It sounds like what you might be asking is - it worth it to risk taking the time and effort to write a book? I'm going through the process right now, so maybe my thoughts can help.
I'm writing a free online book, "Clojure for the Brave and True" (http://www.braveclojure.com/), that has been picked up by No Starch. A couple of the chapters, "Start Using Emacs" and "Functional Programming" have done pretty well here on HN. I've made about $1k on leanpub so far for the unfinished book (ebook buyers will get the full No Starch ebook when it's ready).
The main thing that has worked for me has been to constantly get feedback from readers. Every time I release a chapter I tweet it, send it to my mailing list, and post it on reddit and G+. The comments have been overwhelmingly supportive. If it weren't for that kind of enthusiastic feedback, I'm pretty certain I would have given up.
Other people might have other ways to stay motivated, but this make the project much more "real" for me. I feel proud to provide my readers with quality content, and that they would choose to spend their time reading my work. It also helps to get those leanpub emails saying that someone has paid for the PDF - it's very encouraging when people pay for a free resource. To sum up this point - try thinking about what kind of process will make the risk worth it for you.
The second thing that's worked for me has been to write in a way that I, personally, find entertaining. When I sit down to write, I crank up the Lady Gaga and let out my inner idiot. It's way more fun that way, and people seem to like the result.
"I've made about $1k on leanpub so far for the unfinished book (ebook buyers will get the full No Starch ebook when it's ready)."
What happens if you burn out and decide you can't finish the book? Do people get their money back or did they pay less for a beta/unfinished copy and accept that this is what they're paying for?
We have an unconditional 45-day refund policy. This is so readers of the in-progress book can judge whether they think it has stalled. If so, they can decide whether they've gotten their money's worth, and if not, get a refund in 2 clicks.
In situations where books are abandoned after being dormant for a long time, we can't issue refunds since we literally can't. (We take PayPal and we take credit cards via PayPal Website Payments Pro, and we can only do refunds for 2 months with credit cards.) So, in these cases, it is up to the author to make things right.
This happens very, very rarely though: having actual readers of your in-progress book that you will disappoint if you stop is a great incentive for you to finish.
What I meant was that we can do a compensating transaction (say a PayPal payment etc), but that it would not be a "refund" in terms of being a refund onto their credit card.
If we need to issue refunds beyond the 2 months we can contact our PayPal representative and have them take care of it, chances are you can do that too since it sounds like you have a fair amount of volume.
As someone who has been writing an ebook for over a year, I've found that people are pretty appreciative when you say "Hey, I need some time off due to burnout on this book."
I'm writing a free online book, "Clojure for the Brave and True" (http://www.braveclojure.com/), that has been picked up by No Starch. A couple of the chapters, "Start Using Emacs" and "Functional Programming" have done pretty well here on HN. I've made about $1k on leanpub so far for the unfinished book (ebook buyers will get the full No Starch ebook when it's ready).
The main thing that has worked for me has been to constantly get feedback from readers. Every time I release a chapter I tweet it, send it to my mailing list, and post it on reddit and G+. The comments have been overwhelmingly supportive. If it weren't for that kind of enthusiastic feedback, I'm pretty certain I would have given up.
Other people might have other ways to stay motivated, but this make the project much more "real" for me. I feel proud to provide my readers with quality content, and that they would choose to spend their time reading my work. It also helps to get those leanpub emails saying that someone has paid for the PDF - it's very encouraging when people pay for a free resource. To sum up this point - try thinking about what kind of process will make the risk worth it for you.
The second thing that's worked for me has been to write in a way that I, personally, find entertaining. When I sit down to write, I crank up the Lady Gaga and let out my inner idiot. It's way more fun that way, and people seem to like the result.
I hope this helps!