Manuel Kiessling

Who are you?

I’m a software developer and systems administrator by heart, and an IT team manager by profession. I like to work at the intersection of software (JavaScript, Python, PHP), systems (Linux), and methodologies (XP, behaviour-driven development, continuous deployment), and I try to improve the performance of IT teams through them.

Can you describe your Leanpub books? Are they in-progress or complete? What types of books are they?

I have one completed book, The Node Beginner Book, which tries to provides a solid introduction to Node.js for software developers that are completely new to it, and one in-progress book, The Node Craftsman Book, which is a follow-up on the first book that tries to take more topics, in more depth.

What do you think about Leanpub?

It’s hard to overstate the significance of Leanpub. Github catapulted the way people work on Open Source Software to a whole new level - Leanpub did the same for book publishing. It also answers the question whether people can earn money by publishing texts without any copyright protection on the Internet with a clear and unmistakable Yes.

Why do you use Leanpub?

The whole platform, process, and interaction with the Leanpub team has a brainfuck value of exactly zero, for authors and customers alike. This makes it a member of a very, very small club of online businesses for which I would say the same.

How did you discover Leanpub?

On April 21, 2011, I got an eMail from Scott Patten with the subject “The Node Beginner Book on Leanpub?”. That is what started it all, and I’m pretty sure this is the single most important mail I ever got in my professional life.

What’s your favorite Leanpub feature?

The Dropbox integration. I guess I wouldn’t have started publishing through Leanpub at all if I had to transfer files manually from A to B, that’s how lazy I am. And the use of plain markdown is really, really convenient. I was once part of a book review / publishing process that was built around MS Word files, Visual Basic Word extensions, and FTP transfer, and I can tell you that was no fun, to say the very least.

How have you reached out to potential and existing readers of your books?

Yes, more than once. I always get interesting feedback through the Leanpub Discus forum, and it’s especially valuable for in-progress publishing.

How can we improve Leanpub?

Keep the spirit, and it will keep improving. I think it’s as simple (and hard) as that.