How to self-publish a programming book

Today I'm excited to share a conversation with Ayush Newatia, author of the Rails and Hotwire Codex.  He describes the project as “the most challenging and rewarding professional work I’ve ever done.”

I bought his book a couple of years ago to help me learn more about building full-stack applications with the Ruby on Rails and Hotwire frameworks. It bridges the gap between beginner-level tutorials and building Rails applications in a professional setting.

Ayush and I met in London last week to collaborate on some work with Find AI, so I thought it would be fun to record a chat about how and why he published this tome about full-stack development with Ruby and Rails.

We cover:

• How he came from the iOS + Android mobile apps to Ruby on Rails
• Why he decided to write a book unifying Rails + mobile apps
• How he had never made a mobile app with Rails before starting a book on this topic
• How he motivated himself to finish the book and get it shipped
• Why writing is a superpower for programmers
• The value of doing hard things without taking shortcuts
• How doing hard things is the best way to stand out as a modern knowledge worker

Watch on Youtube. Listen to a recording of this conversation on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or other podcast players.

Links from the episode

• Ayush's sites: Radioactive Toy (consulting), Binary Solo (blog)
• Picante recipe (Philip's favorite cocktail we're drinking)
• David Heinemeier Hansson, creator of Ruby on Rails Rails, and his essays Provide Sharp Knives + The One Person Framework
• Ayush's talk Use Turbo Native to make hybrid apps that don't suck
• HEY email
• Ruby on Rails Tutorial by Michael Hartl
• Bridgetown