Live data from Hacker News

Everything Is Bullshit: A Book by Priceonomics

priceonomics.com

81–90 of 101 posts

Re: Everything Is Bullshit: A Book by Priceonomics

#81
post #29
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can get Calibre for free and convert it there.

Criminal offence if you're stripping the DRM in the process of format shifting.

On the other hand, Calibre is FLOSS and doesn't contact any servers, so there's not much they can do to enforce it.

Re: Everything Is Bullshit: A Book by Priceonomics

#82
post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This model isn't that new. Webcomics and Tumblrs have been putting out coffee table books for years.

Agreed. "Stuff White People Like" is perhaps the earliest one I can think of, but "Shit My Dad Says", Dan Lewis' "Now I Know" and even our own Patio11's "Sell More Software" have all executed this business model, or one close enough to it to count as prior art.

More over, I believe Kevin Kelly's 1000 true fans model is what most people should be aiming for in the future.

http://kk.org/thetechnium/2008/03/1000-true-fans/

Re: Everything Is Bullshit: A Book by Priceonomics

#84

Not purchasable as a print copy in germany. And no, I will not buy a license to read it on my not existing kindle. The joys of Amazon.

I'm pretty sure you can read Kindle books on any smart phone, tablet or computer you might own. That is actually one of the joys of Amazon.

Re: Everything Is Bullshit: A Book by Priceonomics

#86
post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "I'm genuinely confused about the legality about building a business whose sole purpose is to scrape the web, repackage and sell that information" Like Google?

Exactly. I am very much on the side of "If it's publicly available info, it's free to access and repackage" but a lot of companies and judges feel otherwise.

Can you list some specific examples of companies to whom this pertains?

By that I mean companies who think their data shouldn't be publicly available and also fail to place a no-crawl flag in their robots.txt.

Re: Everything Is Bullshit: A Book by Priceonomics

#87

I wouldn't have said it in so much words, but the authors are onto an important new business model: free web stuff and sell books The key point is that content in the form of a book (a unit of meaningful discourse) can be productized and offered in a sidebar. Instead of advertisements that pay micro cents per impression, why not offer a book and make 40% profit on print books and 97% profit on eBooks sold? I'm not su…

This model isn't that new. Webcomics and Tumblrs have been putting out coffee table books for years.

I guess what I find new is the how easy it has become to print stuff these days, e.g. via peecho.com or lulu.com. I'm all for eBooks, but there is something about the printed book that makes me more likely to want to pay for it...

Could you show me examples of Webcomics and/or Webcomics for sale? Are they in print or PDF? I'd be interested to check their pricing models.

Re: Everything Is Bullshit: A Book by Priceonomics

#88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The horror! Someone might encounter a word!

It says parent under your post, but are you really a parent? Could it be that some people have different points of view on language usage around their kids?

Having kids doesn't make you right about something.

Re: Everything Is Bullshit: A Book by Priceonomics

#89

I guess when you can't think of a creative title, just use a profanity. I don't want my 9-year-old to be exposed to this kind of language either on the coffee table or on the tablet, so I won't be buying the book. Could you put out a PG-rated version for those of us prudish and old-fashioned types?

I'd consider you as someone with class and higher moral standards. Never apologise for that. We need more people like you Brian.

Are you replying to me? Who's Brian?

Re: Everything Is Bullshit: A Book by Priceonomics

#90

I wouldn't have said it in so much words, but the authors are onto an important new business model: free web stuff and sell books The key point is that content in the form of a book (a unit of meaningful discourse) can be productized and offered in a sidebar. Instead of advertisements that pay micro cents per impression, why not offer a book and make 40% profit on print books and 97% profit on eBooks sold? I'm not su…

I did that 10 years ago (which is how I got my first book published). The formula you describe has been done countless times for many years already.

Did you self-publish or work with a publisher? What were your margins like in the end?

You're right, this is not a new model per se, but it's becoming more mainstream.

What fascinates me is the power of print-on-demand because it allows anyone to easily get into the book business. If Gutenberg's invention of technology giving people access to books was a revolution, it would make sense that technology that gives people access to printing presses is also going to cause a stir.

(I keep a notebook of links to articles about the book business here spundge.com/notebook/6774/ , in case anyone is interested.)

Post reply on HN