[erlang-questions] New Erlang EBook

[Fred Hebert]

On 03/04, Loïc Hoguin wrote:
> From what I understand he published his ebook for free because Heroku
> allowed him to work on it on company time and didn't want him to profit from
> it.
> 

This is correct. Part of the manual had been started before in my free
time, but to finish it I got to negotiate and bring it under the Heroku
umbrella. It was a move for the community, so profit from it was out of
the question.

I personally always aim for what I write to be free (as in beer) -- if I
can't find the time, there just will be less content.

Various authors have different priorities, values, choices, schedules,
financial situations, jobs, and family lives. The side-benefits of
writing books (reputation, conference invitations, job offers, meeting
people, braggin rights, etc.) also apply differently depending on where
you are, both geographically and in your life. Some authors will hire
editors, copy-editors, reviewers, etc. while others won't.

It's no surprise they may prefer other routes than free copies, and we
should all be okay with that. They're the ones putting in the work, and
we're the ones benefitting from it.

If Zach wishes to charge money for his book, that's his prerogative.
He's written before and is likely aware of the consequences (Will
readers expense it at work, pirate it at home, borrow it from a library?
Does pricing change the perception people have from the book in terms of
quality?) and able to choose what he's comfortable with.

Regards,
Fred.