Self-publishing Live and Learn Archives ~ 3 Penny Publishing

A Book is a Startup: Using Lean Publishing to Publish In-Progress

A Book is a Start Up image of a writer's laptop and a notebook with a pen.

Hello fellow authors! I’m Peter Armstrong, founder of Leanpub––a startup based on a somewhat strange idea: that books should be published before the author has finished writing them. Our motto is: Publish Early, Publish Often.

Lean publishing is a method to publish your book as an ebook while it’s still being written. The specific definition is “publishing an in-progress book using lightweight tools and many iterations to get reader feedback, pivot until you have the right book and build traction once you do.”

You can do this either as a self-published author, or if you’re working with a forward-thinking traditional publisher. (Yes, you or your publisher can use Leanpub to do this, if you want to.)

How I Successfully Used ‘In-Progress’ Lean Publishing for my First Book

Lean publishing is partly based on my experience self-publishing my first book, Flexible Rails, while it was in-progress and how this method of publishing grew my readers early on and my sales.

I launched Flexible Rails very early in self-published form (on Lulu.com, since this was before Leanpub existed), and iterated new versions in public with feedback from a small but growing and dedicated community of readers. I remember getting about 30 sales in the first week (when the book was only about 150 pages) and thinking “well, I have to finish it now!”. It took me over a year to do so, and the book grew to hundreds more pages. When I finished the book in September 2007, the book had become #73 in all-time by revenue on Lulu! This all happened while it was self-published, in-progress, as a PDF.

Publishing in-progress helped me evolve my book into a finished, good quality book with traction––one that multiple publishers made offers for. Reader insights were invaluable, and their feedback helped to both improve the quality of the book, and give me motivation and determination to finish it.

This experience also led to me to launch the company Leanpub in 2010. I’m an author, so of course I wrote a short explanatory book called Lean Publishing (free to read here).

The Historical Origins of Lean Publishing

As I discuss in my book, lean publishing isn’t just for nonfiction, it can be for genre fiction too. In fact, the historical origins of lean publishing are found in the works of Charles Dickens, who first popularized serial fiction in Victorian England. Almost everything Dickens wrote was first published in serial form, and he iterated on all his work as he got feedback from his readers. Following Dickens, Wilkie Collins and then Mary Elizabeth Braddon pioneered the rise of “sensation fiction” (what today would be called genre fiction) in 1860s Victorian England. Sensation fiction was always published in-progress and Mary Elizabeth Braddon’s Lady Audley’s Secret was a massive success. (Sensation fiction was in some ways the Netflix of the 1860s.)

For more on the historical origins of Lean Publishing, you can find a video of my 2013 Tools of Change conference talk here.

Fast forwarding about 150 years, the idea of creating Leanpub was simple: it was everything I wished had existed when I was writing my first book Flexible Rails. Well, 12 years later and over $12,000,000 USD in royalties paid to authors, we’ve built exactly that. (Oh, and an online course platform too.) But we’re just getting started.

The origins of lean publishing also come from applying the lean startup ideas of Eric Ries and the customer development ideas of Steve Blank to the publishing process. The first book published on Leanpub was Eric Ries’ Startup Lessons Learned. Eric went on to write the New York Times bestseller The Lean Startup.

Leanpub is now excited to add AI-powered services to this story. Our authors can now choose to have AI translate their books into one of dozens of languages, or to even use AI to automatically create an online course from their book. We launched our AI services in April 2023, and I talk about why in this video.

The Benefits of Lean Publishing for Self-Published Authors

There are many benefits to publishing in-progress books: your early readers give you an authentic grassroots community around your book; you can use reader feedback to make your book better; and you can change your book’s direction (if it’s not resonating with early readers).

This approach works really well for the mostly non-fiction books published on Leanpub. However, fiction writers can also use lean publishing.

Lean Publishing tries to help authors with some pretty big questions:

* How to write the best book possible?
* Will anybody care about the book?
* How will people find out about the book?
* Will the book be released while it’s still relevant?
* How should the book be priced?

There’s no one answer for these questions. But getting reader feedback by publishing ‘in-progress’ can help you discover your answers, and sooner than you would have otherwise.

Most important to us at Leanpub, all these services for in-progress lean publishing are based on one thing: a simple book manuscript, written in plain text. This is possible because of our commitment to helping writers build books using lightweight tools, create many iterations to get reader feedback, and pivot until they have the right book to build traction.

Peter Armstrong is the founder and CEO of Leanpub. He has over two decades of experience in software, including eight years as a developer at Silicon Valley startups. He founded Ruboss in 2008, and launched Leanpub in 2010. Peter is the creator of Markua, the Markdown dialect used on Leanpub. He is the author of a number of books. He has a BSc in Computer Science and Psychology from the University of Victoria, and he and his wife live in Victoria, BC.

May 2023

Self-publishing your book is like baking a cake – an author checklist

self-publishing author checklist - like baking a cake Writing and self-publishing a book is a big project with many tasks that need careful attention. Instead of getting overwhelmed by a huge checklist and schedule, think of self-publishing your book as if you are baking a cake. Your goal as an author is to have a cake that you are happy and proud to share with with others. Start by asking yourself these questions:

First, do you have quality ingredients? (quality writing and a good structure);
Second, do you have the right quantity of all the things you need? (people who can help with editing and proofreading and other tasks that you can’t do yourself);
Third, do you have the right pan and correct temperature? (technical requirements such as ebook formatting);
Fourth, does it look enticing? (don’t skimp on cover design – hire a professional);
Fifth, have you done a taste test? (getting feedback from beta readers );
Sixth, when and how are you going to serve your cake, who do you want to serve it to and how will you let them know? (make a book marketing plan).

Once you have an outline for your book project, put your self-publishing author checklist into a calendar. Then find a way to hold yourself accountable for those tasks. This may mean finding someone who will check in with you each week on your progress. If you are flagging or stalling, consider using a coach or a writers’ group to help keep you motivated.

Remember, as Agatha Christie once wrote, “Time is the best killer”.

If you need help with any of these steps, check our Professional Help page. For marketing ideas, check our Marketing your Self-Published Book page. Find all other self-publishing resource sections here.

Pep in your steps

There will be many steps in your self-publishing author checklist before you see your writing become a finished book. It is easy to lose energy or become frustrated with the process. To keep energized, schedule time for learning and getting inspiration from other authors’ experiences. Listen to writer interviews, podcasts, advice videos, or browse through Reddit’s self-publishing section.

Final tip: Keep informed of trends and self-publishing news. Things change quickly and you may need to make changes to your project accordingly. For example, in 2022, more indie authors are selling their books directly from their own websites.

January 2022

What new writers should know about self-publishing – Ariane Weathers

What new writers should know about self-publishing

Most new writers ponder on whether they should self-publish or submit their work to a publishing house. Both have their pros and cons, and quite often the decision is to self-publish. Whether it’s because the writer believes his work isn’t quite as good as an established author’s; maybe he can’t meet the publishing house’s requirements; or maybe he just wants complete control of his work, more and more writers are now self-publishing. Based on my experiences, this is what new writers should know about self-publishing.

Watch out for self-publishing pitfalls

However, even with having total control, you can still hit pitfalls, scams and unexpected expenses. In 2000, I tried my hand at an illustrated book, my first book which I now refer to as my “practise book”. Unfortunately, I had a bad experience with a self-publishing company. This prompted me, several years later, to start my own independent publishing company to help new writers avoid the same mishaps that I had experienced.

In my article “You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know”, I mention that you should not try to do everything yourself unless you have the experience or knowledge for the tasks in question. You also have to know what tasks are required.

There were no words in my illustrated book, so thankfully no editing was required. I didn’t know about formatting, cover design, or binding. In addition, I didn’t know anything about marketing and distribution. I just had an idea for a book and wanted to make it and sell it. A very raw newbie!

Watch out for compliments and big promises

I researched Book-On-Demand companies (that’s what they were called back then) and found one in my hometown that seemed reasonably priced. My main reason for choosing this company was because it was local and well-known. I made an appointment to see the representative. He complimented me on my book, gave me several compliments, and proceeded to sell me the best package with all the bells and whistles. There were promises of having my book listed on all the online bookstores, in libraries, listings on prominent spots of their website, no minimum or maximum number of books printed, etc.

What I should have been told

Here’s what I wasn’t told: that if I had any text in my book, it should be edited. You NEVER edit your own work. Even though I edit my clients’ work, I have my own editor for my work. This is another important point about what new writers should know about self-publishing.

I wasn’t told that the illustrations and page numbering were badly formatted; that the picture used for the cover was not sharp enough and their “touch ups” didn’t match the rest of the cover.

When I said I wanted ‘x’ number of books and had a book signing event, he didn’t discourage me from making such a mistake ––he actually encouraged me to order more books. Keep in mind that the representative knew everything about me as a new writer.

In the end, I threw out 200 copies of my book because I realized too late that the book was not saleable as it was. When you’re a new writer, you hope that someone would point out the errors rather than take advantage of your limited knowledge and scoop up your money.

Beware Extra Fees

What I also wasn’t made aware of until too late was that there are administrative fees whether you sell a book or not. The fees that you pay also increase depending on whether your book is sold through a directly affiliated bookstore, through an indirect or third party bookstore, or a library. In the end, you may just get pittance for your book while others are collecting their fees.

Questions to ask a self-publishing company

Whether you seek a company in person or use an online service, look past the pretty colours and see exactly what they offer. You will need editing, formatting if your book isn’t formatted properly, typesetting if you haven’t selected complimenting fonts and book cover design (even if provide your own art). Also, you’ll need an ISBN number (some companies provide these).

If you haven’t already completed those tasks, does the company provide them? At what cost? Will you need help with distribution ––especially if you don’t have a following or a list of buyers? And again at what cost? Some companies may offer 10 or 20 free copies of your book. However, this isn’t a big expense to them if they have their own printing press. Don’t let that be the deciding factor.

Know the publishing tasks and costs

In the end, writing a book is more than just writing the book. Know all the tasks required, are they provided and at what cost. Be aware of unexpected costs hiding behind the pretty colours, bells and whistles. Shine in your success, and avoid disappointments. This is what I think new writers should know about self-publishing.

Ariane Weathers, March 2019

www.arianeweathers.com

www.facebook.com/ariane.weathers

Blog – Before you self-publish – inspo from other writers

Welcome to our self-publishing blog for news, tips, and also where self-publishing writers can share their experiences with publishing ––both the terrific and the terrible.

It is a good idea to learn about self-publishing from other writers’ experiences — before you self-publish. It is especially importnat these days to avoid falling victim to overpriced, poor quality, or outright scam self-publishing services. Instead any new self-publishing author should learn how to find quality professional help. (Check this compilation of self-publishing resources.)

Self-publishing should be a fun and rewarding journey. For many new writers, it can also be a steep learning curve. However, it should never be an experience where you are scammed or vastly over-charged.

That is why it is so helpful for self-publishing writers to share their good and bad experiences. Do you have a tale to tell? Get in touch. No companies or professionals will be mentioned by name. The aim is to help new self-publishing writers avoid problems, ask better questions, and make better choices.

While most of the focus will be on local to BC writers, those from further afield are invited as well.

Be sure to check out the self-publishing resources pages.

Here are two other excellent resources for writers:

Alexa Donne – articles and YouTube

Joanna Penn – write, publish and market your book

Revised: March 2022