I think the book has a really high virality factor. I was able to do a few posts on reddit, and people would like and share it. It's that whole "product market fit" thing. If you have a good product that people need or want, then marketing is pretty easy, and word of mouth (whether online or in real life) drives way more sales than anything else.
Making money from books is hard in general. OP found a great niche and amazing market fit. For frontend books, you will have tough competition not just from other similar books, but also bootcamps, free tutorials etc.
Alright, so what you have here is pretty innovative. The problem for me was that it just took way too long for me to figure out what it is you did.
You might be spending a bit too much time on the problem here. It may be worth spending a bit more on the solution and making that clearer.
Right now it seems that its hidden within the modal underneath the copy. It should be much higher and not within a modal.
I would also try to say more with less with the problem. Again, it felt like it took a little too long to get to the point (and the point you're making is a pretty good one I might add!).
I find that with people who are more on the 'founder' end of the customer spectrum, particularly those who are tech focused, too much 'copy' and 'slow salesmanship' can be a negative. We tend to err on the side of 'just tell me and I'll figure out if its valuable' if that makes any sense.
FYI - the landing page tells me nothing about what it is you're selling, and "Why PlanFlow" leads to "Access Denied". I don't want to give away my email if I've no idea what it is I'm signing up for.
Plus some bugs you might want to be aware of - the "Coming Soon" floating labels are pretty off-centre on the links, and the hamburger menu when the browser is in portrait is nearly unusable and splits the "Sign Up - Free" button in half. This is on Safari on a Mac.
Thanks man. Yes, we've had some issues on Safari for a while now (seems like its the new Internet Explorer :)). I'll take a look at this.
The site in general is in 'under construction' mode right now, so rest assured these issues will all be resolved by launch. We're just dedicating all of our energy towards the first version right now, so have not polished everything.
"If you can suppress the urge to retch long enough to give it a chance, I really think you’ll wonder how you ever worked with CSS any other way.” - Adam Wathan
The advantage of Tailwind [1] is very subtle over the short term (such as not having to constantly context switch between HTML & CSS files), but dramatically impactful over the long term.
Both in terms of time-savings, as well as code quality and ability to work with others quickly.
It really is something that you must earnestly try to gain an appreciation for.
My initial reaction was the same as the authors when I first came across it. Actually using it on a real life project changed my mind.
- Understand that a drawing is a low fidelity synthesis of an idea.
The first skill to get good at, is breaking down what you're trying to say into its 'essence'. The most important PARTS of it.
This comes with practice, but a good way to do it is by writing, and then editing that writing, strangely enough.
- Learn the fundamentals of design
Understanding the basics of design, such as color theory, typography and layout composition gives you a great advantage when it comes to your drawing technique. There is no secret here, you will just have to learn the basics and then practice.
- Use FAST tools
I use Figma for all of blog drawings [1]. Why? because it's online, and most importantly, it's very FAST. And fast helps me speed up my iteration (and therefore 'learning') cycles. Fast is highly underestimated when learning. Fast is a superpower.
- Use templates
If you take a look at the drawings I have on my blog, you'll notice that I use similar templates for each one. In fact they all start from the same template.
Using a template gives you the confidence to get over the 'blank page' anxiety that often derails beginners. Allowing you to build up a momentum that will KEEP you drawing. And if you keep drawing, you WILL get better.
I plan to write more about this in the next few weeks, as a blog post. If you're interested in reading it, select one of the posts on the blog [1] and add your email address at the bottom! :)
I don't know any courses personally. But highly recommend the book Badass by Kathy Sierra[1]. It won't necessarily tell you everything you need to know about product management. But it will tell you what you need to about really creating good product. Which is the core of the product management skill set.
Everything else that you build into the skill set will be built around this. So definitely worth starting with.
I'm working on a book as well, but for the Frontend. I'm very curious to know more about how you marketed this?
I know it's a different niche, but is there any globally applicable advice you'd give?