I saw this on HN this morning:

It’s currently number 3 with 63 comments and 245 upvotes.

Nice!

It’s for a book on how to use the command line on the big 3 OS.

It’s a short, focused, basic handbook.

I love those.

I love making those.

And I’m so happy that the tech community is still supporting them. And interesting in them.

I should make more of these myself, and just give them all away. Like Algorithm Afternoon, but more systematic.

Things he did right: friendly non-marketing language in the post, simple cover, sample chapter link, pay what you want gumroad link.

Things that could be better:

  • Paperback, kindle, etc. formats (e.g. pandoc)
  • Link to amazon (kindle, paperback)
  • Read online version (e.g. hugo book)
  • Pictures from within the book on the landing page
  • Donate button
  • Email address to chat/get comments/feedback.

People want to help and support, offer them ways, even a few links down the bottom of the page.

I should do this again.

Pick a tiny technical topic and bang out a solid handbook.