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Dinys Monvoisin
Dinys Monvoisin

Posted on • Edited on • Originally published at dinmon.tech

Is ebook a payback to content creators or a hoax?

It is a trend now to release an ebook. Many people in the tech industry find it an easy way to reach out and provide value to people. The rise of social media in the dev community associates followers and an active social presence to success. Thus a new sort of ebook has emerged to address the frenzy to grow in popularity. In this post, I share my thoughts about that type of ebook and what it represents for the buyers.

At the start of those ebooks, most likely includes a disclaimer. The disclaimer specifies that the author is not accountable for the reader's success. At the sight of this, I cannot prevent myself from thinking about the first chapter in Your First 100 Million. In this book, Dan Pena describes how people spent their money on books from seminars for advice they already know of.

You should not be misled from what I say above. In no way I am insinuating that those books are wrong but what I want to tell is that I view it in another way. I see the author is trying to relate a story to promote the idea that humans are connected by feelings, and most of its actions are driven by emotions. People being intrigued and curious led them to buy those ebooks.

Up-to-day I have purchased two types of ebooks: one which I already read and the other one which I am awaiting its release. If asked about the question, what are the takeaways of reading those ebooks? I would not be able to answer this without saying that I am more confused than I was before reading it. Why? I am glad you ask. After reading the book, I picked up one or two pieces of advice, or let's say something more reasonable, five. Those pieces of advice are not mind-blowing, and everyone could have thought of it.

Coming back to the authors of those ebooks. On average, most of them have a social media account on twitter which is rather typical among tech people. Often is the case that those tips and advice are available across those social platforms. Awaiting you to apply them.

"You sow what you reap". This proverb describes in simple words the content creators journey. That is, spending countless hours perfecting articles, videos, podcasts, ebooks and interacting with its followers. In the dev community, those efforts touch us. As a payback for the hard work, bonds, and valuable contents, we often invest in those ebooks.

Key takeaways:

  • I did not write this post to attack anyone in any sort, I am sharing my opinion and feeling about the subject.
  • Most advice, tips and tricks are simple things that people have come across but did give a second thought at.
  • Following those people on social media might save you a couple of dollars.
  • People connect to the success stories of the authors.
  • Buying the ebook is a support to our cherished content creators.

Now the question to you, would you buy those ebooks? Comment below with your thoughts and opinions. I am delighted to hear them.

If you want to read more of my content, do not hesitate to follow me on twitter .

Top comments (4)

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catriel profile image
Catriel Lopez • Edited

I agree with you that with most books you get a couple of not-mind-blowing tips, as they fall under the Productivity Porn category. I'm hessitant to buy a lot of those books for that same reason, and there are a lot of other ways you can support a content creator.

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dinmon profile image
Dinys Monvoisin

Thanks for sharing the article. I did not know productive porn was word, but it is worded properly. I would be reluctant to recommend them but there is no denying that those types of ebooks are short in content for value. I would be interested to know about how you would go to support them?

Thanks again for the reply, it made my day. Knowing that at least one person read it and decide to converse about it.

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catriel profile image
Catriel Lopez

I would be interested to know about how you would go to support them?

I dont know if there's a perfect solution. A lot of devs have a side project that they could use help with (new features, qa, docs) or have set up a buymeacoffe, stuff like that.

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dinmon profile image
Dinys Monvoisin

Yep but not every solution you proposed to guarantee a decent amount of money most content creators need for day to day living.

For content creators, it can be one of their goals to create an ebook. I do not mind that. However, some of them are not to the standard.

There is also ebook authors that offer it for free like Flavio (flaviocopes.com/), You-Don't-Know-JavaScript series, Most adequate guide to Functional Programming.

Those are content with great value and free.