[erlang-questions] on writing [was: ANN: Designing for Scalability with Erlang/OTP by O'Reilly]

Tue Jul 8 21:55:18 CEST 2014

On Tue, Jul 8, 2014 at 8:54 PM, Miles Fidelman <mfidelman@REDACTED>
wrote:

> Yeah... agree on that.  In a previous life, I wrote two books:
>
> First was on implementing Internet services in libraries (kind of dates
> me, don't it :-).  Started out as the final report on a funded project,
> ended up as a book for the American Library Association Press.  Phenomenal
> experience - an advance, an incredible editor, and it ended up as a book
> club selection (who knew - the ALA has a book club for their members - a
> copy ended up in every mid- and large- library in the country).  I ended up
> making money on the book (not a lot, but worth the effort).
>
> Second was on municipal networks.  Started out as a very high-priced
> handbook, sold by Government Technology Press - something like the third
> book they published.  Intent was to co-market with their weekly trade rag,
> conferences and seminars. Horrible experience:  Horrible editor (kept
> making changes that changed the meaning of things - had to fight to fix
> things), then they decided they didn't want to publish books after all -
> shut down the book division.  Then again, I ended up with a few hundred
> remainders, and camera-ready originals -- ended up selling a bunch at $125
> each (instead of the original $200+) through our web site, and bundling
> them with a dozen seminars given over a year-long period.  Made out very
> well, particularly on the seminars and some consulting gigs that resulted
> from the seminars.
>
> Next book will definitely be self-published - not sure if will be open
> source, though.
>

So how will you find a good editor?

Your book one had "a Phenomenal Editor" and book two a "Horrible editor"

I guess I would self-publish if I could find a phenomenal editor, and a
phenomenal proof reader and marketer but if I could do all these
things I guess I'd just start a publishing company.

Just "writing the damn text" is only a part of the story ...

/Joe

>
> Definitely a "strange thing, books."
>

Very

>
> Cheers,
>
> Miles
>
> Lee Sylvester wrote:
>
>> :-) That’s why I wouldn’t write a book for O’Reilly.  Wrox were bad
>> enough.  I vowed my next book would be open source material.  No one writes
>> a book for money, as anyone who’s written a book will know it’s not worth
>> it from the second book onward and if you wrote a second book, you would be
>> of a mind where the money wasn’t important.
>>
>> Strange thing, books.
>>
>> Lee
>>
>>
>> On 8 Jul 2014, at 19:36, Francesco Cesarini <francesco@REDACTED
>> com> wrote:
>>
>>  Alas, that is how O'Reilly price their books. Having a high price and
>>> then discounting is not the approach I would pick. That is why discount
>>> codes are being handed out on public mailing lists and social media. I
>>> recommend you use them (Read, no one pays full price for an O'Reilly book).
>>> As an unedited book, the cost is for the final book which we hope will
>>> complement what is already out there. It is a different approach to OTP in
>>> action. One I've been using for 15 years when teaching OTP.
>>>
>>> /F
>>>
>>> On 08/07/2014 19:14, Lee Sylvester wrote:
>>>
>>>> Wow, $50?  Yeah, that is steep.  If this were some black arts compiler
>>>> book or video encoding bible, then that would be something else.  But a
>>>> book on Erlang/OTP just doesn’t fall into that bracket…
>>>>
>>>> I may wait til it falls in the bargain bucket ;-)
>>>>
>>>> Lee
>>>>
>>>>   On 8 Jul 2014, at 19:08, Miles Fidelman <mfidelman@REDACTED>
>>>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>  On 8 Jul 2014, at 16:05, Francesco Cesarini <
>>>>> francesco@REDACTED> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> Hi all,
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> a shameless plug. Steve Vinoski and I are working on a book focused
>>>>>>> on distributed, scalable systems with OTP. It is available from O'Reilly as
>>>>>>> an Early Release from their website. The first eight chapters we released
>>>>>>> cover (in great detail) all other behaviours. We started writing, and
>>>>>>> before we knew it, we had several hundred pages on behaviours alone. Last
>>>>>>> week, two new chapters, including the Introduction & Special processes and
>>>>>>> Implementing your own behaviours were released. We are now focusing on
>>>>>>> release handling (hgg), code upgrade and architectural patterns.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> What is available is an unedited draft, with new chapters and
>>>>>>> improvements published as they become available. You can find more info
>>>>>>> here:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> http://shop.oreilly.com/product/0636920024149.do?
>>>>>>> intcmp=il-prog-books-videos-product-intsrch_erlang_ct
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> If you use discount code authd, you will get 50% off the Early
>>>>>>> Release, and 40% on pre-orders of the the printed copy.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Looking forward to your feedback,
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>  Not for nothing, but $50 for the undedited work-in-progress seems a
>>>>> bit steep (and yes, I saw the discount code).  I also note that "rough
>>>>> cuts" aren't included in my Safari subscription.
>>>>>
>>>>> Usual practice that I've seen is for works-in-progress to be free,
>>>>> with tools that support comments from early readers.
>>>>>
>>>>> Sounds interesting - but, from the TOC (all that's available without
>>>>> paying), it sure looks like it covers the same ground as "Erlang and OTP in
>>>>> Action."
>>>>>
>>>>> Miles Fidelman
>>>>>
>>>>> --
>>>>> In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice.
>>>>> In practice, there is.   .... Yogi Berra
>>>>>
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>> erlang-questions mailing list
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>>>>> http://erlang.org/mailman/listinfo/erlang-questions
>>>>>
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>>>
>>>
>
> --
> In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice.
> In practice, there is.   .... Yogi Berra
>
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