So I have a crazy idea for something that I want to do for my book – am I off the deep end here?
In my experience, eBooks are highly pirated. If someone wants to get a free copy of the book it’s trivial to make that happen. (My last book was pirated on Bitorrent within a couple days of its release and you could trivially find copies on Google.)
1/3 of the book (possibly more, depending on page count) will be on dealing with cross browser issues. There’s a reason why no book really tries to tackle this: It’s a highly volatile subject, shifting a couple times a year. Something moving that quickly demands that there be a web site with the content on it being updated frequently.
So here’s the problem: I’m not terribly excited by the prospect of undercutting book sales by having the book be completely free online, nor do I want to succumb to rampant piracy. My proposal is that, to accompany the book, there be a subscription site that completely replaces any sort of ebook/early-access program.
This site would be both an early access program and an eBook rolled into one – but completely designed to encourage and produce more book sales. Here’s sort of how I’d imagine it working:
Anyone who purchases a book (Amazon, in stores, etc.) and sends in a picture of themselves with it gets free access to the site.
Anyone can purchase access to the site, only, for a reduced cost (say, if the book was $40, then the site-only could be $20) and upgrade at any future time (+$20) and get a copy of the book.
Users could purchase access to the site immediately and become part of the editorial process, helping to sculpt the book as it grows. This has been successfully implemented before (the best example being the Django book) and I would like to continue it here.
Lots of new, original, content is released to complement the book. This would include material that wasn’t completely appropriate for immediate inclusion (such as working with text ranges or building a WYSIWYG editor) but are valuable nonetheless. Additionally, community-centric parts like a forum could be included for additional discussion.
Occasionally free bits are released (chapter parts, code, etc.) to build excitement and interest for the site and book.
I think this would be really interesting for a couple reasons:
- It builds an exclusive, and enthusiastic, community around the book.
- It provides an up-to-date resource without giving away the entire book.
- It allows people to participate in the early access editorial/feedback process from an early stage without – again – giving away everything.
- It provides exclusive content and community that would make it more lucrative to would-be-pirates.
- It encourages people to purchase more copies of the book (both through the upgrade process and through buzz/community).
Now, just in case you’re worried, there would be an offline copy of the book that you could download. The significant difference from a traditional PDF is that this would be HTML and JavaScript (allowing you to run examples, etc. – all the stuff that you can’t do with a static PDF).
I should emphasize that this won’t stop piracy – nor do I care if it is stopped (I’m not in a position to be throwing down life lessons) – however I want to try my best to make it as lucrative as possible to have a dynamic version of the site that you can use to completely complement the book-reading experience – and reward those who choose to ‘upgrade’ the physical version of the book, in the end.
I think this particular model is quite interesting and has a lot of potential – thoughts?
Ryan (January 18, 2008 at 1:52 am)
This sounds a lot like how the Pragmatic Programmers handle many of their books. They allow you to buy the PDF or the PDF and the book. One of their books had a discussion group for posting comments per chapter. It was pretty cool.
I think it’s a great idea to break out of the traditional publishing model, especially for a topic like programming, which is a highly interactive learning experience.
Tim Connor (January 18, 2008 at 2:00 am)
Sounds like a great experiment, at the least, John, and it’s a nothing to lose situation anyways. I definitely shy away, and have actually returned, books that piss me off on draconian handling of ebooks (like using Sony’s fubarred approac), whereas I am a huge fan of the Pragmatic approach, and continue to buy more if their books.
Alex Payne (January 18, 2008 at 2:26 am)
I love this idea. If I could both contribute to a community around the book (like what Django has done) and still get an on-demand PDF (like the Pragmatic Programmers offer), it’s an instant no-brainer sale for me. Worth handily $20 – $30 in my estimation. Go for it!
Remy Sharp (January 18, 2008 at 2:27 am)
Sounds good. So long as buying the book gets us access to the site – as you’ve said – it sounds perfect.
As much as PDFs are great, I’ve always felt that code examples, particularly web ones work so much better as HTML – so your proposal sounds great.
ionutz (January 18, 2008 at 2:33 am)
it’s a great idea but sometimes you don’t have internet access but you want to read (when you travel, for example)
Christian Jul Jensen (January 18, 2008 at 2:55 am)
John, I like your approach. I think the main point of fighting illegal copying (honestly I found “piracy” to be a pretty aggressive term) is to offer added value. We all know there is no way to keep people from copying digital content, so I think this approach makes a lot of sense.
And I am looking forward to get access to your site :)
Gen Kanai (January 18, 2008 at 3:18 am)
John, not sure if you saw it but Kevin Kelley recently released his “True Films” guide to documentary films as an ad-supported PDF.
http://kk.org/cooltools/archives/002538.php
You may want to take a look at that model?
Cloudream (January 18, 2008 at 4:58 am)
Will this book or the site try to solve most javascript problems?like cross-browser dom , *perfect* wysiwyg editor(better than fckeditor/tinymce/xinha?) , fastest selector?
Make it easy, just tag the book as a stable version of the contents, for people who want to read offline(when they are on a plane or bed.)
:)
Do you need a volunteer for chinese translation ? ;)
Eduardo (January 18, 2008 at 6:28 am)
Great idea…
Collaboration brings more content and nice ideas.
if you need help with portuguese translation, please let me know.
Alexander Gyoshev (January 18, 2008 at 7:30 am)
I would like to write some random thoghts that popped up while I was reading the post… please excuse me if they aren’t structured enough.
> Anyone who purchases a book (Amazon, in stores, etc.) and sends in a picture of themselves with it gets free access to the site.
Anyone could make a picture of themselves and the book that they borrowed from a friend, getting access to the site; furthermore, if you don’t do a simple check, they could get the book for themselves for 20 bucks.
> Now, just in case you’re worried, there would be an offline copy of the book that you could download.
Duh, why not simply distribute it by bittorrents? Each and every time it gets updated?
Let me get it straight; the whole idea sounds great (book + open discussion) as long as you don’t start to get greedy. I’d love to make a donation for a free book that educates the community and engages readers in an open discussion.
Gosh, you work for Mozilla, you write one of the best javascript libraries in the world and offer it completely for free, you have a lot of knowledge that could help others and you believe in such a concept as getting paid accordingly for the effort you throw at the community?
Come on, John. I know you can do better…
To make some things clear: I would buy the book, plus the subscribtion, maybe even at a higher price. This is _not_ the point. You could trash the whole idea of making the book in any paper-based medium and stick only to the site – it’s more environmentally friendly to print out only the chapters you need to read. Again, this is _not_ the point. Just don’t prevent people from learning from you; I think that the criticism you’ll receive will also help _you_ greatly.
All the best & no hard feelings,
Alex
Kevin Dangoor (January 18, 2008 at 8:08 am)
If the publisher can do it, you’d be better off with the book having a serial number printed or applied as a sticker in the book, rather than having people send you photos… if they have to send you a photo, you have to manually activate their account. And, of course, as pointed out by Alex, they can always just take a picture with someone else’s book.
That said, I think the idea is a good one. If you don’t care about being in brick and mortar bookstores, there are some really good options for self-publishing now that will allow you to keep a much bigger share of the book sales than a traditional publishing arrangement would. The community-driven site you’re talking about, plus your own blog, other sites and reputation would likely be all the publicity you need to sell copies.
Stephen Howard (January 18, 2008 at 9:59 am)
Hi John,
I think you have some good ideas on adding value to your book’s digital life. I’d strongly suggest you look into how Seth Godin handles his book publishing, as he seems to have built an incredibly strong personal brand around his writing, which he usually makes available both electronically and in paper format.
Jim Priest (January 18, 2008 at 10:09 am)
I like the idea of an online only community around a book! I rarely buy technical books and find myself after reading them once rarely picking them up again and instead hitting the web for fresher content. I’m also not a huge fan of PDFs for the same reason – I find them difficult to read/scan through and again the content quickly becomes out of date.
A site where the book was kept up to date by the author and or the community would be awesome. Maybe some form of a wiki?
Adam (January 18, 2008 at 11:44 am)
I think it would be best to have an online resource only with free bits on the face of it – if they want access to other parts of the site then pay 10$ a year for subscription, if the resource is good enough then i would definitely subscribe – the user can decide to print whatever articles/topics they like. No need for the book.
Marc (January 18, 2008 at 12:50 pm)
Sounds great. Would the URL be eJohnFanboys.org? If so I’m in.
Jonathan (January 18, 2008 at 1:29 pm)
I think that is a great idea, it’d be worth every cent!
timothy (January 18, 2008 at 1:40 pm)
I’m far too lazy to send a photo.
Personally, I wouldn’t worry about the piracy. It happens. You can’t stop it. Don’t get tricky. Just spend your time making a great book and the book will sell.
Jake (January 18, 2008 at 2:25 pm)
Like the idea, there needs to be some kind informed, UP-TO-DATE resource for all of the little JavaScript quirks and best practices. You’ve got my vote and money!
Patrick McElhaney (January 18, 2008 at 2:27 pm)
I think you should disconnect the web site and book ideas. If want to write a book, write a book. Write something that people will have reason to sit down and read cover to cover. Leave out the parts that will be irrelevant in five years.
If you want a web site, you should build it like so:
– easy to use
– always up to date and relevant
– most current information foremost
– notify users when new content is added
– fully searchable
– you own the content, but let anyone add comments easily
– short, easy to consume bits of content
– code snippets / working examples / downloads embedded in the content
– the full site should be indexable by search engines
– quote and link to other relevant content on the web
In other words, just keep posting to this blog. Consider supporting it with ads. If you want a subscription model, look into http://daringfireball.net/members/info
Brennan Stehling (January 18, 2008 at 3:55 pm)
Great idea! So much will change in the next 2 years. The forums and updated content on the “members only” website will end up being more valuable than the book. (but does it come with a jacket?)
What I would suggest is releasing some of the private content after a delay period (6 months) to get the information out there and spread awareness of the website. (Public content could be ad supported.) There will be plenty of people who are willing to pay for more timely access to useful info. I have an account with the Safari Bookshelf but most of those books are lower value or old. You approach is much better.
I would also get content submissions from the likes of Dean Edwards and others like him. There is no reason most people would not be willing to pay $5 monthly for access to the website. I would even have plans for corporate access with an annual fee with a guaranteed 48 turnaround on support questions in the forum. You could easily charge $1000 per year for that.
0271172D^2 (January 18, 2008 at 5:59 pm)
I am confused … what´s the point?
You are worried about your money, ripping your book or something else?
If your first book was not pirated, I never would have bought it.
I found it on an torrent tracker read it and bought it @ amazon.
//*paucity of information here in Germany … and double price*//
‘Anyone who purchases a book (Amazon, in stores, etc.) and sends in a picture of themselves with it gets free access to the site.’
What the frack?
Write an exelent book, set up an exelent site for the book with a forum, Q&A, code, updates and sample-downloads for free and you will make your money …. pushing your name/brand
If you´re blocked and need some ego-pushing, think about your knowlwdge …. and not about some impossible management implementations …
Write a good book .. I believe in you …
Ward (January 18, 2008 at 9:50 pm)
I’m in, especially for the “access to the site while the book is being written and input in regards to the book’s content” feature.
W
Pennies (January 19, 2008 at 1:47 am)
Are you low on money, John?
Setup a donation bin for jQuery, I’d happily donate a decent amount for all the convenience you have given me.
Personally I, as you say, “pirate” all the newest tech books and buy all the ones that I consider worth their writing (generally about 1/4th of them) – not because I feel bad about ripping off the author but because having a printed book is just darn convenient. Convenience is the key here. Living in a Manhattan apartment, I only have space for so many books.
Also, dealing with some of the level of JavaScript you write about – there’s only a limited audience that wants them and understands them. I can’t remember how many copies of CSS Mastery and DOM Scripting I have purchased for friends. But I’ve never done the same with Pro JavaScript Techniques because my friends simply wouldn’t be able to comprehend it. That’s what you get for being so awesome. We know who you are – and history will, too. If you’re in it for the money, write a simple book about DOM Scripting or JavaScript basics – that would get you the largest audience. If you’re in it for the love and recognition though, stop these shenanigans and repeat to yourself, I’m John m***** f****** Resig. I don’t need money. I am money.
[Someone may respond to this post that you’re human and you need to eat, too, but there’s other ways then books. I’ve been reading many blogs from authors who write these books and they all say that they don’t pay squat. It’s the conferences and speaking engagements that pay, plus the fact that you can get a job practically anywhere. I know that my company would gladly pay at least 100k to have you.]
Alexander Gyoshev (January 19, 2008 at 5:52 am)
@Pennies: Er… there _is_ a donation “bin” for jQuery…
I am really sorry that I set the direction for such series of flame-replies. That wasn’t my intention at all.
Actually, Patrick McElhaney makes a great point that I personally would consider if I were to publish knowledge in some form – a physical book could never achieve the up-to-date-ness of a web resource, and Javascript is a slippy surface – not to mention the cross-browser compatibility that is likely to change every 1-2 years.
Whatever you decide, John, it would reach and help the community – the question is to what extent. I am quite sure that most (if not all) readers of this blog will follow you.
Pennies (January 19, 2008 at 1:19 pm)
I put my money where my mouth is and donated. That goes directly to you John! Thanks for sharing all your great work (free and non-free). Like Alex said, whatever you do it’s not like we won’t get on board. We just like to voice our concerns.
Marijn Haverbeke (January 21, 2008 at 4:32 pm)
For my own JS book I just went the free-only route at first, and am only now considering a paper version. You mention wanting to make example runnable on-site in your web-version of the book — you are welcome to lift the infrastructure for doing that (or just borrow some ideas) from the site linked above. The code there is a bit of a mess, but you can blame browser vendors for that, heh.
Thijs (January 25, 2008 at 9:36 am)
E-books are highly pirated, that’s true and it’s part of the game. There’s however no correlation found between the number of books pirated and decrease in number of books sold. It can work the other way around, when pirated copies stimulate book sales:
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/01/25/1335206
Brad (January 25, 2008 at 4:26 pm)
I’m also in agreement that trying to combine the idea of a book along with an ever-evolving website isn’t the right approach. The book would soon become outdated by the website, and then when you want to work on a different book, the website may become outdated by the new book, and the community would eventually die off.
David Christian Liedle (January 26, 2008 at 3:55 am)
John,
You could simply release the online version in standards-compliant XHTML: Free to 5% of us, and completely unrecognized to the rest of the world. ;]
David:.
Chihung, Song (January 29, 2008 at 2:55 am)
John, take a look at http://www.paragraphr.com
In Paragraphr, you can make something like django book with ease. :)