6 ms·

The key takeaway from the article (as far as I'm concerned) is this: > "So if you write a book it should not be because you want to make a lot of money from it

The key takeaway from the article (as far as I'm concerned) is this: > "So if you write a book it should not be because you want to make a lot of money from it but because you have an idea that you want to present to the world. And as an author, you owe it to yourself to get your idea in front of as many people as possible. By putting the book in your web site, you make it available to many people who would not otherwise have access to it: poor people, high school students, people in developing countries, and so on." ... Which is why I give all my books away for free[1][2], and have been doing so for over 10 years. [1] Obligatory spam link to my website: https://rikverse2020.rikweb.org.uk/publications https://rikverse2020.rikweb.org.uk/publications [2] The fact that there's no money in writing poetry is entirely incidental.

radicalbyte 7y ago
Can I just say that I find this incredibly cool and inspiring. Especially how you fulfilled your ambition and got your degree via the OU. I share your ambition but had to put my OU course on hold when I migrated abroad. I hope to one day either finish it or restart. Once the kids are a bit older, perhaps.
qqn 7y ago
Yes! Same takeaway, and the main reason I published my thesis online first, turning it into a video tutorial to boot: https://spmx.ca/trp https://spmx.ca/trp. Specifically I was frustrated at all the sources I had to get behind various kinds of walls, pay- and otherwise: https://spmx.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/00-headaches.png https://spmx.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/00-headaches.png Nina Paley (from Rita Sings the Blues) had a great talk five years ago on how restricting information is a form of cultural cancer that is very relevant here: https://youtube.com/watch?v=XO9FKQAxWZc https://youtube.com/watch?v=XO9FKQAxWZc.
- mjcohen 7y ago
  That's "Sita Sings the Blues". And I highly recommend it.
  - qqn 7y ago
    Thank you : )
specialist 7y ago
I always thought the free to download strategy would become the norm. Bruce Eckel's Thinking in Java was free to download. IIRC, from early drafts thru many editions. Crucially, Eckel built a community. He was great about including reader feedback, errata, discussing finer points, vetting example code. (Today, authors would probably just host on git and accept pull reqs.) As a result, Thinking in Java became significantly better than any other Java book. The easy, safe recommendation. I probably bought 10+ copies over the years, for self and gifts. And it became the default book for workplace study groups.
abnry 7y ago
One of the problems, however, is that charging for a book signals its value. Whenever someone is offering something for free on their website, assuming I have no prior knowledge of the reputation of the author, it is easy to make me think that it is free because no one else wants it.
- insideBig3 7y ago
  This is really sad. I saw a off site PDF was the top result of my book. So I gave up and gave the book away for free. Guess I'll be charging money now.
- umvi 7y ago
  Why not both? Charge for physical/kindle copies on Amazon, give away PDF for free on your personal website.
  - abnry 7y ago
    This is a good middle ground. Alternatively, you can charge an incredibly small amount for the book, like $1. Even asking for donations when you download the book suggests greater worth, in my mind.
  - bor0 7y ago
    This is exactly what I did with my first book. It is available for free on Leanpub, but I charge minimum for Kindle/print using Amazon KDP. I just wanted to get my message across and learn something on the way. It also sells relatively well, but that is a side-effect of my initial intentions :)
- rikroots 7y ago
  > charging for a book signals its value Evidence is mostly anecdotal (not my anecdotes) but the main reasons why people buy a book are: - they know, know of, or have heard good things about the author (author platform) - the book was recommended to them by a friend, or authority they trust - they have to buy it either for themselves (textbooks, reading list, bookclub, etc), or for someone else (gifts) ... Which indicates (to me) that the price point of the book is generally not a high priority on the reader's decision-making tree, especially as the majority of books are cheap (compared to the costs of other forms of entertainment). Smashwords (my main distribution channel) currently tells me I've given away 3,900 books over the past 360 days. Google books generally reports smaller numbers than Smashwords (60-70%). Amazon results are less than 100, but then they force me to price the books on their platform. I'm not disputing your point (that my books are so crap I have no choice but to give them away). But it doesn't take away from the quote I lifted from the article, in my first comment: giving books away for free is a good thing if you're not in the business of writing books for profit.
ysavir 7y ago
Then why write a book? If there's no inherent reason to bind your ideas into a single package (which is done for purposes of selling a single item), how do your ideas benefit from having a book structure? Why not write and format as blog posts instead? Or for poetry, a single entry for each poem? Why use PDFs instead of a format that allows people to bookmark individual pages, and for search engines to index individual chapters?
- mark_l_watson 7y ago
  That is a fair question. My older books, as PDFs are on my web site, and my leanpub books are freely readable online. So, all these books get indexed by search engines and show up in search results. Also, on average I update my eBooks 2 or 3 times so they are hardly static material. There is something very satisfying about spending 3 or 4 months putting one's thoughts into an eBook. I have about 1300 articles on my blog, but I am sure that by word count, my books are much more content than my blog. To be fair, blogs are easy to update old articles - as eBooks are easy to update.
- Alex3917 7y ago
  > Then why write a book? If there's no inherent reason to bind your ideas into a single package (which is done for purposes of selling a single item), how do your ideas benefit from having a book structure? To quote Seth Godin, the book is just the souvenir of the idea. And it builds credibility, so you can leverage it for consulting or to do public speaking.
- MaxGabriel 7y ago
  A book can be helpful for other reasons. For a programming book, beginners especially may benefit from a linear structure that covers a predefined amount of content. For example, you can go from zero rails experience to being able to build a site with Michael Hartl’s rails book. As a reader you can stay focused on the book and roughly assume you can understand Chapter 2 with the information from Chapter 1. Conversely, a common complaint about intermediate-level Haskell is a lot of it is scattered across blog posts, and is difficult for beginners to follow.
zach_garwood 7y ago
"There ain't no money in poetry / That's what sets the poet free." --Guy Clark
- worik 7y ago
  My daughter made a living (pre Covid-19) for five years a s a poet on the streets of a major city....
api 7y ago
It must be nice to have a trust fund. /sarcasm Seriously though... I more and more find these kinds of sentiments to be unintentional classism, not to mention being massively impractical. It's one thing to churn out a book in your spare time, and its quite another to make authorship your main focus. To do that requires a way to make a living off it unless you are already rich.
- rikroots 7y ago
  > It must be nice to have a trust fund. /sarcasm I'll let you know ... if I ever manage to find and marry a trust funded person > It's one thing to churn out a book in your spare time, and its quite another to make authorship your main focus Agreed. I am a hobbyist author. To pay the rent and put food on the table I have to do proper work with wages and stuff.
vl 7y ago
Greenspun follows his own advice and published his book online for free as well: http://www.realworlddivorce.com/ http://www.realworlddivorce.com/

radicalbyte 7y ago

Can I just say that I find this incredibly cool and inspiring. Especially how you fulfilled your ambition and got your degree via the OU. I share your ambition but had to put my OU course on hold when I migrated abroad. I hope to one day either finish it or restart. Once the kids are a bit older, perhaps.

qqn 7y ago

Yes! Same takeaway, and the main reason I published my thesis online first, turning it into a video tutorial to boot: https://spmx.ca/trp https://spmx.ca/trp. Specifically I was frustrated at all the sources I had to get behind various kinds of walls, pay- and otherwise: https://spmx.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/00-headaches.png https://spmx.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/00-headaches.png Nina Paley (from Rita Sings the Blues) had a great talk five years ago on how restricting information is a form of cultural cancer that is very relevant here: https://youtube.com/watch?v=XO9FKQAxWZc https://youtube.com/watch?v=XO9FKQAxWZc.

mjcohen 7y ago
That's "Sita Sings the Blues". And I highly recommend it.
- qqn 7y ago
  Thank you : )

specialist 7y ago

I always thought the free to download strategy would become the norm. Bruce Eckel's Thinking in Java was free to download. IIRC, from early drafts thru many editions. Crucially, Eckel built a community. He was great about including reader feedback, errata, discussing finer points, vetting example code. (Today, authors would probably just host on git and accept pull reqs.) As a result, Thinking in Java became significantly better than any other Java book. The easy, safe recommendation. I probably bought 10+ copies over the years, for self and gifts. And it became the default book for workplace study groups.

abnry 7y ago

One of the problems, however, is that charging for a book signals its value. Whenever someone is offering something for free on their website, assuming I have no prior knowledge of the reputation of the author, it is easy to make me think that it is free because no one else wants it.

insideBig3 7y ago
This is really sad. I saw a off site PDF was the top result of my book. So I gave up and gave the book away for free. Guess I'll be charging money now.
umvi 7y ago
Why not both? Charge for physical/kindle copies on Amazon, give away PDF for free on your personal website.
- abnry 7y ago
  This is a good middle ground. Alternatively, you can charge an incredibly small amount for the book, like $1. Even asking for donations when you download the book suggests greater worth, in my mind.
- bor0 7y ago
  This is exactly what I did with my first book. It is available for free on Leanpub, but I charge minimum for Kindle/print using Amazon KDP. I just wanted to get my message across and learn something on the way. It also sells relatively well, but that is a side-effect of my initial intentions :)
rikroots 7y ago
> charging for a book signals its value Evidence is mostly anecdotal (not my anecdotes) but the main reasons why people buy a book are: - they know, know of, or have heard good things about the author (author platform) - the book was recommended to them by a friend, or authority they trust - they have to buy it either for themselves (textbooks, reading list, bookclub, etc), or for someone else (gifts) ... Which indicates (to me) that the price point of the book is generally not a high priority on the reader's decision-making tree, especially as the majority of books are cheap (compared to the costs of other forms of entertainment). Smashwords (my main distribution channel) currently tells me I've given away 3,900 books over the past 360 days. Google books generally reports smaller numbers than Smashwords (60-70%). Amazon results are less than 100, but then they force me to price the books on their platform. I'm not disputing your point (that my books are so crap I have no choice but to give them away). But it doesn't take away from the quote I lifted from the article, in my first comment: giving books away for free is a good thing if you're not in the business of writing books for profit.

ysavir 7y ago

Then why write a book? If there's no inherent reason to bind your ideas into a single package (which is done for purposes of selling a single item), how do your ideas benefit from having a book structure? Why not write and format as blog posts instead? Or for poetry, a single entry for each poem? Why use PDFs instead of a format that allows people to bookmark individual pages, and for search engines to index individual chapters?

mark_l_watson 7y ago
That is a fair question. My older books, as PDFs are on my web site, and my leanpub books are freely readable online. So, all these books get indexed by search engines and show up in search results. Also, on average I update my eBooks 2 or 3 times so they are hardly static material. There is something very satisfying about spending 3 or 4 months putting one's thoughts into an eBook. I have about 1300 articles on my blog, but I am sure that by word count, my books are much more content than my blog. To be fair, blogs are easy to update old articles - as eBooks are easy to update.
Alex3917 7y ago
> Then why write a book? If there's no inherent reason to bind your ideas into a single package (which is done for purposes of selling a single item), how do your ideas benefit from having a book structure? To quote Seth Godin, the book is just the souvenir of the idea. And it builds credibility, so you can leverage it for consulting or to do public speaking.
MaxGabriel 7y ago
A book can be helpful for other reasons. For a programming book, beginners especially may benefit from a linear structure that covers a predefined amount of content. For example, you can go from zero rails experience to being able to build a site with Michael Hartl’s rails book. As a reader you can stay focused on the book and roughly assume you can understand Chapter 2 with the information from Chapter 1. Conversely, a common complaint about intermediate-level Haskell is a lot of it is scattered across blog posts, and is difficult for beginners to follow.

zach_garwood 7y ago

"There ain't no money in poetry / That's what sets the poet free." --Guy Clark

worik 7y ago
My daughter made a living (pre Covid-19) for five years a s a poet on the streets of a major city....

api 7y ago

It must be nice to have a trust fund. /sarcasm Seriously though... I more and more find these kinds of sentiments to be unintentional classism, not to mention being massively impractical. It's one thing to churn out a book in your spare time, and its quite another to make authorship your main focus. To do that requires a way to make a living off it unless you are already rich.

rikroots 7y ago
> It must be nice to have a trust fund. /sarcasm I'll let you know ... if I ever manage to find and marry a trust funded person > It's one thing to churn out a book in your spare time, and its quite another to make authorship your main focus Agreed. I am a hobbyist author. To pay the rent and put food on the table I have to do proper work with wages and stuff.

vl 7y ago

Greenspun follows his own advice and published his book online for free as well: http://www.realworlddivorce.com/ http://www.realworlddivorce.com/