Earlier quoted context omitted.
I actually want to get their email. It will allow me to analyze their marketing tactics directly.
You and me both!
Do as they do...
Getting Real book is now free PDF
81–90 of 91 posts
Re: Getting Real book is now free PDF
#82You know you've created a following of customers that love you when you upload a PDF file full of content that was published years ago to the Internet and it hits the top of Hacker News.
PDF file full of content that was published years ago to the Internet I strongly suggest that everyone write down this sentence-fragment and analyze it carefully, because it describes the borked way many people perceive value for things and you should specifically avoid framing things you write for your business such that they align with this value system . For example, for a similar offer, I might have gone with mic…
for example, if you just take the date off stuff you put into WordPress and stop calling them "blog posts"
Man, I hate it when people do this. No offense to you, of course--and I'm sure your advice is backed by good data and provably worth quite a bit of money--but man do I hate it.
I can't tell you how many times I've been looking at a post and tried to find the date, whether to figure out what version of a product someone was likely talking about, or to cross reference against some other post, or to consider the post in light of other events at the time.
I realize why it's done, and I realize that this is another one of those "you are not the typical user" issues, and all that. But it's still frustrating.
Re: Getting Real book is now free PDF
#83Earlier quoted context omitted.
Hmm, a PDF isn't much better than HTML, they should provide some ebook format—how should one read this thing conveniently on his smartphone?
Surely your "smartphone" can read a PDF?
Try this yourself.
Compare the reading experience of a PDF to that of an ePUB or other ebook-specific format.
I've recently started using Moon-Reader on Android. And ... it's pretty awesome. Text is legible, you can read pages without zooming/panning pages, text fluidly fills the page, graphics are supported, navigation is very fluid, controls are, if not "intuitive", very discoverable and stay out of your face.
Plus the whole application is designed for reading multiple books. There's a bookshelf, access to local storage (if you need that), and online ePUB libraries (OPDS format).
I've tried converting from other formats to ePUB via Calibre, and it's a bit hit-or-miss. It seems to be broken currently in Debian/wheezy. Under Ubunto 11.10, I may or may not get something that's actually converted, and the formatting can be really, really broken.
Oh, and in ePUB/Moon-Reader, if you leave the book or app and go back -- you're where you left off (as with a dedicated hardware eBook reader). Unlike every PDF reader I've experience on Android, where you start off again from page 1.
Sorry, but the mobile PDF experience is extremely broken.
Actually, other than printing to paper (or previewing same), the PDF experience is extremely broken. I'd prefer ePUB for pretty much all my documentation these days.
Re: Getting Real book is now free PDF
#84Compelling... Still, I've made it this far, I think I'll just continue to Remain Fake.
Re: Getting Real book is now free PDF
#85The 'enter your e-mail address to get X' approach is spreading! Unsurprising.. because it works like gangbusters :-) In this case, you get an e-mail that says: "Periodically we'll drop you a line if we have something interesting to share." (There's also an unsubscribe link.) They'll get to build up an incredible list with this. I'm happy to see 37signals using this approach as it helps legitimize the technique of bui…
I have a list of email adresses I use just for these fake subscriptions..
I like to use a wildcard @mydomain.com so I can create a new one on the spot and individually track who sends what. If one ever acts up I can just start forwarding that address to the ether. Works well with 1and1's basic hosting plan.
Re: Getting Real book is now free PDF
#86Earlier quoted context omitted.
PDF file full of content that was published years ago to the Internet I strongly suggest that everyone write down this sentence-fragment and analyze it carefully, because it describes the borked way many people perceive value for things and you should specifically avoid framing things you write for your business such that they align with this value system . For example, for a similar offer, I might have gone with mic…
for example, if you just take the date off stuff you put into WordPress and stop calling them "blog posts" Man, I hate it when people do this. No offense to you, of course--and I'm sure your advice is backed by good data and provably worth quite a bit of money--but man do I hate it. I can't tell you how many times I've been looking at a post and tried to find the date, whether to figure out what version of a product…
The point is not writing blog posts at all. He's suggesting that you can continue to use WordPress behind the scenes, as an implementation detail, if that makes you happiest --- but to stop blogging.
Re: Getting Real book is now free PDF
#87Earlier quoted context omitted.
True, but a lot of people bought the PDF for its benefits over the online version (portability, offline, permanency). I already read it but downloaded it to my dropbox anyways for those reasons.
Wget brings me permanency :)
Specifically
wget -m -k -nH Re: Getting Real book is now free PDF
#88Earlier quoted context omitted.
Surely your "smartphone" can read a PDF?
Try this yourself. Compare the reading experience of a PDF to that of an ePUB or other ebook-specific format. I've recently started using Moon-Reader on Android. And ... it's pretty awesome. Text is legible, you can read pages without zooming/panning pages, text fluidly fills the page, graphics are supported, navigation is very fluid, controls are, if not "intuitive", very discoverable and stay out of your face. Plus…
I don't read books on a phone and the PDF viewing experience on an iPad is perfectly fine. Is there another "mobile" that I'm missing?
Re: Getting Real book is now free PDF
#89Earlier quoted context omitted.
You make a good point, but in this case I think it's implicit in their form that you're joining a list of some kind. Otherwise, they would just have a download link.
I think it's on a par with getting an update every now and then from a store you've bought something from. The 'subscription' is rarely disclosed in this case, but there's understood to be a 'relationship'. I had a look through MailChimp's TOS and it could be interpreted a few ways but this sort of 'existing relationship' thing is covered, although it pertains to a purchase rather than a freebie.
I don't want a relationship - I just want a one-night... transaction. If I just want to download the file I'll use a disposable email address just for the principle of the thing, even if it's a company I normally wouldn't mind hearing from.
Re: Getting Real book is now free PDF
#90Earlier quoted context omitted.
Try this yourself. Compare the reading experience of a PDF to that of an ePUB or other ebook-specific format. I've recently started using Moon-Reader on Android. And ... it's pretty awesome. Text is legible, you can read pages without zooming/panning pages, text fluidly fills the page, graphics are supported, navigation is very fluid, controls are, if not "intuitive", very discoverable and stay out of your face. Plus…
I don't read books on a phone and the PDF viewing experience on an iPad is perfectly fine. Is there another "mobile" that I'm missing?
I haven't dropped a dime on an iPad (or other tablet device) yet.
If you'll note my points, there's functionality above and beyond just plain display that a proper eBook app has. From what I've seen, present PDF readers lack these.
Whatever other "mobile" formats come into being, relying on a publication format which presumes a fixed, print-based output (in any of several internationally incompatible formats -- I've just learned of the US letter/A4 hybrid though I've also instantly forgotten its name) ... in a world in which text displays are overwhelmingly both electronic and fluid, strikes me as very backward.