Four Hard Truths No One Told Me About Launching My First Book

22 Nov 2025 #misc

Last month, I launched Street-Smart Coding, my first “official” book. It felt exciting and terrifying.

I had already written books, but I didn’t call them that. I thought only traditionally published works counted. And I didn’t know about writing mini-books. I had to change my mind about the concept of a book.

Here are 4 realizations I’ve had after launching it:

#1. The real work starts when you write the last words of your first draft. Editing, designing, launching, and promoting, that’s 80% of the work after the draft.

#2. Once your book is out, the game is in your mind. Waking up to see sales notifications is so satisfying. But silence is draining. I kept refreshing the sales dashboard, asking: “Why isn’t it selling? Is it me, the sales page, or the price?” The inner voice speaks louder than your wins.

The other day, Ryan Holiday, a New York Times best-selling author, shared that as soon as he finishes a book, he focuses on what he can control: working on the next. Now I see why.

#3. It’s easy to fall into the comparison trap online. These days, Gregory Orosz, the guy behind The Pragmatic Engineer, shared an update on his book The Software Engineer’s Guidebook after one year of launch. He shared sales figures. My first thought: I’m far from those numbers. But he admitted that his book is an outlier. Comparison is the thief of joy.

#4. If someone outside your circle buys your book, it’s already a win. That’s a line I found the other day scrolling on r/writing. It’s an anchor to put our feet back on the ground. By that definition, my book is already a success. And I already passed the $1 test.