words-that-work
Writebook analysis and documentation
Documentation and analysis of 37signals Writebook publishing platform
PythonMarkdownDocumentation
What this is
An analysis workspace for Writebook - 37signals’ self-hosted book publishing platform. Contains the downloaded Writebook package and documentation extracted from studying it.
Writebook
From 37signals (Basecamp/HEY): a free, self-hosted platform for publishing books online. Simple, focused, opinionated - classic 37signals philosophy.
Key characteristics:
- Single-purpose tool (just books, nothing else)
- Self-hosted (you own your content)
- Markdown-based authoring
- Clean reading experience
- No tracking, no ads, no dependencies
The analysis
WRITEBOOK.md contains findings from examining the package:
- Architecture patterns
- Content model
- Deployment options
- Customization points
Why it matters
Writebook represents a counter-trend to SaaS publishing platforms:
- No subscription
- No vendor lock-in
- No feature creep
- Just publish books
The simplicity is the feature.