Today I released the first iteration of my first ever book via Leanpub.com.

To use the word iteration with the word book seems odd, traditionally books are written in their entirety, go through some reviews and editors and eventually get published into the world. Then at some point some errata is released on the publishers website, followed sometime later by a second edition.

Lean publishing turns this on its head and says that the book can be written bit-by-bit with the readers able to contribute by providing feedback about what they like and don’t like so far and what they’d like to see in a final version. This is great as the author(s) can make a book that better suits the people that will be reading it. Readers that buy an in-progress version get free updates as the book progresses.

My book is called Keeping Software Soft, it is based on the premise that software should be easy to change. It’s aimed primarily at apprentice and journeyman software developers and contains my distilled experiences (so far...) after 12+ years of commercial software development. The book provides practical guidance on how to keep software as soft as we can.

It’s currently about 20% complete, and you can buy it today and get free updates as new chapters are released.

Find out more about the Lean Publishing Manifesto here.

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