4 ms·

G. Waaaaaaaaaaaait a second. People currently write books and software and distribute them free.

glhaynes 16y ago
Out of the books I've read in the last 5 years, I believe the only ones that were free were those whose copyright had expired. Yes, there's lots of good free software, but that's most often because the software, once written, scratched an itch for someone. The same phenomenon doesn't really exist with books: nearly nobody writes books for themselves; we write books to share our knowledge, stories, and opinions with others.
- michaelchisari 16y ago
  The same phenomenon doesn't really exist with books I would argue that a budding hobby novelist culture already exists, and will only grow, just like the free software movement did. Heck, we're already seeing open source movies. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_source_film http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_source_film
- InclinedPlane 16y ago
  It's almost impossible to make a living writing technical books, worse yet if they're actually good (because the best technical books tend to have a smaller audience since they tend to be targeted at the best developers). Technical books aren't written because they are profitable, they are written out of passion or pride. Edit: the same is true for a great many non-technical books. The average writer has a day job, writing is for most a questionably lucrative hobby.
- jedberg 16y ago
  I'm sure if you ask Jessica why she wrote founders at work, it was more about sharing knowledge than making money.
  - glhaynes 16y ago
    Yes, but that doesn't mean it's not at all about money or that she could have even feasibly done it if she didn't get paid at all. For many people, while writing may not be their only job, they still need that part of their income.
- _delirium 16y ago
  The vast majority of books from academic presses are basically written for free. Even books that sell fairly well from relatively well-known presses like MIT Press make their authors very little money. They do it because publishing your book through MIT Press is a great way to get your ideas out there (and get paid indirectly in academic cred / CV lines). True to some extent with other nonfiction publishers too, e.g. I believe HN user lsc gets "paid" for his Xen book primarily in publicity driving sales to his VPS business, not because the royalties are something to live on.
GHFigs 16y ago
What do you do for a living?
- michaelchisari 16y ago
  I write software and give it away for free, how about you? :P Also, there's a whole culture of free fiction on the internet. It's pretty huge, although most of it is crap, there are some real nuggets of goodness out there. Of course, most of the stuff people charge for is crap, too.
  - sliverstorm 16y ago
    > I write software and give it away for free, how about you? For a living, eh? So do we presume you feed yourself with soup kitchens, and live in a cardboard box on the street?
    - michaelchisari 16y ago
      Open source economic models have been pretty well established, no? My income is through payment for services, not software. My software may be free, but my labor is not. The same is being applied to music, artists like Unwoman regularly write songs and albums on spec and through crowd-sourcing. A friend of mine is a huge fan, and donated money for her to write a song using a Voltairine DeClayre poem. http://www.unwoman.com http://www.unwoman.com
      - danudey 16y ago
        So what you do for a living is provide (consulting? programming?) services related to open-source software, not write free software.
        michaelchisari 16y ago
        I write free software for a living, because the result of my programming services are GPL licensed.

Out of the books I've read in the last 5 years, I believe the only ones that were free were those whose copyright had expired. Yes, there's lots of good free software, but that's most often because the software, once written, scratched an itch for someone. The same phenomenon doesn't really exist with books: nearly nobody writes books for themselves; we write books to share our knowledge, stories, and opinions with others.

michaelchisari 16y ago
The same phenomenon doesn't really exist with books I would argue that a budding hobby novelist culture already exists, and will only grow, just like the free software movement did. Heck, we're already seeing open source movies. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_source_film http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_source_film
InclinedPlane 16y ago
It's almost impossible to make a living writing technical books, worse yet if they're actually good (because the best technical books tend to have a smaller audience since they tend to be targeted at the best developers). Technical books aren't written because they are profitable, they are written out of passion or pride. Edit: the same is true for a great many non-technical books. The average writer has a day job, writing is for most a questionably lucrative hobby.
jedberg 16y ago
I'm sure if you ask Jessica why she wrote founders at work, it was more about sharing knowledge than making money.
- glhaynes 16y ago
  Yes, but that doesn't mean it's not at all about money or that she could have even feasibly done it if she didn't get paid at all. For many people, while writing may not be their only job, they still need that part of their income.
_delirium 16y ago
The vast majority of books from academic presses are basically written for free. Even books that sell fairly well from relatively well-known presses like MIT Press make their authors very little money. They do it because publishing your book through MIT Press is a great way to get your ideas out there (and get paid indirectly in academic cred / CV lines). True to some extent with other nonfiction publishers too, e.g. I believe HN user lsc gets "paid" for his Xen book primarily in publicity driving sales to his VPS business, not because the royalties are something to live on.

GHFigs 16y ago

What do you do for a living?

michaelchisari 16y ago
I write software and give it away for free, how about you? :P Also, there's a whole culture of free fiction on the internet. It's pretty huge, although most of it is crap, there are some real nuggets of goodness out there. Of course, most of the stuff people charge for is crap, too.
- sliverstorm 16y ago
  > I write software and give it away for free, how about you? For a living, eh? So do we presume you feed yourself with soup kitchens, and live in a cardboard box on the street?
  - michaelchisari 16y ago
    Open source economic models have been pretty well established, no? My income is through payment for services, not software. My software may be free, but my labor is not. The same is being applied to music, artists like Unwoman regularly write songs and albums on spec and through crowd-sourcing. A friend of mine is a huge fan, and donated money for her to write a song using a Voltairine DeClayre poem. http://www.unwoman.com http://www.unwoman.com
    - danudey 16y ago
      So what you do for a living is provide (consulting? programming?) services related to open-source software, not write free software.
      - michaelchisari 16y ago
        I write free software for a living, because the result of my programming services are GPL licensed.