Is publishing fast and often a good idea?

Lean Pub is a new writing, editing and publishing platform made so that authors can publish as they write, get feedback and adjust accordingly.

I venture to say that it is loosely based around or at least influenced by the concept of the Lean Startup. The idea with startup businesses is, in the words of the leader of that movement, "Lean Startup isn't about being cheap [but is about] being less wasteful and still doing things that are big." In the business environment, a founder would build, measure, learn, and adjust the business/marketing/etc. around what they are learning along the way.

Lean Publishing is taking that same concept and applying it to writing a book. They have a great Lean Publishing Manifesto that I recommend reading in its entirety, but their own definition of Lean Publishing will give you the gist:

Lean Publishing is the act of publishing an in-progress book using lightweight tools and many iterations to get reader feedback, pivot until you have the right book and build traction once you do.

As you would hope, Leanpub provides those lightweight tools for writing, editing and publishing, as well as a storefront for people to browse and buy.

It's an innovative concept that brings a lot of the core elements from startup management and programming into the publishing world. When coding, it's important to have constant reviews of what you write by other people to check for errors, and there are always new adjustments to be made based on what the founder/marketing/etc. people are discovering or planning.

That kind of input for an author is typically coming only from a single editor or a small, core group of beta readers.

I think the biggest hurdle here is not the technology, which seems to be under control, but the mindset. While I can see this being popular and natural for a programmer who wants to write a book (as evidenced by the fact that their most popular category is books about programming), I think it will be an emotional leap for many authors who are not interested in or used to getting lots of feedback on early versions of their work.

That said, for those who are willing to do it, there are so many advantages to getting opinions, suggestions, readers and building a community before the book is even published.

What do you all think about this idea?

Image courtesy of screenshot via LeanPub.com