I almost want to pirate this just to see if his "nagging pirates to buy the book" section has been stripped out.
I always think these things are funny, because the only people who tend to see them are paying customers.
David Flanagan (JavaScript Definitive Guide author) on piracy
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Re: David Flanagan (JavaScript Definitive Guide author) on piracy
#12The joie de vivre of Flangan's concise writing is a joy to behold; it's awful to think the modern world can't support that level of craftsmanship.
It may not be piracy, but that the free resources have become good enough, combined with programming becoming easier to lower the bar for support materials like books. i.e. he's been disrupted. For example, Stackoverflow contributes to this.
I think he's right that the size of his markets means dropping the price wouldn't recoup enough via volume. He can easily get work writing tech materials for proprietary languages and systems (in-house and for-sale e.g. at MS or Oracle) - but what a loss for him and us!
uhhhmm... maybe google could "hire" him? Giving him the same freedom as royalties, and just release his work for free (because it grows the web, which helps google) - perhaps in collaboration with O'Reilly, because authors still need great editors. Though Google might want Android in a Nutshell. Google might also be able to target his work more precisely, with their data on searches, and whether people seem to be happy with the public resources they find, and what particular aspects. Data-driven writing...
Re: David Flanagan (JavaScript Definitive Guide author) on piracy
#13For any authors reading - how do royalty rates compare for paper books, international paper editions, ebooks and subscriptions on things like safari? Maybe people are buying books through mediums that make lesser money for the author? Also maybe people are buying more used books ? (I regret to say that I mostly buy used books)
I've written about it at http://beginningruby.org/what-ive-earned-and-learned/ in the past. But the Cliff Notes version is that with Apress I'm meant to get anywhere between 10% and 20% for paper copies (sliding scale depending on # of copies sold) and double the print rate for e-books (so between 20% and 40%). With Pragmatic Programmers I believe the rate is 50%.
Yes. With PragProg it's 50%, but it's 50% profit sharing really. There's no advance up-front, but you split the profits with the publisher. It's pretty awesome because in a way, it's a lot like self-publishing, but you get all the support that comes from a publisher, including copy editors, indexers, and development editors.
So you can win on that deal or lose. If you sell 400 copies, you'd have been better off taking a $10,000 advance. If you sell 4000 copies, you're gonna be much happier with this situation.
Re: David Flanagan (JavaScript Definitive Guide author) on piracy
#14When I find a technical book that I want to buy, the first thing I do is search to see if it's available as a download. I'm happy to pay - I just don't see any need to own a physical book that consists primarily of extremely tangential technical knowledge. I have tons of outdated technical ballast (e.g. "The SQL 2000 Bible", "The IIS 5.0 Pocket Guide") gathering mold in boxes in my basement already.
Re: David Flanagan (JavaScript Definitive Guide author) on piracy
#15Just for independent verification purposes, I tried to find a free copy of this book using his search terms, and didn't come up with anything in a few minutes of clicking after results.
It appears that there is a 5th edition of his Javascript book and a 6th edition of another author's HTML book easily reachable from those terms, but no free electronic copy of a 6th edition Javascript book.
Google will remove links to pirated copies of books, one needs only submit a DMCA request. I doubt that DMCA requests will drive publicity for your book launch like an entitled blog post, though.
Re: David Flanagan (JavaScript Definitive Guide author) on piracy
#16Also posted this in the comments on the site, thought I'd join the discussion here. I appreciate David's perspective on piracy, but I also embrace and understand where Tim O'Reilly is coming from (Far worse to be irrelevant . I think I have the solution. Why not create an entirely new genre of content that offers a greater level of utility than static digital eBooks? Knowledge is getting created faster than it can be…
> I know that may not even cross many author's minds, but if there were messages like "95% of the profits from this eBook will be contributed to the author, so that they will continue producing high value content", I believe more people would be inclined to purchase.
I doubt it. If they don't have the character to buy the book normally, an appeal to the authors needs won't help. You do know it takes more than an author to make a quality book (editor, typesetting, etc).
Re: David Flanagan (JavaScript Definitive Guide author) on piracy
#17I wish people would stop calling this sort of thing "piracy". Proper piracy -robbery, abduction and so forth on the high seas - is a continuing problem. This is hardly in the same league. May I suggest using "theft" instead, which at least is more or less accurate.
Re: David Flanagan (JavaScript Definitive Guide author) on piracy
#18I do not know whether or to what extent piracy is responsible for my declining income. I suspect that the internet and the transition from print books to ebooks has more to do with it than piracy does. But I also suspect that piracy has a non-trivial impact, too.
There's also the recession, other legal free sources online (which he mentions later), and possibly more competition in his publishing field.
I do feel bad for people whose livelihoods get thrown out of whack and are forced into an uncomfortable position, but it is to be expected with technological advances and is actually happening all over the place (tech-related or not). I wouldn't want to be a teacher in the US these days, either. Take nothing for granted. Don't count on anyone looking out for you, no job is a promise. You basically are on your own in our modern economy.
Re: David Flanagan (JavaScript Definitive Guide author) on piracy
#19I wish people would stop calling this sort of thing "piracy". Proper piracy -robbery, abduction and so forth on the high seas - is a continuing problem. This is hardly in the same league. May I suggest using "theft" instead, which at least is more or less accurate.
general definition of theft (not legal): the dishonest taking of property belonging to another person with the intention of depriving the owner permanently of its possession.
When I go to Youtube and listen to an extremely good song by Twilightning or Edguy, what am I taking from the band? Due to a few different reasons (money, I don't have to) I have never run across anything I will pay money to listen to or watch, books being a small exception since I like well made hardcovers a la Practical Common Lisp. I will, however, refer others to the good movies or music I stumble upon.
Unlike many proponents of torrents, I heavily disagree that all music should be free; that simply is not sustainable in my opinion. Not enough people will then go out of their way to pay for it and I have no idea how well bands do when it comes to concerts/merchandise. I do think that free music benefits bands but that overall benefit increases exponentially with how hard it is to obtain it, because those of us who would never have listened to a band's music before the internet (finding obscure bands via radio is nigh impossible) will often refer them to friends, while the rest who are willing to pay take the easier route - this is important - and buy music.
Currently, torrents, youtube (amusingly, even the official youtube versions are often worse to listen to due to censorship - VEVO is a good example) and other avenues are the better choice for anyone with loose morals, after taking into account risk and ease of access.
tl;dr those of you who will pay for music should subsidize the rest of us.
Re: David Flanagan (JavaScript Definitive Guide author) on piracy
#20Also posted this in the comments on the site, thought I'd join the discussion here. I appreciate David's perspective on piracy, but I also embrace and understand where Tim O'Reilly is coming from (Far worse to be irrelevant . I think I have the solution. Why not create an entirely new genre of content that offers a greater level of utility than static digital eBooks? Knowledge is getting created faster than it can be…
> I know that may not even cross many author's minds, but if there were messages like "95% of the profits from this eBook will be contributed to the author, so that they will continue producing high value content", I believe more people would be inclined to purchase. I doubt it. If they don't have the character to buy the book normally, an appeal to the authors needs won't help. You do know it takes more than an auth…
Type setting is trivial with LaTeX, the only real value publishers add is supply chain/distribution for physical media, editors, and promotion. The only part of that an online author really needs is an editor. I wonder if the move towards ebooks will result in skilled editors becoming freelancers who work on contract for authors directly? Does anyone have any evidence this is already happening?