From: ptkwt@...1.aracnet.com (Phil Tomson) Date: 2003-01-30T08:00:25+09:00 Subject: Re: Ruby Books -- A Question In article , ahoward wrote: >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. > Interesting idea... Personally, I can't read a book online. I may use the online Pickaxe for looking up things, but I'm not gonna sit down and read it for any amount of time greater than a couple of minutes. I think a lot of people start out using the online version and then go out and buy the dead-tree version. Phil -- "Or perhaps the truth is less interesting than the facts?" Amy Weiss (accusing theregister.co.uk of engaging in 'tabloid journalism') Senior VP, Communications Recording Industry Association of America