[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":515},["ShallowReactive",2],{"project-4974055":3},{"id":4,"name":5,"line":6,"line_source":7,"title":8,"url":9,"domain":5,"maker":10,"posted_at":11,"year":12,"points":13,"comments":14,"rank_in_year":15,"shown_in_year":16,"top":17,"tier":18,"category":19,"subcategory":20,"format":21,"keywords":22,"reception":27,"sentiment":28,"stance_mix":29,"scored_comments":34,"aspects":35,"strip":45,"post_text":47,"what":48,"said":99,"maker_in_thread":190,"shape":200,"grid":205,"attempts":479,"same_week":480,"maker_shows":202,"maker_hidden":507,"reader_version":508,"card":509},"4974055","howacarworks.com","How I turned an old book into a (barely) profitable website","title","Show HN: How I turned an old book into a (barely) profitable website","http:\u002F\u002Fwww.howacarworks.com\u002Fabout","AlexMuir",1356629054,2012,242,104,57,1677,4,"notable","dev_tools","reference website","web_app",[23,24,25,26],"car repair guide","how a car works","out of print book","adsense","curious",0.077,{"positive":30,"neutral":31,"mixed":32,"critical":33},13,26,0,10,49,{"idea":36,"execution":39,"design":40,"pricing":42,"docs":43},{"positive":37,"critical":38},9,1,{"positive":38,"critical":32},{"positive":38,"critical":41},3,{"positive":32,"critical":38},{"positive":32,"critical":44},5,[32,32,32,32,17,41,38,32,38,41,32,32,32,32,17,44,41,41,38,41,41,38,38,44,32,41,44,44,38,44,38,41,44,41,46,32,44,41,17,41],2,null,{"problem":47,"audience":49,"pricing":57,"motivation":64,"time_to_build":73,"stack":79,"openness":96,"stage":97,"team_size":98},{"value":50,"source":51,"evidence":52},"People learning to fix or understand cars","commenter",[53],{"id":54,"by":55,"text":56},"4975717","phaus","Thanks for showing us. While my father can fix \u002F build nearly anything, I overspecialized in computers and electronics, so I know almost nothing about cars. I've been looking for…",{"value":58,"source":59,"evidence":60},"Free with AdSense ads","maker",[61],{"id":62,"by":10,"text":63},"4974461","You are right, the ads look absolutely shit - I could perhaps go with Buysellads when traffic picks up. Interesting idea - I'm a huge admirer of things that follow that model -…",{"value":65,"source":59,"evidence":66},"Side project to test whether converting a book to a website can earn money",[67,70],{"id":68,"by":10,"text":69},"4974100","I'd welcome any suggestions on where to go next - it's a bit of a fire-and-forget side project, but I'd still like to get it as good as possible before I leave it to stew for 2013.",{"id":71,"by":10,"text":72},"4974495","Hosting is on a $20\u002Fmonth Linode along with a bunch of other projects\u002Fsites\u002Fbits of code fluff. The actual bandwidth used by this site will be virtually nothing I imagine. I…",{"value":74,"source":59,"evidence":75},"About a week of work spread over a year",[76],{"id":77,"by":10,"text":78},"4976980","After the scanning I took about 2 days to OCR everything. That was fairly mindnumbing. Then it was a case of coding up a fairly simple Rails app and parsing that content -…",[80,84,90],{"value":81,"source":59,"evidence":82},"Ruby on Rails",[83],{"id":77,"by":10,"text":78},{"value":85,"source":59,"evidence":86},"Twitter Bootstrap",[87],{"id":88,"by":10,"text":89},"4974475","You're right - and also credit should go to the excellent http:\u002F\u002Fbootswatch.com\u002F which is where I got the themed Bootstrap from. I'm a lover of Bootstrap but I hope it doesn't…",{"value":91,"source":59,"evidence":92},"Disqus",[93],{"id":94,"by":10,"text":95},"4974415","I put in the comments because I thought it'd be an easy way of adding some content for free as people add to the information already there, and also to let people moan about…","unknown","launched","team",{"praise":100,"objections":123,"requests":142,"questions":166,"alternatives":181},[101,112],{"value":102,"source":51,"evidence":103},"Useful content with great illustrations",[104,108],{"id":105,"by":106,"text":107},"4974398","braveheart1723","this is great, actual useful content with great illustrations. It's refreshing to see something with some practical use. Growing up I remember being obsessed with this: DK The…",{"id":109,"by":110,"text":111},"4974219","vinhboy","Looks like your site is already number 3 on my google search for \"how a car works\". The homepage is a bit boring. You have a lot of pretty pictures, you should some how use them…",{"value":113,"source":51,"evidence":114},"Good idea to convert out-of-print books",[115,119],{"id":116,"by":117,"text":118},"4974337","darkxanthos","The obvious next step to me would be for you to repeat this process with another out of print book now that you've established a market and proven its viability. Offer the…",{"id":120,"by":121,"text":122},"4974220","TamDenholm","I've always wanted to see the entire library of haynes manuals put online or even in an ipad\u002Fiphone app. This looks a bit like a proof of concept to it. Perhaps the OP could…",[124,131],{"value":125,"source":51,"evidence":126},"Content needs proofreading",[127],{"id":128,"by":129,"text":130},"4974958","brightghost","I'm surprised no-one has mentioned how badly in need of proofing this content is. I just looked through a handful of sections but the ones I saw were littered with missing words,…",{"value":132,"source":51,"evidence":133},"Design looks unpleasant and ads look bad",[134,138],{"id":135,"by":136,"text":137},"4976146","quasque","It's a lovely idea, but from a design point of view, the site looks really quite unpleasant: the green pastel background, ugly font choices, an uninviting table of links as the…",{"id":139,"by":140,"text":141},"4974259","jessepollak","Just a thought: I might consider a different monetization strategy than AdSense. The ads really look awful and make the site seem significantly less 'quality' than it actually…",[143,158],{"value":144,"source":51,"evidence":145},"Offer an ebook or epub version",[146,150,154],{"id":147,"by":148,"text":149},"4974202","citricsquid","Questions: Why are there comments on the page? How difficult would it be to compile it into an ebook and make it available on kindle\u002Fitunes\u002Fwherever else? Seems like you'd only…",{"id":151,"by":152,"text":153},"4974383","StavrosK","I'd go on https:\u002F\u002Fleanpub.com\u002F and turn it into an ebook.",{"id":155,"by":156,"text":157},"4974344","mikecane","I don't know what your ad income is -- and I'm not asking -- but just looking at the HowIDidIt page, this is a book that screams for you to redo it for the iPad in iBooks Author.…",{"value":159,"source":51,"evidence":160},"Add images to homepage and pages",[161,165],{"id":162,"by":163,"text":164},"4974946","pitchups","Those images on the right side of each page are great; They could be used to good effect to make the site more appealing visually as well as unique, if you displayed one or more…",{"id":109,"by":110,"text":111},[167,174],{"value":168,"source":51,"evidence":169},"Are you violating the original author's copyright?",[170],{"id":171,"by":172,"text":173},"4975184","kamakazizuru","this is awesome - I'm curious though - aren't you theoretically violating the copyright of the actual author?",{"value":175,"source":51,"evidence":176},"What are the expenses and hosting costs?",[177],{"id":178,"by":179,"text":180},"4974343","aw3c2","what did\u002Fdo you count as your expenses? surely you do not pay 60$\u002Fmonth for hosting. did you add the work you had to do?",[182,186],{"value":183,"source":51,"evidence":184},"Haynes manuals",[185],{"id":120,"by":121,"text":122},{"value":187,"source":51,"evidence":188},"DK The Way Things Work",[189],{"id":105,"by":106,"text":107},{"comments":191,"answered":37,"key":192},23,[193,196,199],{"id":194,"text":195},"4975598","Yeah that was my meaning. Adsense income once you're in a certain vertical (car repairs in my case) is just a factor of traffic. Traffic comes from Google Pagerank for this sort…",{"id":197,"text":198},"4975603","Sorry I wasn't clear - I meant that traffic to the site would only go up as Google recognises meaningful content.",{"id":94,"text":95},{"commenters":201,"max_depth":202,"maker_replies":191,"first_comment_mins":203,"lifespan_hours":204},63,6,7,228,[206,210,214,216,218,220,223,226,228,230,231,233,235,239,240,244,248,251,254,256,258,260,262,264,265,268,270,272,275,278,280,283,286,289,292,295,298,299,302,303,307,310,312,315,318,322,325,329,333,336,339,342,344,347,349,351,354,357,359,360,361,364,367,370,372,375,379,382,384,389,392,393,396,399,401,403,405,408,409,411,413,416,418,421,422,427,430,431,433,437,441,445,447,451,455,456,457,460,462,465,467,470,474,477],[207,32,32,208,209,32],"4975002","commenter\u002Fneutral\u002Fpricing","ChuckMcM",[211,32,32,212,213,32],"4975237","commenter\u002Fneutral\u002Fnone","Flimm",[215,32,32,212,172,32],"4981560",[217,32,32,212,140,32],"4975549",[194,32,32,219,10,38],"maker\u002Fneutral\u002Fnone",[221,32,32,212,222,32],"4975606","lukevdp",[224,32,32,212,225,32],"4975725","geon",[227,32,32,212,222,32],"4975810",[229,32,32,212,140,32],"4975882",[197,32,32,219,10,38],[232,32,41,219,209,32],"4976076",[147,38,41,234,148,32],"project\u002Fneutral\u002Fidea",[236,38,44,237,238,32],"4974301","project\u002Fpositive\u002Fidea","dddddannyyyyy",[94,38,32,219,10,38],[241,38,41,242,243,32],"4974803","maker\u002Fneutral\u002Fexecution","dminor",[245,38,38,246,247,32],"4974954","project\u002Fcritical\u002Fdesign","nollidge",[249,38,32,212,250,32],"4975796","rapind",[252,38,32,212,253,32],"4976570","toast0",[255,38,32,212,10,38],"4976972",[257,38,32,212,250,32],"4987237",[139,46,38,259,140,32],"project\u002Fcritical\u002Fpricing",[62,46,32,261,10,38],"maker\u002Fneutral\u002Fpricing",[263,46,41,261,140,32],"4975575",[68,41,32,219,10,38],[266,41,41,219,267,32],"4974148","JonnieCache",[269,41,32,219,10,38],"4974178",[271,41,32,212,267,32],"4974196",[273,41,32,212,274,32],"4974818","dageshi",[276,41,32,212,277,32],"4974309","sixQuarks",[279,41,32,212,267,32],"4974437",[281,41,32,212,282,32],"4974472","rmc",[284,41,32,285,267,32],"4974699","other\u002Fneutral\u002Fnone",[287,41,32,212,288,32],"4974814","matznerd",[290,41,32,212,291,32],"4978056","vicks711",[293,41,32,212,294,32],"4974477","Chico75",[296,41,32,285,297,32],"4974966","pretoriusB",[155,41,44,237,156,32],[300,41,41,234,301,32],"4978225","mmcnickle",[151,41,41,234,152,32],[304,41,44,305,306,32],"4974414","project\u002Fpositive\u002Fnone","rubyrescue",[308,41,41,261,309,32],"4974473","jmatthew3",[311,41,41,261,309,32],"4974511",[313,41,41,261,314,32],"4975754","wtracy",[316,41,41,261,317,32],"4977680","bemmu",[319,41,41,320,321,32],"4974694","project\u002Fneutral\u002Fdesign","odie88",[323,41,32,324,10,38],"4975752","maker\u002Fneutral\u002Fdesign",[326,41,41,327,328,32],"4974841","project\u002Fneutral\u002Fpricing","jarifikwa",[330,41,38,331,332,32],"4975139","project\u002Fcritical\u002Fdocs","jaggederest",[334,41,32,335,10,38],"4975360","maker\u002Fneutral\u002Fdocs",[337,41,44,237,338,32],"4975359","callmeed",[340,41,38,331,341,32],"4975469","lessnonymous",[343,41,32,335,10,38],"4975615",[345,41,41,335,346,32],"4976465","fudged71",[348,41,32,219,10,38],"4978187",[350,41,32,212,346,32],"4980258",[352,41,38,331,353,32],"4987865","iso-8859-1",[355,17,41,234,356,32],"4974957","ragmondo",[358,17,32,212,225,32],"4975776",[128,44,38,331,129,32],[120,202,44,237,121,32],[362,202,32,363,267,32],"4974239","commenter\u002Fpositive\u002Fidea",[365,202,32,285,366,32],"4974366","antidoh",[368,202,32,285,369,32],"4974831","orangethirty",[371,202,32,285,10,38],"4975374",[373,202,32,285,374,32],"4978010","gregpilling",[376,202,38,377,378,32],"4974929","project\u002Fcritical\u002Fidea","ErikRogneby",[380,203,44,237,381,32],"4974567","hahla",[383,203,32,219,10,38],"4975750",[385,386,44,387,388,32],"4974503",8,"project\u002Fpositive\u002Fexecution","OkGoDoIt",[390,386,32,391,10,38],"4975765","project\u002Fneutral\u002Fexecution",[116,37,44,237,117,32],[394,37,32,395,10,38],"4974488","project\u002Fneutral\u002Fnone",[397,33,41,320,398,32],"4974698","ivix",[400,33,32,395,10,38],"4975620",[135,402,38,246,136,32],11,[105,404,44,237,106,32],12,[406,404,32,285,407,32],"4974713","zevyoura",[54,30,44,237,55,32],[410,30,32,285,10,38],"4975742",[109,412,38,246,110,32],14,[414,412,32,415,247,32],"4974322","commenter\u002Fneutral\u002Fdesign",[417,412,32,320,10,38],"4974468",[419,420,41,219,294,32],"4974504",15,[77,420,32,391,10,38],[423,424,44,425,426,32],"4974265",16,"maker\u002Fpositive\u002Fdesign","hnriot",[428,424,32,212,429,32],"4974294","bruceboughton",[88,424,32,324,10,38],[162,432,41,320,163,32],17,[434,435,38,331,436,32],"4977230",18,"biot",[438,439,41,320,440,32],"4974300",19,"wallflower",[442,443,41,391,444,32],"4975297",20,"bjnord",[446,443,32,391,10,38],"4975774",[448,449,32,285,450,32],"5015429",21,"schappim",[452,453,44,237,454,32],"4978181",22,"kriro",[178,191,41,327,179,32],[71,191,32,327,10,38],[458,191,41,234,459,32],"4974794","Xavi",[461,191,32,234,10,38],"4975631",[463,191,44,464,179,32],"4974964","maker\u002Fpositive\u002Fnone",[171,466,41,234,172,32],24,[468,466,41,234,469,32],"4981965","shawn-butler",[471,472,32,285,473,32],"4974270",25,"thoughtcriminal",[475,472,41,476,117,32],"4974374","project\u002Fneutral\u002Fdocs",[478,472,41,219,473,32],"4974406",[],[481,486,491,495,499,503],{"id":482,"name":483,"points":484,"category":485},"4977845","thegoodman",271,"creative",{"id":487,"name":488,"points":489,"category":490},"4980220","Ninja Blocks",149,"hardware",{"id":492,"name":493,"points":494,"category":490},"4977548","Hacking a Raspberry Pi into a wireless airplay speaker",144,{"id":496,"name":497,"points":498,"category":19},"4997493","a small weekendish project",106,{"id":500,"name":501,"points":502,"category":485},"4979247","Harmogram",105,{"id":504,"name":505,"points":506,"category":485},"4980259","Nasdaq Dubstep",88,false,"v2",{"id":510,"name":5,"line":6,"ai":507,"cat":19,"year":12,"points":13,"comments":14,"rec":27,"s":511,"top":17,"kw":512,"maker":10,"domain":5,"tier":18,"attempts":32,"strip":513,"url":9,"mix":514,"praise":102,"objection":125,"sub":20},4974055,0.08,[23,24,25,26],"0000431013000045331331150355151353205343",[30,31,32,33],1794036502772]