The Publishing Industry Takes Another Hit

re: The Publishing Industry Takes Another Hit

Evan — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 20:42:09 GMT

I think at some point, the community will have to lift itself above the "Learn XX in 24 hours" books. Those books are pretty easily supplanted by information found freely on the web (as you mentioned).

What seems to be missing to me are more of the top-end works aimed at upper mid to senior level people. The guys that have the product memorized, but still have a big gap between what they know and the theory behind it. I've found in my studies, that every inch I close between my understanding and the theory behind it makes me a much better developer (I make much better decisions, and my gut instincts seem to work better). It's definitely not for the beginner though.

That being said, I now look at the age of the book as a key indicator for its value. If the book is less than 3 years old, it's either unproven stuff or only good for the current point release of the product it was written about.

Realizing the high-end books sell far fewer copies at release (due to the jr/mid/sr mix of the market), but that the lifetime of the book is much greater (years instead of months), I've wondered if we would ever start seeing a shift. It's often hard to find the high-end stuff, even in the blogosphere.

Or at least that's my conspiracy theory.. :-)

re: The Publishing Industry Takes Another Hit

Chuck Boyce — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 15:57:04 GMT

The internet and the blogosphere in particular are certainly doing a number on the book publishing industry. .Net Rocks interviewed Don Box last year and they talked about this. I highly recommend you give it a listen:

http://www.dotnetrocks.com/default.aspx?showNum=249

The music industry is also being devastated:

http://gigaom.com/2008/04/13/the-incredibly-shrinking-music-industry-emi-shutting-down-some-asian-offices/

(h/t gigaom)

These are definitely times of change. No idea what's on the other end of the rabbit hole.

Chuck

http://chucktv.ning.com

re: The Publishing Industry Takes Another Hit

Ian Macintosh — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 16:35:47 GMT

Take some of these books I bought recently.

Understanding the Linux Kernel (3rd Edition)

You're not going to find a concise, digested and study capable equivalent anywhere on the net.

Automating Unix and Linux Administration

Where on the net will you find focused and structured content like this?

Linux iptables pocket reference

For when you can't get the net, when you're stuck in some awkward spot trying to find a quick solution or quick answer. Pocket references of any type can be damn handy.

Classic Shell Scripting

Really a different perspective on automation administration, and the same comment applies here.

In summary, I seem to be paying the author to sift, test and organise information on my behalf. Sure, everything in these books is freely available on the net, but at what cost in time to locate? Wade through all those Google pages that are written in half English, with half described problems and variously suggested solutions. It takes a lot of time to wade through those.

So, for the sake of a few bucks, I buy good books that contain ordered, sifted, tested and focused information.

So for me at least, I think the Internet isn't going to kill the publishing industry just yet.

Another book I bought, though it was for my Dad, was "The Devils Dictionary" by Ambrose Bierce. He doesn't get the daily anecdote from the ubiquitous 'fortune' program like I do, so this sort of purchase doesn't seem to be in danger either. And that is one hell of a funny book. In small doses :-)

Regards,

Ian

re: The Publishing Industry Takes Another Hit

Chuck Boyce — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 17:06:31 GMT

Hi Ian,

People will always produce great works regardless of profit incentive.

check out this story for an interesting read:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/04/AR2007040401721.html

...however, the INDUSTRY of book publishing is heading into "a world of pain" to quote Walter Sobchak.

You simply can't lose THAT many customers and still be the same thing after the loss. Yes, people will always write good books for a lot of reasons: pride, resume, altruism, good will. Very few people will have the same chance they had before the internet to have one of those reasons be a profit incentive.

Chuck

re: The Publishing Industry Takes Another Hit

AaronBertrand — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 17:33:40 GMT

Ian, I used to do a lot of support work in the ASP space. Do you know how many people would spend two weeks building an upload or mail control on their own, including waiting time for us to help them with syntax, rather than shell out $99 on a pre-built control with all (or more than) the functionality they needed, documentation, support, an existing user base, etc.?

People are cheap, and often do not consider their own time (never mind the time of people like me, helping them for free) as having monetary value.

These are the types of customers that used to buy books, but now don't have to. Do I still buy books? Absolutely, for the reasons that you mention (and others). But are you and I enough to keep all technical publishers alive? Doubtful.

re: The Publishing Industry Takes Another Hit

steve dassin — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 23:54:19 GMT

Evan says:

>I've found in my studies, that every inch I close between my >understanding and the theory behind it makes me a much better >developer

Have you considered that whatever is behind a lot of stuff you do is

pretty thin! :)

Aarons insight:

>Do you know how many people would spend two weeks building an upload >or mail control on their own, including waiting time for us to help >them with syntax, rather than shell out $99 on a pre-built control >with all (or more than) the functionality they needed, documentation, >support, an existing user base, etc.? People are cheap...

True, but they're encouraged to do so! :( :)