<story><title>Writing a book in public</title><url>https://200wordsaday.com/words/i-am-writing-a-book-in-public-5585c109c5735a98</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>franze</author><text>I wrote a book[1] - well - i wrote the same book 4 times again and again, writing, learning, throwing away, writing, iterrating, editing, rearranging, throwing away, starting new, iterrating, ... . Some learnings:&lt;p&gt;I) just write&lt;p&gt;first attemp i made a super fancy setup - google chrome book with custom linux installed that automatically transformed markdown via pandoc into a custom styled PDF everytime i saved. was fun to create this setup, but i wasted time not writting the actual book.&lt;p&gt;II) don&amp;#x27;t wittgenstein&lt;p&gt;i wanted to be absolutely correct, so i started with defining word, what do i mean with website, domain, webproperty, webpage, page, link, external duplicate content, internal duplicate content, ...  or any other technical term. wittgensteining is yak shaving for authors. don&amp;#x27;t do it. just write.&lt;p&gt;III) a manuscript is not a book&lt;p&gt;after you are finished, the real work start. a manuscript does not have the same feeling, read-feeling, read flow as a real book. get a professional editor, work with him&amp;#x2F;her. fire him&amp;#x2F;her if not the right match, find the right match, start again. the right editor is as much a factor for the success of the book as the author.&lt;p&gt;IV) live with the law of strawberry jam&lt;p&gt;the further you spread knowledge&amp;#x2F;jam the thinner it gets. yes, in a 1:1 talk, in a 1:12 people workshop you can communicate more knowledge than you can with a book. talk, interaction, any form of communication with exchange, has direct feedback - something unbelievable important for information communication. a book is a one way street with - if at all - delayed feedback. you can always continue writting, pack in more knowledge, more details, more clarificaiton, more scenarios, but then the book will never finish. at one point you have to stop.&lt;p&gt;V) cut away&lt;p&gt;go through your book again, and question every word, every sentence, every paragraph, every chapter. if the word, the sentence doesn&amp;#x27;t ad substential value, get rid of it. your book will be better. it&amp;#x27;s not about quantitiy of words, it&amp;#x27;s about what you want to say.&lt;p&gt;VI) let go&lt;p&gt;&amp;amp; publish, just do it.&lt;p&gt;[1] &amp;quot;Understanding SEO - A Systematic Approach to Search Engine Optimization&amp;quot; &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.fullstackoptimization.com&amp;#x2F;b&amp;#x2F;understanding-seo&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.fullstackoptimization.com&amp;#x2F;b&amp;#x2F;understanding-seo&lt;/a&gt; ISBN: 978-3-200-05426-4</text></comment>
<story><title>Writing a book in public</title><url>https://200wordsaday.com/words/i-am-writing-a-book-in-public-5585c109c5735a98</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>distant_hat</author><text>You&amp;#x27;d have to take editing into account. By any reasonable account, I saw a page that discussed it once, to have 100 readable words, you&amp;#x27;d need to write 500-1000 words. Which means the time required goes to 5-10x. On the other hand, 200 words per day is pretty low, you could easily get up to 500-1000 words per day once you really get going.</text></comment>