Prologue: Why Write Technical Content
Chapter 0: You and Your Guide
0.1 Intended Audience
0.2 About This Handbook
Act 1: The Craft
Chapter 1: Finding and Validating Ideas
1.1 The 9 Questions Process
1.1.1 Questions
1.1.2 Merging Answers
1.2 Idea Validation
1.3 Article Lifespan
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The 9 Questions Process Example
Chapter 2: Publishers
2.1 Finding Publishers
2.2 Pitching
2.2.1 Finding and Pitching Your Second Publisher
2.3 Working for an Agency
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Chapter 3: Research
3.1 Finding Sources
3.2 Evaluating Sources
3.3 Interviewing
3.3.1 Finding the Right Interview Subject
3.3.2 Synchronous Interviews
3.3.3 Asynchronous Interviews
3.3.4 What to Ask
3.4 Citation and Rights
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Chapter 4: Preparing to Write
4.1 Outlines
4.1.1 Audience
4.1.2 Structure
4.1.3 Contents
4.1.4 Cancelling an Article
4.2 Sample Code
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Chapter 5: Writing for Software Developers
5.1 The Actual Words
5.1.1 Craft and Style
5.1.2 Voice
5.1.3 Your Writing Practice
5.1.4 Markdown
5.2 Graphics
5.3 Overcoming Writerβs Block
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Chapter 6: Editing
6.1 Content
6.1.1 Structural Principles
6.1.2 Code
6.1.3 Reading Aloud
6.2 Style Guides
6.3 Working with Editors
6.4 Editing for Self-Publication
6.4.1 Beta Readers
6.4.2 Professional Proofreading and Copyediting
6.4.3 Edits over Time
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Chapter 7: Publishing
7.1 Last Steps
7.1.1 Skimmability
7.2 Platforms
7.2.1 Wordpress
7.2.2 Ghost
7.2.3 Static Site Generator
7.2.4 Ebooks and PDFs
7.2.5 Print
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Act 2: The Process in Action
Chapter 8: Example Tutorial: Scraping and Generating Shakespearean Sonnets
8.1 Readerβs Notes
8.1.1 Tutorial Outline
8.1.2 Writing Concepts
8.2 Complete Tutorial
Scraping and Generating Shakespearean Sonnets
Setting Up
English Class in under 200 Words
First Stage: Scraping the Data
Second Stage: Parsing Rhymes
Third Stage: Building Sonnets
In Conclusion
Chapter 9: Example Tutorial: Practicing JavaScript with a Shakespearean Sonnet Generator
9.1 Readerβs Notes
9.1.1 Tutorial Outline
9.1.2 Writing Concepts
9.2 Complete Tutorial
Practicing JavaScript with a Shakespearean Sonnet Generator
Setting Up
Data Structure: Arrays in Arrays in Arrays
Making Random Samples
Building and Adding a String to the HTML
Making a Sonnet on a Button Press
In Conclusion
Chapter 10: Example Article: Computational Poetry
10.1 Readerβs Notes
10.1.1 Article Outline
10.1.2 Writing Concepts
10.2 Complete Article
Computational Poetry
Why Poetry?
Considering Inputs
Naive Selection
Markov Chains
Neural Networks
In Conclusion
Further Reading
Act 3: The Business of Writing
Chapter 11: Pricing
11.1 Per Article
11.2 Per Word
11.3 Per Hour
11.4 Free
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Chapter 12: Contracts and Invoicing
12.1 Common Clauses in Contracts
12.2 Writing Your Own Letters of Agreement
12.3 Invoicing
12.3.1 Payment Processors
12.3.2 Payment Terms
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Chapter 13: Intellectual Property and Publication Rights
13.1 Publication Rights
13.1.1 Work for Hire
13.1.2 First Serial
13.1.3 Second Serial and Anthology Rights
13.1.4 Retaining Rights
13.1.5 Online versus Print
13.2 Software Licensing
13.3 Attribution
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Chapter 14: Content Monetization
14.1 Advertising
14.1.1 On the Death of Advertising
14.1.2 Affiliate Links
14.2 Sponsorships
14.3 Sales and Subscriptions
14.4 Content Marketing
14.4.1 Indirect Monetization
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Chapter 15: Promoting Your Work
15.1 Platforms
15.1.1 Hacker News
15.1.2 Reddit
15.1.3 LinkedIn
15.1.4 Twitter
15.1.5 Niche Platforms
15.2 Email Lists
15.3 In Person
15.4 Metrics
15.5 Search Engine Optimization
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Chapter 16: Long-Term Engagements
16.1 Books
16.1.1 Working with Publishers
16.1.2 Self-Publishing
16.2 Series
16.2.1 Columns
16.2.2 Courses
16.3 Alternate Formats
16.3.1 Academic Papers
16.3.2 Whitepapers and Case Studies
16.3.3 Videos
16.3.4 Speaking
16.4 Jobs
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Appendices
Appendix A: Complete Interview Transcripts
Courtland Allen
Jeff Atwood
Chris on Code
Peter Cooper
Angel Guarisma
Matt Levine
Mark McGranaghan
Patrick McKenzie
Tracy Osborn
Daniel Vassallo
Cassidy Williams
Appendix B: The 9 Questions Worksheet
Appendix C: Sources
Acknowledgements
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