Author perk
I guess now that it's listed on Amazon, everyone knows that my book is being published by Addison-Wesley. I got a nice little surprise on my last call with the publisher when they offered to send me some of their current books. That's a nice little perk!
It's a little intimidating too, because most of these other authors are far more clever than I am. It's tough company. These guys have been code monkeys for a long time, whereas I've been doing this (well, professionally anyway) for only about six years. I'm not so worried that I don't know what I'm doing as much as I'm worried that I'm not effectively translating what I know and can present in front of people to something that works on paper.
I was thinking about drawing up a proposal for another book, one that combined a narrative of "growing up" as a programmer and the evolution of some piece of software, perhaps my forum app. The last part of the book might flesh out the design decisions and patterns of the app. I don't know how interesting it would be or if anyone would buy it, but I imagine there are a lot of people out there that would think, "If this guy can do it, so can I!" Empowering other people while exposing your own vulnerabilities is very much a feel-good experience. Since I don't have a CS degree, I'd at least be putting my journalism degree to good use!