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by Baptiste Pesquet

由Baptiste Pesquet

如何发布自己的流行且有利可图的开源书 (How to launch your own open source book that’s popular and profitable)

I am the author of The JavaScript Way, a self-published open source book for learning to code. Despite the lack of any initial audience, it topped GitHub trending charts worldwide during its launch.

我是The JavaScript Way的作者， 这是一本自出版的用于学习编码的开源书籍。 尽管没有任何最初的受众，但它在发布时仍在全球GitHub趋势图上名列前茅。

This is the story of this unexpected success.

这就是这个意外成功的故事。

项目开始 (Project inception)

At the beginning of this project, I explained why I started it and went over some of my initial choices. In short:

在该项目的开始，我解释了为什么启动它并介绍了一些最初的选择。 简而言之：

• There was a need for a book teaching modern JavaScript to beginners.需要一本书向初学者讲授现代JavaScript。

• I decided to self-publish this book and write it in the open on GitHub. Doing so, I was hoping to reach as many people as possible. Also, to leverage the great collaborative model that is at the heart of open source.

  我决定自行出版这本书，并在GitHub上公开编写。 这样做，我希望能接触到尽可能多的人。 此外，还可以利用开放源码的核心协作模型 。

• The book would have a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA license. It allows anyone to share or build upon my work as long as some rules are observed. In particular, no commercial purposes outside of mine are allowed.

  这本书将拥有知识共享BY-NC-SA许可。 只要遵守一些规则，它就可以让任何人分享或建立我的作品。 特别是不允许在矿山以外的商业目的。

Also, some key factors in the decision were:

此外，决定中的一些关键因素是：

• Text is still a great medium to convey knowledge. So, the choice of a book instead of some video-based material.文本仍然是传达知识的重要媒介。 因此，选择书籍而不是一些基于视频的材料。

• I already authored two online courses on the same topic (here and there). The feedback for them has been very positive, so I knew that I had some pretty solid content at hand.

  我已经写了两个关于同一主题的在线课程( 在这里和那里 )。 对他们的反馈非常积极，所以我知道我手头上有一些扎实的内容。

• I wanted to hone my JavaScript skills, and knew firsthand that teaching something is a great way to master it.我想磨练我JavaScript技能，并且第一手知道，教一些东西是掌握它的好方法。

What I lacked was an initial audience, something often seen as a critical asset for this kind of project. Since someone has to start somewhere, I went on anyway.

我缺乏的是最初的受众，这通常被视为此类项目的关键资产。 由于必须从某处开始，所以我还是继续。

选择商业模式 (Choosing a business model)

Every creator faces the same dilemma. How to share your work with the world that would make an impact and also be profitable? There is no definitive answer to this age-old question.

每个创作者都面临着同样的困境。 如何与世界分享您的作品，既有影响又能获利？ 这个古老的问题没有明确的答案。

The digital revolution has turned things upside down for authors. It has lowered the distribution and sharing costs to zero. In our “reputation economy”, content creators must battle to gain consumer attention. As a new player in this field, meeting success will be very difficult if all your content sits behind a paywall. Some of it has to be available for free.

数字革命使作者们的事情彻底颠倒了。 它已将分发和共享成本降低到零。 在我们的“信誉经济”中，内容创作者必须为赢得消费者的关注而奋斗。 作为该领域的新手，如果您所有的内容都位于付费墙后面，那么要成功就很难。 一些它必须是免费提供的。

For authors, the most common marketing tactic is now to split your work into several parts. The first one free, gives potential customers a glimpse of your content and style. In the hope that hooked up customers will buy the other parts.

对于作者而言，最常见的营销策略是将您的作品分成几部分。 第一个免费版本可让潜在客户了解您的内容和风格。 希望吸引了更多顾客的顾客将购买其他零件。

Kyle Simpson’s alternative choice for its quite successful You Don’t Know JS book series appealed to me. Like him, I decided to give away the entire book content for free, but let users pay for a better reading experience through the ebook version.

凯尔·辛普森(Kyle Simpson)凭借其相当成功的《不懂JS 》系列书的替代选择吸引了我。 像他一样，我决定免费赠送整本书的内容，但让用户通过电子书版本支付更好的阅读体验。

Taking example from another self-published bestseller, I chose to include coding exercises and projects right into the book, but sell their solutions as an extra.

以另一个自出版的畅销书为例，我选择将编码练习和项目直接包含在书中，但将其解决方案作为一个额外的工具出售。

This “hybrid” business model seemed a reasonable balance between openness and potential profit.

这种“混合”业务模型似乎在开放性和潜在利润之间达到了合理的平衡。

吸引观众(或不吸引观众) (Building an audience (or not))

Another common marketing advice is building some audience through a mailing list, using some existing content (for example, your own blog) as a magnet.

另一种常见的营销建议是通过使用现有的一些内容(例如您自己的博客)来吸引人们，通过邮件列表来吸引一些受众。

I don’t like this approach very much and didn’t want to bother my readers with any subscription.

我不太喜欢这种方法，也不想打扰任何订阅的读者。

I also considered launching a crowdfunding campaign. Without any initial audience, this seemed to me as a lot of work for a very uncertain outcome, so I shied away from it. Maybe next time!

我还考虑了发起众筹活动。 没有任何最初的听众，对我来说这似乎是一项艰巨的工作，但结果却非常不确定，因此我回避了。 下次吧！

工具和过程 (Tools and process)

The very best file format for authoring any book (not only technical ones) is plain text. No need for a dedicated editor. No interoperability issue. The ability to use a version control system like Git to keep track of changes.

编写任何书籍(不仅是技术书籍)的最佳文件格式是纯文本 。 无需专门的编辑器。 没有互操作性问题。 使用版本控制系统(如Git)来跟踪更改的能力。

Among the various text-based markup languages available. I chose Markdown because I already knew and liked its syntax. Markdown is also a first-class citizen on GitHub, which was essential for this project.

在各种可用的基于文本的标记语言中。 我选择Markdown是因为我已经知道并喜欢它的语法。 Markdown还是GitHub上的一等公民，这对于该项目至关重要。

A self-published author needs a toolchain to transform the raw manuscript files into various ebook formats (PDF, EPUB, MOBI). For me, the Leanpub platform ticked all the boxes: Markdown support, integration with GitHub and a fair royalty structure (90% minus 50 cents per sale).

自我出版的作者需要一个工具链，才能将原始手稿文件转换成各种电子书格式(PDF，EPUB，MOBI)。 对我而言， Leanpub平台打勾了所有框框 ：Markdown支持，与GitHub的集成以及公平的版税结构(每次销售90％减去50美分)。

I used the free text editor Visual Studio Code for authoring the book files on my computer. It has great Markdown support out of the box and a very convenient side-by-side file preview (see image below). Extensions like Markdown Shortcuts and markdownlint can be installed to become even more productive.

我使用了自由文本编辑器Visual Studio Code在计算机上创作书籍文件。 它具有对Markdown的强大支持，并具有非常方便的并排文件预览功能(请参见下图)。 可以安装Markdown Shortcuts和markdownlint之类的扩展程序，以提高生产力。

After all tools were chosen, I drafted the book outline (a very important first step) using my previous courses as a basis. Then I dived into the writing process.

选择所有工具后，我以以前的课程为基础草拟了书的大纲(非常重要的第一步)。 然后，我进入了写作过程。

早期出版 (Early publishing)

Leanpub’s motto is “Publish early, publish often”. The platform empowers you to publish early drafts of your work. Receive feedback and create traction, enabling an MVP-like approach to book authoring.

Leanpub的座右铭是“尽早发布，经常发布”。 该平台使您能够发布工作的早期草稿。 接收反馈并产生吸引力，从而实现类似于MVP的书籍创作方法。

It’s a great idea on paper… Which unfortunately didn’t work at all for me. One month after the writing process started, I made the book public on Leanpub. By that time, the ebook price was $0, so anyone could get it for free.

在纸上这是一个好主意……不幸的是，这对我根本没有用。 写作过程开始一个月后，我在Leanpub上公开发行了这本书。 到那时，电子书的价格为0美元，因此任何人都可以免费获得它。

I told my personal network about it, twitted about it, submitted it to Reddit and Hacker News. I also reached out to other book authors or prominent individuals. I also reached out to Kyle Simpson, Robin Wieruch and freeCodeCamp’s Quincy Larson, looking for advice and support.

我告诉了我个人网络， 对此t之以鼻 ，将其提交给Reddit和Hacker News 。 我还联系了其他书籍作者或知名人士。 我还联系了Kyle Simpson， Robin Wieruch和freeCodeCamp的Quincy Larson ，以寻求建议和支持。

The outcome was a mixed bag. A few GitHub stars, a handful of messages on Twitter and Reddit. An HN thread that went out-of-topic and got buried. Execution was poor, the lack of any initial audience was too much of a disadvantage there.

结果是喜忧参半。 一些GitHub明星，Twitter和Reddit上的一些消息。 一个HN线程超出主题并被掩埋。 执行力很差，缺乏最初的听众在那儿太不利了。

A majority of comments were like “Ping me back when it’s finished”. People may not want to invest time to read in-progress books, which is understandable after all.

大多数评论都像是“完成后再将我回复”。 人们可能不想花时间阅读正在进行的书籍，这毕竟是可以理解的。

But, individual responses from Kyle, Robin and Quincy were hearthwarming. They played a big role in keeping me motivated. I’m very thankful to them.

但是，凯尔，罗宾和昆西的个人回应令人心动。 他们在保持我的动力方面发挥了重要作用。 我非常感谢他们。

写作阶段 (The writing phase)

Even after this underwhelming early launch, I was still convinced that my book was worth something. I didn’t want to give up after having already spent dozens of hours on it. Using an unchanged book outline, I went for a no-feedback route and kept on writing all by myself until the book got finished.

即使在这种令人印象深刻的早期发行之后，我仍然坚信我的书值得。 在已经花了数十个小时之后，我不想放弃。 使用不变的书大纲，我走了一条没有反馈的路线，并继续独自写作，直到书完成。

That was the hardest part. Spending countless hours, day after day, only to see things take shape very slow. Inevitably, doubts surface: how could it ever succeed? Is this all a giant waste of time? Why am I inflicting this to myself?

那是最难的部分。 日复一日地花了无数小时，才发现事情进展得很慢。 不可避免地会出现疑问：它将如何成功？ 这都是浪费时间吗？ 我为什么要这样对自己？

The key to overcome these obstacles is putting the right amount of pressure on yourself. If your time commitment is too scarce, you will lose motivation and give up. But, trying to move forward too fast, neglecting other important aspects of your life along the way, is risky on many levels.

克服这些障碍的关键是对自己施加适度的压力 。 如果您的时间投入太少，您将失去动力并放弃。 但是，尝试过快地前进，忽略生活中其他重要方面，这在许多方面都是有风险的。

After all, this was only a side project. Low risk, low pressure! Self-publishing means I had no deadlines to meet, which can be both a blessing and a curse. I tried to use this to my advantage: I was free to invest time in something I believed into, but at my own pace.

毕竟，这只是一个附带项目。 低风险，低压力！ 自我出版意味着我没有截止日期，这既是福也是祸。 我试图利用它来发挥自己的优势：我可以按照自己的节奏自由地将时间花在我相信的事情上。

I found a reasonable balance (about 10–15 hours a week) between work, personal life and the writing process. Limited long and hazardous breaks. This article on side projects gives useful advice to keep things going during this phase.

我发现工作，个人生活和写作过程之间有合理的平衡(每周大约10-15小时)。 有限的长时间危险休息。 这篇有关辅助项目的文章提供了有用的建议，可以使此阶段的工作继续进行。

Luckily, I had some existing material to build upon. Some experience writing content on my own… And also a very understanding spouse ;)

幸运的是，我已经有了一些现有的材料。 有一些自己编写内容的经验……还有一个非常了解您的配偶;)

启动日 (Launch day)

After eight months of steady work and a few last hours feverishly spent fixing things here and there, my book was ready at last!

经过8个月的稳定工作和最后几个小时的忙碌工作，我的书终于准备好了！

The upside of writing in a vacuum like I did is that your book launch becomes a pretty big event. After such a huge time investment, it’s a great feeling (and also a huge relief) to show your finished creation to the world.

像我一样在真空中进行写作的好处是，您的书发行会成为一个非常大的事件。 经过如此巨大的时间投入，将完成的作品展示给全世界是一种巨大的感觉(也是一种巨大的解脱)。

For lack of anything better, I reused my previous launch strategy. Twitter, Reddit and Hacker News (timing submissions for most visibility). Also, the same nice people that kept me motivated after the early launch.

由于缺少更好的东西，我重用了以前的启动策略。 Twitter ， Reddit和Hacker News ( 定时提交以提高可见度)。 同样，在早期发布后，让我保持积极性的那些好人。

To my astonishment, the result was this time overwhelmingly positive. Kyle Simpson and Quincy Larson kindly tweeted about the book to their dozens of thousands of followers.

令我惊讶的是，这次的结果是压倒性的积极。 凯尔·辛普森(Kyle Simpson)和昆西·拉尔森(Quincy Larson)在推文上向其成千上万的追随者发了推文。

Hour after hour, I watched in awe of disbelief as rave comments and retweets piled into my inbox. I finally knew that my book would have an impact.

一小时又一小时，我赞叹不已地看着疯狂的评论和推文堆积在我的收件箱中。 我终于知道我的书会产生影响。

Launch is also the blissful moment where the magic of open source happens. People can read and share your book for free. Creating traction without any marketing effort. But they can also improve its quality through contributions using GitHub issues and pull requests.

发布也是开源魔力发生的幸福时刻。 人们可以免费阅读和共享您的书。 无需任何营销努力即可吸引客户。 但是他们还可以通过使用GitHub 问题和拉取请求进行贡献来提高其质量。

Since I’m not an English native and didn’t have an editor by my side to proof check the content. I knew that my book contained many typos and errors at launch. I hoped people would help to spot and correct them, and wasn’t disappointed.

由于我不是英语本地人，并且没有陪我的编辑来证明内容的正确性。 我知道我的书在发行时包含很多错别字和错误。 我希望人们能够帮助发现并纠正它们，并且不会感到失望。

Here are a few figures gathered two days after launch:

以下是发布两天后收集的一些数据：

• The book repository on GitHub had more than 51k views from 17k unique visitors. The bulk of this traffic came from Hacker News, followed by Reddit.

  GitHub上的图书存储库拥有来自17,000位唯一访问者的超过51,000次视图 。 这些流量的大部分来自Hacker News，其次是Reddit。

• It gained more than 2,400 stars, and becoming the #1 trending repoworldwide for a day.

  它获得了超过2,400颗星 ，并在一天之内成为全球排名第一的趋势回购协议 。

• The Hacker News story climbed to #5 rank on the front page, generating more than a hundred comments.

  《黑客新闻》的故事在首页上排名上升至第5位 ，产生了一百多条评论。

• Readers submitted 30 pull requests, correcting many of the book’s initial mistakes. Small typos for the most part, but also grammatical improvements and even a few coding errors.

  读者提交了30个请求请求 ，更正了本书的许多初始错误。 大部分都是小错字，但语法上的改进甚至是一些编码错误。

• I already received two translation requests, to Spanish and Chinese.

  我已经收到了两个翻译请求 ，分别是西班牙语和中文。

All in all, far more than what I could dream of.

总而言之，远远超出了我的梦想。

财务成果 (Financial outcome)

Can an open source book be profitable after all? Of course, it’s too soon to tell. Two days after launch, it became Leanpub’s bestselling book of the week, with more than $1,000 in royalties.

开源书籍毕竟可以盈利吗？ 当然，现在说还为时过早。 发行两天后，它成为Leanpub一周最畅销的书，特许权使用费超过1000美元 。

Profitability was not the reason this project was started in the first place. Yet the hybrid pricing model, with free sources and paid ebook/corrections, will ultimately contribute to the book’s reputation while making for some welcome passive income.

盈利能力并不是该项目首先启动的原因。 然而，具有免费资源和付费电子书/更正的混合定价模型最终将为该书的声誉做出贡献，同时带来一些可观的被动收入。

Later on, I may create a paperback version of the book (Maybe Amazon CreateSpace) if there is any demand for it. An interactive online course offering a richer user experience is already under way.

稍后，如果有需求，我可以创建该书的平装本(也许是Amazon CreateSpace )。 提供更丰富的用户体验的交互式在线课程已经在进行中。

Most importantly, I have the deep satisfaction of having contributed something meaningful to the community. Thousands of people around the world will use my book to learn to code, improve at JavaScript and it may change their lives for the better.

最重要的是，我对为社区做出有意义的贡献深表满意。 世界各地成千上万的人将使用我的书来学习编码，并通过JavaScript进行改进，这可能使他们的生活变得更好。

And that is priceless.

那是无价的。

结论 (Conclusion)

It wasn’t all roses, but self-publishing a successful open source book without any prior audience is definitely possible.

并非全是玫瑰花，但在没有任何读者的情况下自行出版成功的开源书绝对是可能的。

I hope this little story has entertained you. I also hope it might inspire you to start a creative project on your own, be it a book or something completely different.

我希望这个小故事使您开心。 我也希望它可以激发您自己开始一个创意项目，无论是一本书还是其他完全不同的东西。

I look forward to see what you will achieve!

我期待看到您将实现的目标！

翻译自: https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/taking-off-the-successful-launch-of-an-open-source-book-7553a2262898/

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