. The webpage approach is intended to addresses the specific needs of searchers, and is intended to provide a gateway to the book as a consumer product. The web content would be free, and at this stage the e-book and dead tree version would be have to be purchased.

Self publishing appears to be a good approach for fiction authors that are able to promote their own product. I think natural promotion through search engines and careful SEO falls under this category, especially for the niche technical domain and market for which I am writing.

There are many-many print on demand (POD) services out there, although some of the newer or more popular sites I have uncovered include:

• LuLu: A range of self-publishing services not limited to hosting, printing, syndication, and transaction management. Lulu offer more advanced features like analysis, cover design, and a range of editing and page layout service starting around $350 USD.
• CreateSpace: Apparently acquired by Amazon, offering integration into Amazon's listings. According to their prices, createspace's approach involves taking a small fixed cut as well as a percentage from the list price.
  

I hear a lot about LuLu, and their site and services look great! The website promotion and/or POD models really appeal to me as I have seen them in action and have participated as a consumer a number of times. For example:

• Kevin Kelly's Out of Control (1995). A book basically about complexity science that can be purchased like a regular dead tree book or can be read online. What I like about the online version is that it has been broken up for piecewise consumption, although not necessarily suitable to read end-to-end making me want to buy it. Note that there is nothing stopping you from reading the whole thing online other than convenience.
• Cory Doctorow's fiction. I've read many of Doctorow's books by downloading, printing, and binding the PDF's. The easy access to a spiral binder as a postgrad made this an attractive option, although now that I do not have such access I am more than happy to buy new books as they come out.
  
• A Field Guide to Genetic Programming (2008). A technical book on a machine learning technique released for free as an ebook and print on demand. A truly progressive move by these academics, which as of the end of November 2008 has seen more that 20k downloads in 8 months with 1.3% as POD purchases at approximately $13USD per copy.
  

I intended to spend my southern hemisphere summer focusing on writing the bulk of the copy for the book. There are some unsolved technical issues coming up which I'm looking forward to addressing including selection of appropriate (read: "nice looking") latex packages for type setting the book and sample code, and effectively managing the editing process.

I really want to split test the book and article format online, but I'm concerned that it would take away from professionalism of the final site and product. I suspect I will exploit the fall back position of enlisting a large pool of technical editors to achieve the same ends.