The Software Engineer's Guidebook: Writing, Publishing, and Earning $611k in Two Years

The Software Engineer's Guidebook: a recap

TLDR: Gergely Orosz shares the complete journey of writing and self-publishing his engineering career guide, from initial publisher pitches to earning $611,911 from 40,000 copies sold over two years. The book started as advice for engineers transitioning from mid-level to senior roles and evolved into a comprehensive career development resource.

Summary:

The inspiration for this book came from a very relatable moment - a skip-level one-on-one meeting at Uber where a Software Engineer 2 asked how to level up to Senior. Orosz realized there wasn't a comprehensive resource addressing the practical aspects of professional growth in tech companies, which sparked the idea for what would become a highly successful guidebook.

The publishing journey reveals fascinating insights about the tech book industry. Orosz initially pitched to three prestigious publishers: O'Reilly, The Pragmatic Bookshelf, and Manning. While the first two passed, Manning accepted but the relationship eventually ended after three months. This led to a self-publishing approach that proved far more lucrative - traditional publishers typically keep 85-90% of revenue, leaving authors with just 7-15% royalties.

The self-publishing route allowed Orosz to maintain creative control and capture significantly more value. His transparency about earning $611,911 from 40,000 copies over two years provides rare insight into the economics of successful tech publishing. This level of success suggests strong product-market fit - engineers clearly needed practical career guidance that existing resources weren't providing.

What makes this story particularly compelling is the global impact. A 30-person Mongolian startup called Nasha Tech translated the entire book for their company and the broader Mongolian tech ecosystem. This demonstrates how good technical content can transcend geographical boundaries and create value in unexpected markets.

For engineering teams and architects, this represents a blueprint for knowledge sharing and professional development. The book's success indicates there's significant demand for practical, experience-based guidance on navigating tech careers. Organizations could leverage similar approaches - creating internal guides, sharing institutional knowledge, and developing their people through structured learning resources.

Key takeaways:

• Self-publishing can be significantly more profitable than traditional publishing for technical authors
• There's strong market demand for practical career development resources in tech
• Transparency about earnings and process can inspire others to contribute valuable content to the industry

Tradeoffs:

• Self-publishing captures higher revenue but sacrifices the marketing reach and credibility of established publishers
• Writing comprehensive career guides requires significant time investment but creates lasting value that compounds over years

Link: The Software Engineer's Guidebook: a recap

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