Publish at what percentage of completion?

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Lippman Tam

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Jun 12, 2012, 4:46:31 PM6/12/12
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Hi,

I think this iterative approach to writing is fantastic and building a
community around it is brilliant. Having said that, at what stage of
my writing is it appropriate to press the 'Publish' button? Is it
solely at the author's discretion? Is there a rule of thumb
measurement?

Cheers,
Lippman

Attila Vago

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Jun 12, 2012, 4:52:18 PM6/12/12
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Me again! :)) I say you press the button whenever you feel comfortable enough to press it. If you're planning to make money out of the book, then I say be smart about it, you don't want to chase away potential readers by publishing something not quite ok that will make them not come back for the final release. It's really not about how much you publish, but how high the quality of your published work is. I've seen people here reediting and reediting for over a month... It's really your decision, I think.
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 Attila Vago
Editor | Cisco Certified CCNA
Junior Web Designer

Yves Hanoulle

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Jun 12, 2012, 4:51:53 PM6/12/12
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What is the wurst thing that can happen when you publish too soon?

y

2012/6/12 Lippman Tam <lippm...@gmail.com>

Attila Vago

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Jun 12, 2012, 4:56:06 PM6/12/12
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You loose / disappoint a potential reader / buyer. Example: if I read a not well written or edited chapter, chances are I am not coming back for another release. 

Yves Hanoulle

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Jun 12, 2012, 5:04:57 PM6/12/12
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2012/6/12 Attila Vago <attila...@gmail.com>

You loose / disappoint a potential reader / buyer. Example: if I read a not well written or edited chapter, chances are I am not coming back for another release. 
I can see how that scares peopel from publishing to quick. I n my experience the opposite happens more.
People help out with feedback to create a better book.

I think it's even opposite.
The faster you publish the book the more chance people give your credit...

y

Aaron Sumner

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Jun 12, 2012, 5:11:13 PM6/12/12
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I agree with Yves. I was very up front about it being a work in progress, that there would be errors, and that I appreciated all feedback. I got a lot of really good early questions and suggestions that resulted in me writing a very different book from what I'd originally intended (I pivoted, if you will). I think my book is better as a result.

I only heard from one person who wasn't happy that he'd bought a work-in-progress, but after I talked him through my approach he felt better about it.

Aaron

Peter Armstrong

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Jun 12, 2012, 5:13:06 PM6/12/12
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I'm really glad this is being discussed :) Here's my $0.02...

For technical books, I think the right amount is about 10% to 20% of
the length of the planned book. Chances are, this is about 40-50
pages or about 2 chapters.

For computer programming books, in my opinion the test should be "will
this save an advanced reader 1-2 hours?" If your book saves an
advanced reader 1-2 hours, you'll save a newbie reader 10-20 hours.
Given how much we developers earn, if you save an advanced developer a
couple hours the book is already easily worth the money, even if you
didn't finish it! (And if you save the newbie 10 or 20 hours, that's
also worth it, even at minimum wage :)

Now, it's really hard to follow this advice. Years ago before Leanpub
existed, I self-published my first book in-progress. However, the
first version I released was almost 200 pages! Even though the book
ended up over 500 pages, the 200 pages amount was *way* too much. I
should have shipped much sooner...

As Aaron said, just be upfront on your book landing page about how
much is currently done and what you currently have planned.

-Peter
--
Peter Armstrong  (@peterarmstrong)
Founder: Leanpub, Ruboss  |  Author: Lean Publishing, Flexible Rails, etc.
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