This article is full of great advice on how to write a book, whether you publish for yourself or for someone else.
I have written 10 books. 9 for the Pragmatic Bookshelf. I've made a nice side income on my books by doing many of the same things he lists. This isn't so much about self-publishing as it is about writing great technical content.
Full disclosure - in addition to writing, I am a development editor for the Pragmatic Bookshelf. But I publish my own books with them because they offer the best of both worlds. They split the profits with you 50/50, but you get an editor to work with throughout the process, and they take care of a lot of other things, like distribution, sales, billing, copy-edit, typesetting, etc so you don't have to.
But the important thing is to get your message out there to people in a quality way, like this article suggests. Do the research, find your voice, write about something people care about. If you go the self-published route, get technical reviewers, hire a development editor, and get a copy editor. Your end results will go far.
I think for those writing a technical book, myself included, just don't know if it's worth going self-publish with a minimal cut from payment providers and such. Or getting on board with PragProg who would help with marketing, editing, etc and still get a decent royalty.
I understand there are no clear-cut rules to go by, but even a generic "If you don't have 10k email list, 50% of PragProgs sales will most likely be higher" might helper writers understand when to get help.
I have written 10 books. 9 for the Pragmatic Bookshelf. I've made a nice side income on my books by doing many of the same things he lists. This isn't so much about self-publishing as it is about writing great technical content.
Full disclosure - in addition to writing, I am a development editor for the Pragmatic Bookshelf. But I publish my own books with them because they offer the best of both worlds. They split the profits with you 50/50, but you get an editor to work with throughout the process, and they take care of a lot of other things, like distribution, sales, billing, copy-edit, typesetting, etc so you don't have to.
But the important thing is to get your message out there to people in a quality way, like this article suggests. Do the research, find your voice, write about something people care about. If you go the self-published route, get technical reviewers, hire a development editor, and get a copy editor. Your end results will go far.
[edited to clarify value add for publisher]