Jeff Geerling
Self-published Ansible book – 87k copies, 300k revenue, 41 revisions https://www.jeffgeerling.com/blog/2023/self-publishing-technical-book-10-years #writing #selfpublishing
Self-published Ansible book – 87k copies, 300k revenue, 41 revisions | Jeff Geerling

Jun 29, 2023 at 5:25pmWeb
Show threadJeff GeerlingJun 29, 2023

And yes, my work is now published as CC BY-SA.

Meaning Red Hat could rebuild it and sell it to their customers if they wanted.

And you know what? I'm okay with that.

But I'd rather you just get a free copy from me directly: https://leanpub.com/ansible-for-devops/c/CTVMPCbEeXd3

Ansible for DevOps

Learn how to use Ansible for infrastructure orchestration, provisioning, and application deployment.

Leanpub
Show threadJeff GeerlingJun 29, 2023
I've also donated $1,000 to Debian today, to thank them for providing me with a free, consistent OS to use to test my code and run it in production #OSSThanks
Show threadJeff GeerlingJun 29, 2023

Linux and the Free Software movement are built on the foundation of individuals contributing their work for the enjoyment of everyone, without restriction.

Celebrate the hackers and hobbyists who have enabled even massive corporations to generate billions in wealth.

Show threadchristian mockJun 29, 2023

@geerlingguy I think that's oversimplifying things a bit. Those individuals need to eat, and the days of pure hobbyist coders are long gone. RH and intel and IBM and others pay quite a few people to contribute code to the OSS world.

And in the end they're companies that need to make money. How they go about that is another story...

Show threadJeff GeerlingJun 29, 2023

@cm Companies don't need to make money.

Companies need to convince customers to give them money, and if they do a good job of that, they profit.

Building a business on top of open source code, then playing games with licensing due to reported shenanigans from supposedly just one downstream competitor 1/10000th your size... that's not something a company needs to do.

No matter how much good they've done, it is for naught if they decide to discard it in the name of profit.

Show threadChris BensenJun 30, 2023
@geerlingguy @cm If a company creates a product that uses open source and makes money and they don't adhere to the license then thry are breaking the law. They should adhere to the license or write all their own software. They benefit from open source and the idea os to give back. If they aren't going to givr back they can do all the hard work.
Show threadAzimechJun 30, 2023
@cm @geerlingguy Only open source extremists are against prophiting off of open source, what people are against is IBM & Red Hat's callous disregard for the community that helped build them, many of whome aren't even making derivative OS's
Show threadEmil Oppeln-BronikowskiJun 29, 2023
@geerlingguy Already bought it for coins. :P
Show threadJulian HoferJun 29, 2023
@geerlingguy already bought it a year ago and thoroughly enjoyed reading it :)
Show threadFredrikJun 29, 2023

@geerlingguy I love the fact that I get an email when theres a new revision of your book and I can just simply download it.

Thank you for all the work you put into all your platforms.

Show threadYegor YudkinJun 30, 2023
@geerlingguy Thanks for your work, looking forward to reading it!
Show threadOliver StuekerJun 30, 2023
@geerlingguy Thanks for that, but I decided to rather buy the book instead to support the creator.
I’ve taught myself #Ansible from the docs to manage a small lab of 6 Linux machines as well as my #RaspberryPi s, but I'm hoping to learn sone additional tricks and best practices from the book.
Show threadkmpmJul 3, 2023
@geerlingguy bought mine a couple of years ago. Great book.
Show threadItzTrainJun 29, 2023
@geerlingguy This type of transparency with both metrics and finances is most refreshing. I really do appreciate you for doing this. If more content creators do this, people can properly gauge their barrier to entry, and of course, success doesn't come in a year or two.. Grind!! Thank you!
Show threadJeff GeerlingJun 29, 2023

@train I've been on YouTube since 2006, and been writing the book since 2013, it's definitely a grind, and it's only really paid off over the last few years!

Luck is involved too, I would be remiss to say that (and that's why I still had a full time W2 job until 2021). But luck favors the prepared.

Show threadMartin JuhaszJun 29, 2023
@geerlingguy thanks for sharing this! do you have any idea how many hours over the years you put into this book?
Show threadJeff GeerlingJun 29, 2023

@martinjuhasz I'd estimate a lot more in the first 3 years, but still about 50-100 hours per year since. Maybe casual estimate of 3000-4000?

Would be a lot less if I just chucked out one edition and never updated it, like old school books are done.

Show threadchfkch  Jun 29, 2023

@geerlingguy
Bought it on LeanPub i think in 2020

#writing #selfpublishing

Show threadKevinJun 29, 2023
@geerlingguy I bought it a few weeks ago despite already owning "Practical Ansible 2" from Packt Publishing. Your video series really got me started in ansible, buying your book on leanpub was my way of giving back. And whaddaya know: 10 days after buying it there was an update. If thats not great value I don't know what is. Thanks Jeff!
Show threadrustybikes 🐧Jun 29, 2023
@geerlingguy Thanks Jeff! I somehow missed that this was even A Thing™... Purchased! ❤️
Show threadshom 🐧📷🤿🏔️🪚✊🏽Jun 30, 2023
@geerlingguy thanks for the transparency and the book. I just bought it on leanpub.com and really appreciate the ongoing updates model (especially for a book about active software)!