This book explains the philosophy behind Leanpub.

While Lean Publishing is a relatively short book at just over 100 pages and 20,000 words (about novella length), I put a lot of thought, research and work into it. Had I put less work into it, it would have been 200 pages and less entertaining.

So, what's in the book?

Quite simply, the definitive introduction and guide to Lean Publishing.

Lean Publishing is the act of publishing an in-progress ebook using lightweight tools and many iterations to get reader feedback, pivot until you have the right book and build traction once you do.

This book examines the Lean Publishing idea in depth, considering both the meaning and the origin of the various aspects of Lean Publishing.

The first chapter, Definition, examines the definition of Lean Publishing in length, going deep into each of its components. This chapter is the basis of the Lean Publishing Manifesto at https://leanpub.com/manifesto.

The second chapter, Origins, considers the origins of Lean Publishing. These include everything from Victorian serial fiction, fan fiction, beta books, blogs, and my own experiences.

The third chapter, Practice, is a short discussion of Lean Publishing practice for both authors and publishers. Leanpub is also discussed, as it's our attempt to implement these ideas...

Imagine you owned a magical typewriter.

When you used this magical typewriter, you wrote with fewer distractions. You didn't just write faster, you wrote better.

With your magical typewriter, you never worried about layout. The book formatted itself.

You could hit a key on your magical typewriter to create an ebook from your manuscript with one click.

All ebook formats would be created, and they'd all look good. You'd have PDF for computers and EPUB for everywhere else. The book would look great on phones.

With your magical typewriter, you could publish your book before it was even done, and get feedback from readers all over the world. You could automatically share book updates with them. You would press one key on your magical typewriter to publish a new version, and all your readers would have it instantly.

With your magical typewriter, you could easily compare your current manuscript to any other version of your manuscript that had ever existed.

When the book was done, if you decided to make a print book, you could press a key on your magical typewriter to generate InDesign with one click. Your designer or publisher could use this as a starting point for producing a great looking print book.

With your magical typewriter, you'd only have to do one thing: Write.

Wouldn't it be great if such a magical typewriter existed?

It does. At Leanpub, we're building it.

But there's one requirement for this magical typewriter to exist: a simple, coherent, open source, free, plain text format for a book manuscript.

This simple format is what authors will write their books in, instead of Word. It will enable an ecosystem of tools to emerge around it.

This simple format will be the basis for the magical typewriter.

This simple format is called Markua.

This is its user manual.