Pro Episerver Commerce is finally draft-complete

Yes you read it right. The book is now draft complete!

9 months ago I announced that I’m writing a (first ever) Episerver Commerce book.

I hoped that it can be draft-complete in June and complete in August. Apparently I overestimated my ability to focus, and underestimated my ability to procrastinate (I also blame CDProjekt RED for The Witcher 3: Blood and Wine expansion, and Naughty Dog for Uncharted 4). Writing a book is no easy task, and when the low hanging fruits are out, I was greatly slowed down. I also decided to wait for final changes made to promotion system and order system before the API:s were out of BETA (in Commerce 9.19). All in all, my apologies for the delay (And if you bought the book before June, you already got a coupon code for my second book as a compensation, for free!).

And today, the day finally comes – I added the missing pieces of contents, and published a new version. You can now buy it here: https://leanpub.com/proepiservercommerce

(When you buy from LeanPub, you buy the book, not the version. So you’ll own every version which I publish, including the “complete” version)

Thanks

Back when I announced it, the book was at 85 pages and was 20% complete (it’s now 313 pages and 90% complete, BTW). But to my surprises, many people have ordered the book. While (I hope) it’s helped some readers in specific scenarios, I believe many bought the book to show their support to my work – and I can’t thank enough:

• For anyone who ordered the book, thank you!
• Two of my teammates in Episerver Commerce development team (Johan Hedberg and Kristoffer Balanikas) also bought the book (I suspect some also bought but remained anonymous). Thank you!
• Every purchase is valuable, but some buyers even went the extra mile to pay the recommended price. Two very generous buyers even paid well above that. Thank you!
• I received some offers to do technical reviews for the book. Thank you!
• To any of my friends who promised to buy the book – thank you. And it’s the time to fulfill your promise now 😉

Your support is the biggest motivation for me to finish the marathon of writing the book. I would not have done it, without you!

Now it’s here, draft-complete.

You might ask, what is draft-complete, by the way?

It means I completed the main parts of the book. In other words, I’m happy with the index of contents – I think the book has covered the areas I think, are most important for a Episerver Commerce developer. It’s not done, and it’s far from perfect. The contents will be polished, but the topics will remain.

What’s next, then?

My job here is done. (Fly away). No, just kidding. It’s a big milestone for the book (and for me, too). But now it’s time for me to do extensive reviews of the contents. I’ll read it over and over (until I’m really tired with it) and correct any mistakes (technical, grammar, typos) I can find. I’ll also ask my friends and colleagues to do reviews of the book. I want to make the quality of the contents to be the highest I can, and hopefully up to your expectations. The book is expected to be complete before the end of this year.

And then I’ll relax a bit before completing my second book: Git: in easy steps.

Will there be a printed version?

I’ve been asked, most jokingly, about a printed version which I can sign. Unfortunately it’ll not likely to happen. I’m looking to the options for printing a limited amount of this book, but it’s not for sale – only as gifts. (Hey ma, look, I wrote a book! (Even my mother can’t read English, let alone understand about programming, she would be happy to get one)). If you are lucky enough you might get one as present on Christmas, but I’m sorry, you won’t be able to buy it.

See you there

Writing this book is a fantastic experience (not always, sometime it’s tiring as hell). I learned many things from trying to explain concepts etc. I got feedback and offers from the fellow Commerce developers.

I hope the book makes a difference. I hope it contributes (even small) to the great Episerver developer community.

I hope it gets into your hands, today.