9. What made you decide to write your first book? It comes back to that desire to teach, to share what I know. I had written the HTML tutorials and some CSS columns for WebReview, and was working my way toward pitching a CSS book with O’Reilly. At the same time, the O’Reilly folks—who, unbeknownst to me, shared office space with WebReview—asked the WebReview folks if they knew anyone who could write about this new CSS thing. My name came up, and O’Reilly got in touch. So I was ready to write at exactly the point in time they wanted someone to write. I mean, certainly part of it was the thrill of seeing my name on a book spine. I’ve been a reader my whole life, and I always looked up to great authors. The idea that I could have a title on store and library shelves was pretty enticing. But if that’s all I wanted, I probably would have tried fiction or poetry or something. I focused on technical authoring because it was a way to help others learn, which to me is one of the noblest things one can do.

10. What were your expectations when you published your first book (and did those expectations come true)? I figured it would be mildly popular, and maybe make me some spending money. At the time, you see, the future of CSS was somewhat in doubt. Early implementations has been buggy, and there was a lot of talk of dumping CSS in favor of something new, just to get a fresh start. DOCTYPE switching got us past that. (Kids, ask your parents.) I literally overheard a conversation at a conference in mid-2000 where I was described as “a nice guy who wrote a good book about a dead technology.” Which was not an unreasonable point of view, right then. What I did expect that came true was something Jeff Veen had told me, which was, “If you want to get invited to speak at conferences, write a book.” After I published the book, I did start getting asked to speak at conferences. I don’t know if that’s quite as true today; I know it’s not true at An Event Apart. Sure, having written a book is a plus, but it isn’t a requirement, and we definitely don’t start with publication lists to find speakers. Having written blog posts or launched a project or released source code is more of a draw these days.

11. After writing all the books you’ve already published, what tip would you give to a starting writer? Don’t expect to retire, or even make a living. Do it because you’re passionate about a topic and want to contribute your perspective. There’s nothing wrong with thinking you can do that; we all have a unique perspective. It’s not pride or hubris to think you have something worthwhile to say. The best books were born of someone saying, “I think this and nobody else is saying it, so I will.” It’s like side projects: build something that scratches your itch. So, write something that you’d want to read and pump your first in the air while you read it.