From: ahoward <ahoward@...>
Date: 2003-01-30T01:26:49+09:00
Subject: Re: Ruby Books -- A Question

On 29 Jan 2003, Mark Probert wrote:

> Rubyists,
>
> I have recently had a very interesting discussion with
> a book publisher about Ruby and Ruby books.  One of the
> things that he mentioned is that Ruby books are not
> really selling many copies.
>
> Do any of the authors on this list have any comments on
> the truth of this statement?  Anyone care to speculate
> as to what may be the cause and what we could do?
>
> One comment was that the presence of the Pickaxe book,
> a truely excellent book, at no cost, is having an impact.
>
> Personally, I would like to see more books on Ruby. More
> shelf space can create more mind-share.  -laugh- Or is
> it the other way around?

the pragmatic programmers should have a paypal type link where one could
contribute some $$ when downloading/browsing their most excellent book.  this
type of thing is becoming more common with, for example, artists who post
their music for free download - i see nothing wrong with giving something away
and allowing people to make donations.  now, how that helps publisher i do not
know, but imagine if the pickaxe might have been posted on their (the
publisher's) site, where they could track hits/downloads and split donations
made by users.  my feeling is that this might have added up to a significant
sum.  personally, i used to book online for about a month, felt guilty, bought
it, but have never opened it - i still use only to copy i downloaded.  several
people in my office have done the same, so i think it's quite possible that a
donation type model could work in the open source doccumnetation world.

-a


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