How to self-publish a programming book

Ayush Newatia shares his journey of making the Rails and Hotwire Codex
Philip I. Thomas Philip I. Thomas
Buckingham Palace, as viewed from its gardens.

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.