This was a long time coming. 2.5+ years in the making, still unfinished, but it had to go out!
I started my book Deployment from Scratch around October 2018 with a validation and 5 months of full time work before going part-time so I have something to eat ;). Many months later, I am now again working more on the book than for clients and doubling down on finishing it.
I was telling myself there is no point in selling an unpolished version of the product but got feedback from an early mailing list poll I did, and enough people showed interest in getting a beta product sooner.
Still, I was waiting for a more solid version and at least 500 people on the mailing list.
Starting April 2021, I started to sell to a mailing list of 600+, made 20 sales over the first 24 hours, and with two more updates to the mailing list, sold 80 copies in the first month which are slightly over $2000 before Gumroad fees.
This wouldn’t be possible without the mailing list and my blog that is basically my only place to advertise it. There was no other announcement of any sorts. I’ll save that for the final polished version.
I also collected the first four 5-star ratings on Gumroad and a first lovely testimonial, which probably feels even better than money (since it’s not all that much).
I am not a big discount guy – I want people that bought it sooner to get the best price without waiting on a sale day. I will slowly increase the price towards the final version. Right now, it’s $29 on Gumroad (a single price including everything).
Because a lot of developers probably think about writing a technical book one day, I will continue sharing my journey which you can follow here, on @strzibnyj and Indie Hackers.
