As a full time job at a company, it'll pay less than your counterpart role in development. As a solo person building a brand a la Michael Hartl (Rails, Learn Enough), it's a business, and marketing is a big part of it.
In terms of getting a job at a company, I've seen people pursue technical writing certificates. Though, I think a long list of open source contributions will speak for itself when it comes to modern software gigs. It seems like you have a bit of experience pursuing the second route already, so it's not a bad idea to keep doing that, then lateral into a place of employment.
I think the likelihood of making a living as an indie developer is greater than as an indie on the App Store for example. Tracy Osborn (Hello Web App) said herself that one book wouldn't provide a living, though she surmised that someone with multiple books might. The speaking engagements, networking, and new opportunities will help overall in filling the gaps.
An in depth book may take 6 months to a year to write, but if the writing process can be scaled down to 1 - 2 months per book, with the quality not suffering too much, I don't see why it's not possible that a person can be doing this full time/exclusively after a year of publications, with other contract engagements. To clarify, a number of these books will likely address to a specific framework du jour, or learn X in 1 week, but there can be some that are absolute gems/labor of love.
Disclaimer: I'm just an observer, hoping to explore the same path.
In terms of getting a job at a company, I've seen people pursue technical writing certificates. Though, I think a long list of open source contributions will speak for itself when it comes to modern software gigs. It seems like you have a bit of experience pursuing the second route already, so it's not a bad idea to keep doing that, then lateral into a place of employment.
I think the likelihood of making a living as an indie developer is greater than as an indie on the App Store for example. Tracy Osborn (Hello Web App) said herself that one book wouldn't provide a living, though she surmised that someone with multiple books might. The speaking engagements, networking, and new opportunities will help overall in filling the gaps.
An in depth book may take 6 months to a year to write, but if the writing process can be scaled down to 1 - 2 months per book, with the quality not suffering too much, I don't see why it's not possible that a person can be doing this full time/exclusively after a year of publications, with other contract engagements. To clarify, a number of these books will likely address to a specific framework du jour, or learn X in 1 week, but there can be some that are absolute gems/labor of love.
Disclaimer: I'm just an observer, hoping to explore the same path.