Publishing Your First Tech eBook: A Chat with Caitlyn Greffly

Writing your first tech eBook is no small endeavor. My friend Caitlyn Greffly is working on her first book, a “missing manual” for bootcamp grads. She had gotten through the initial “high motivation” phase and was facing some writer’s block and feeling overwhelmed by all of the tools and processes. We sat down for a chat about how to finish a book, the writing and editing process, and the timeline for launching a book.

Check out the video:

Takeaways

• A lot of the value of launching a book is the feedback you get from people who buy it and read it. You can always iterate and improve on it.
• Optimize for finishing and launching the book, not trying to accommodate multiple formats.
• If the content is good, a big chunk of the marketing stuff handles itself.
• Give yourself about 2 weeks for launching and marketing prep work
• One technique for overcoming writer’s block is to just show up and do a little bit at a time, without judgment of what you write that day.
• Have a separate place to draft so you don’t feel the pressure of adding to the manuscript directly.
• Set deadlines for yourself.
• We are often wrong about what we think people will find valuable.
• Create something you wish existed.
• Try to identify the main takeaway from the book.

Resources

• Caitlyn’s Twitter
• Caitlyn’s site
• Caitlyn on Dev.to
• Caitlyn’s episode of Software Developers Journey podcast
• My retrospective on writing and publishing Getting Started in Dev Rel
• How to get started with technical writing
• Drafts writing app
• Ulysses writing app
• Scrivener app specifically for book publishing
• Leanpub platform for self-publishing
• Canva online graphics editor
• Developer’s Guide to Book Publishing by Stephanie Morillo