[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":415},["ShallowReactive",2],{"project-7350265":3},{"id":4,"name":5,"line":6,"line_source":7,"title":8,"url":9,"domain":10,"maker":11,"posted_at":12,"year":13,"points":14,"comments":15,"rank_in_year":16,"shown_in_year":17,"top":18,"tier":19,"category":20,"subcategory":21,"format":22,"keywords":23,"reception":29,"sentiment":30,"stance_mix":31,"scored_comments":36,"aspects":37,"strip":46,"post_text":47,"what":48,"said":103,"maker_in_thread":196,"shape":207,"grid":211,"attempts":378,"same_week":379,"maker_shows":34,"maker_hidden":407,"reader_version":408,"card":409},"7350265","Softcover","A publishing platform from the author of the Rails Tutorial","title","Show HN: Softcover – A publishing platform from the author of the Rails Tutorial","http:\u002F\u002Fwww.softcover.io\u002F","softcover.io","mhartl",1394056928,2014,208,61,96,2272,5,"notable","creative","book publishing platform","web_app",[24,25,26,27,28],"self publishing","ebook","latex","book publishing","markdown","loved",0.458,{"positive":32,"neutral":33,"mixed":34,"critical":35},20,16,1,3,40,{"execution":38,"design":39,"idea":40,"docs":42,"pricing":44,"performance":45},{"positive":35,"critical":34},{"positive":35,"critical":34},{"positive":41,"critical":34},6,{"positive":35,"critical":43},0,{"positive":43,"critical":43},{"positive":34,"critical":43},[18,18,18,35,43,18,18,35,43,18,43,18,18,35,43,18,43,18,35,35,34,43,18,43,34,43,18,43,35,35,18,18,18,35,35,35,34,43,18,18],null,{"problem":49,"audience":61,"pricing":69,"motivation":76,"time_to_build":47,"stack":86,"openness":100,"stage":101,"team_size":102},{"value":50,"source":51,"evidence":52},"Formatting and publishing books is messy for authors; Softcover builds books from source with a pre-configured toolchain","commenter",[53,57],{"id":54,"by":55,"text":56},"7351328","rpicard","I'm so excited about this! I'm currently drafting the last few chapters for Explore Flask (web development book funded via Kickstarter) and the whole self-publishing process is a…",{"id":58,"by":59,"text":60},"7350412","markbates","Congratulations on the launch. As the first author on the platform, http:\u002F\u002Fconqueringthecommandline.com, and as the author of two other books (http:\u002F\u002Fbooks.markbates.com), I can…",{"value":62,"source":51,"evidence":63},"Authors who want to self-publish books",[64,65],{"id":54,"by":55,"text":56},{"id":66,"by":67,"text":68},"7352493","SanderMak","Indeed. So as somebody who justed started thinking about self-publishing a book, that raises a question. Should I go with the 'established' platform or this upcoming platform…",{"value":70,"source":71,"evidence":72},"Free open-source production system under MIT License; Softcover takes a cut of sales","maker",[73],{"id":74,"by":11,"text":75},"7350831","Thanks! The Softcover production system is available for free as open-source software under the permissive MIT License. Softcover just takes a cut of sales, so we only make money…",{"value":77,"source":78,"evidence":79},"Author Michael Hartl wanted a better self-publishing toolchain and sales platform","inferred",[80,83],{"id":81,"by":11,"text":82},"7350785","Great questions, Antonio. I've just deployed an update to the front page at http:\u002F\u002Fwww.softcover.io\u002F answering some of them, but for convenience I'll answer them below as well.…",{"id":84,"by":11,"text":85},"7356571","Softcover is based on the Rails Tutorial model, which differs from Leanpub in several key ways. I actually think Leanpub is a great service if it meets all of your needs as an…",[87,94],{"value":88,"source":51,"evidence":89},"Ruby on Rails",[90],{"id":91,"by":92,"text":93},"7352323","yixizhang","Backend has become simple enough that you wouldn't have to pay much attention. The great design of this website has anything specific to do with its Rails backend?",{"value":95,"source":71,"evidence":96},"LaTeX",[97],{"id":98,"by":11,"text":99},"7351025","Thanks! Glad it looks tempting. We've definitely looked into print. It's a tough nut to crack, and the ecosystem might not be mature enough yet for automatic integration. Lulu,…","open_source","launched","team",{"praise":104,"objections":127,"requests":146,"questions":168,"alternatives":186},[105,109,120],{"value":106,"source":51,"evidence":107},"Easy and nice toolchain for writing books",[108],{"id":58,"by":59,"text":60},{"value":110,"source":51,"evidence":111},"Well-designed site and clean look",[112,116],{"id":113,"by":114,"text":115},"7350424","avolcano","Seems like an alternative to https:\u002F\u002Fleanpub.com\u002F with much better design. I'm very impressed.",{"id":117,"by":118,"text":119},"7350692","rafeed","This is awesome! Well defined, and I like the design and intro video. I wish there were something like this for writing journal articles. Right now, it's a total pain.",{"value":121,"source":51,"evidence":122},"Could become the definitive way to publish and buy books online",[123],{"id":124,"by":125,"text":126},"7350804","taylorlapeyre","This has the potential to become the definitive way to publish and buy books online. Amazingly well done.",[128,135,139],{"value":129,"source":51,"evidence":130},"Not responsive on mobile devices",[131],{"id":132,"by":133,"text":134},"7351578","jimhart3000","As the frontend dev, any insight as to why you didn't go responsive with this? It's a nice looking site and you did a great job, but I'm surprised - since this is a publishing…",{"value":136,"source":71,"evidence":137},"Print output not yet supported; print-ready version requires manual work",[138],{"id":98,"by":11,"text":99},{"value":140,"source":51,"evidence":141},"Sales tax handling unclear for some countries",[142],{"id":143,"by":144,"text":145},"7350709","acangiano","This is very interesting and well done. I have a few questions. 1. Am I allowed to sell the files elsewhere? For example, sell the .mobi file on Amazon Kindle and publish a…",[147,154,161],{"value":148,"source":51,"evidence":149},"Print integration with printers",[150],{"id":151,"by":152,"text":153},"7350986","siculars","Congrats on the launch. Looks great and is tempting me to take a real stab at writing I've always flirted with. Q: is there planned integration with print? Could you send out…",{"value":155,"source":51,"evidence":156},"Free preview chapters in HTML version",[157],{"id":158,"by":159,"text":160},"7350883","thaweatherman","Do authors have the option of providing a book preview for free online rather than the entire thing? Or does that feature only allow for the entire book to be made free online?",{"value":162,"source":51,"evidence":163},"Publish source code of Softcover itself",[164],{"id":165,"by":166,"text":167},"7358257","hrjet","Thanks for that info, but my question was about the source code of Softcover itself.",[169,176,180],{"value":170,"source":51,"evidence":171},"How does it differ from Leanpub",[172],{"id":173,"by":174,"text":175},"7352894","globalpanic","How does this differ from leanpub?",{"value":177,"source":51,"evidence":178},"Whether sales tax can be collected, e.g. Canadian GST\u002FPST",[179],{"id":143,"by":144,"text":145},{"value":181,"source":51,"evidence":182},"Where the source code is hosted",[183],{"id":184,"by":166,"text":185},"7353246","This looks great. I was not able to find out myself: Where is the source-code hosted?",[187,192],{"value":188,"source":51,"evidence":189},"Leanpub",[190,191],{"id":113,"by":114,"text":115},{"id":173,"by":174,"text":175},{"value":193,"source":51,"evidence":194},"Pandoc",[195],{"id":54,"by":55,"text":56},{"comments":197,"answered":198,"key":199},14,8,[200,203,204],{"id":201,"text":202},"7351138","Thanks, Erik! I remember that meeting fondly—in line at Long Beach Airport en route to Austin, if I recall correctly. I hope all is well!",{"id":81,"text":82},{"id":205,"text":206},"7351934","Thanks for the kind words. We might not choose to highlight titles that could invite controversy (especially not early on), but our intent is to produce a flexible publishing…",{"commenters":208,"max_depth":18,"maker_replies":197,"first_comment_mins":209,"lifespan_hours":210},36,18,47,[212,214,217,220,224,225,228,229,232,234,238,240,243,246,247,252,254,255,257,261,263,265,266,269,271,276,280,284,288,290,291,293,296,298,300,302,305,307,312,315,318,323,324,325,327,328,333,337,341,343,347,349,351,352,356,358,362,364,368,372,376],[58,43,18,213,59,43],"project\u002Fpositive\u002Fexecution",[215,43,18,213,216,43],"7356963","webwanderings",[218,43,43,219,59,43],"7361765","commenter\u002Fneutral\u002Fnone",[221,34,18,222,223,43],"7350676","maker\u002Fpositive\u002Fnone","callmeed",[201,34,43,222,11,34],[143,226,35,227,144,43],2,"project\u002Fneutral\u002Fnone",[81,226,43,227,11,34],[230,226,35,231,144,43],"7351182","maker\u002Fneutral\u002Fnone",[113,35,18,233,114,43],"project\u002Fpositive\u002Fdesign",[235,35,18,236,237,43],"7350535","maker\u002Fpositive\u002Fdesign","Anjin",[132,35,35,239,133,43],"project\u002Fmixed\u002Fdesign",[241,35,35,242,237,43],"7351757","project\u002Fneutral\u002Fdesign",[244,35,43,245,133,43],"7351926","commenter\u002Fneutral\u002Fdesign",[66,35,35,227,67,43],[248,249,18,250,251,43],"7351845",4,"project\u002Fpositive\u002Fidea","desireco42",[205,249,43,253,11,34],"project\u002Fneutral\u002Fidea",[54,18,18,213,55,43],[256,18,43,227,11,34],"7351687",[258,41,18,259,260,43],"7353455","maker\u002Fpositive\u002Fdocs","ryderm",[262,41,43,222,11,34],"7356670",[151,264,35,227,152,43],7,[98,264,43,227,11,34],[267,198,18,259,268,43],"7352371","habosa",[117,270,18,233,118,43],9,[272,273,43,274,275,43],"7350381",10,"other\u002Fneutral\u002Fnone","benatkin",[277,278,43,274,279,43],"7351346",11,"infocollector",[281,282,18,250,283,43],"7350987",12,"mikekij",[285,286,35,227,287,43],"7350506",13,"prateekj",[289,286,43,227,11,34],"7350547",[158,286,35,227,159,43],[292,286,43,227,11,34],"7351060",[294,197,34,295,159,43],"7350891","project\u002Fcritical\u002Fdesign",[297,197,43,242,11,34],"7350907",[299,197,35,242,237,43],"7350930",[124,301,18,250,125,43],15,[303,33,43,274,304,43],"7350354","HistoryInAction",[306,33,43,222,11,34],"7350411",[308,309,34,310,311,43],"7351076",17,"project\u002Fcritical\u002Fexecution","barkingcat",[313,309,43,314,11,34],"7351092","project\u002Fneutral\u002Fexecution",[316,209,18,222,317,43],"7352599","the4dpatrick",[319,320,35,321,322,43],"7350806",19,"project\u002Fneutral\u002Fpricing","aalpbalkan",[74,320,43,321,11,34],[184,32,35,227,166,43],[326,32,35,227,237,43],"7354850",[165,32,35,227,166,43],[329,330,18,331,332,43],"7350543",21,"project\u002Fpositive\u002Fnone","Ash-k",[334,335,18,250,336,43],"7353261",22,"macobo",[338,339,18,250,340,43],"7351959",23,"ogdenyogly",[342,339,18,250,237,43],"7354500",[344,339,43,345,346,43],"7355982","commenter\u002Fneutral\u002Fidea","bowerbird",[91,348,35,242,92,43],24,[173,350,35,227,174,43],25,[84,350,43,227,11,34],[353,354,35,242,355,43],"7350623",26,"rastokes",[357,354,35,242,237,43],"7350661",[359,354,34,360,361,43],"7350817","project\u002Fcritical\u002Fidea","peterarmstrong",[363,354,43,345,346,43],"7352669",[365,366,18,331,367,43],"7351778",27,"lizk",[369,370,18,259,371,43],"7355180",28,"marukokinno",[373,374,18,375,371,43],"7355757",29,"project\u002Fpositive\u002Fperformance",[377,374,43,231,11,34],"7362587",[],[380,385,390,395,398,403],{"id":381,"name":382,"points":383,"category":384},"7348678","OpenSpritz",99,"productivity",{"id":386,"name":387,"points":388,"category":389},"7320614","Fireform",77,"web_saas",{"id":391,"name":392,"points":393,"category":394},"7309251","Coderust",71,"learning_science",{"id":396,"name":397,"points":15,"category":384},"7334060","Notable Docs",{"id":399,"name":400,"points":401,"category":402},"7314180","MealSquares",51,"consumer_social",{"id":404,"name":405,"points":406,"category":394},"7329517","Learneroo",48,false,"v2",{"id":410,"name":5,"line":6,"ai":407,"cat":20,"year":13,"points":14,"comments":15,"rec":29,"s":411,"top":18,"kw":412,"maker":11,"domain":10,"tier":19,"attempts":43,"strip":413,"url":9,"mix":414,"praise":106,"objection":129,"sub":21},7350265,0.46,[24,25,26,27,28],"5553055305055305053310501050335553331055",[32,33,34,35],1794036516330]