Indie publisher here. Nate did a lot of research to identify the hole that needed to be filled, and then executed on developing his voice, setting up product tiers, spreading the word, etc. I also liked his “posts as prototypes” approach—it’s a great way to develop the ideas, hone creativity, and get feedback prior to releasing a book. Congratulations!

However, I would like to offer a word of caution for anyone considering self-publishing. For every selfpub sales success there are hundreds of books that fail to make an impact. U.S. ISBN registrations for self-published books have basically doubled every few years (1) and probably crossed the 1 million mark last year. However, the number of Americans buying books has slowly declined over the past several years, and is probably around 45% of the population (down from over 55% a decade ago). (2) The growth in demand is simply not there to support the explosion of supply, at least in the United States.

Niche technical books that are well-written and effectively marketed have greater potential than a poorly edited shape-shifting romance title from an unknown author. On the other hand, technical titles also have to compete with free or low-cost information on the Internet, YouTube, etc., not to mention existing books that dominate the field (something that Nate referenced in his post).

Of course, there are other rewards associated with writing books, including personal satisfaction, expanding one’s personal brand, and improving writing and editing skills. But sales are never guaranteed.

1. http://leanmedia.org/number-book-readers-declines-even-self-... (Data from Bowker, http://media.bowker.com/documents/bowker-selfpublishing-repo...)

2. http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/reports/2016/2015-us-b...