On-line Book Publishing
Last updated by Roedy Green roedy@mindprod.com
1996 June 29 07:30
Introduction
Book publishers are having a tough time attracting new Java authors.
Here is a scheme that will draw them irresistably and provide
a new global market for existing titles.
Why Authors Are Reluctant
Four book publishers approached me about writing books on Java.
Initially the idea was very exciting, but quickly soured, why?
- Information is needed now, within hours. Traditional book
publishing has far too long a lead time to provide current information.
- Many people would need just a little of the information in
my book, not the whole thing. They will not be prepared to buy
the whole book.
- Information goes stale. Even the well-respected Java In
a Nutshell now contains errors because the language specification
changed.
- I am an environmentalist. It bothers me to think that trees
would be sacrificed for books that may be read only once or not
at all.
- It is a waste of effort to research information and then restrict
its audience to only affluent North Americans who buy the book.
The Java market is global. I want to reach the widest possible
audience.
- I don't want to slave away for months writing a book that
nobody buys. I want to be sure the idea will work before investing
huge amounts of my time.
The Solution
I propose something radically different from traditional book
publishing -- pay per view on-line books.
Books are written on-line on the Internet. People can come and
view the on-going work in progress, much as they might watch a
sidewalk artist. They can make comments, offer criticism, ask
questions, and make suggestions for future directions of the work.
It becomes a collaborative process.
I have already done a miniature project of this form called
"Roedy's
Java Glossary For Novices"
which has become popular. Any time a new Java-relevant
term appears, within hours there is a definition for it
and a URL reference in the glossary.
How do traditional book publishers fit in?
- Publishers provide the software for collecting pay-per-view
fees from customers.
- Publishers provide editors to polish the more stable parts
of the text.
- Publishers provide artists to produce illustrations.
- Publishers periodically take snapshots of the ongoing work
for mass run paper versions of works that are proving to be popular.
- Publishers provide a print-on-demand factory to print and
bind books from the most recent snapshot of the on-line work.
The customer gets to specify things like binding, size of type,
monchrome or colour, resolution, paper quality, and which chapters
are required. The custom made books are then shipped by snail
mail or FedEx.
- Publishers provide editing tools to authors to make their
jobs easier.
Benefits to Book Publishers
- You don't have to be omniscient. You invest almost nothing
until a work has proved itself popular.
- Your incremental costs per book sold are almost zero.
- You reach a global market with no extra effort.
- You keep selling the same work over and over even if there
are only minor revisions.
- You totally scoop the paper-only publishers.
- Your books benefit from immediate customer feedback. You don't
have to wait for the reviews.
- Onlookers who helped construct a book will help sell it for
you without pay by chatting it up on the Internet.
- People will pay a small fee just to browse a book, or to take
away a few crucial pages.
- It totally automates royalty payments and book orders.
- The technique permits you to put all your existing
books on-line and start collecting pay per view royalties from
people who would otherwise go to libraries to borrow them.
- It lets you compete with all the completely free information
on the Internet.
- If a customer uses a book almost every day, you get continuing
revenue.
Technical Details
Customers need Java and an Internet connection to view your on-line
books. The Java applet acts like super HTML, giving full PostScript
or Acrobat displays, and all the hypertext linking ability. Books
can be decorated with animations and little programs that run
themselves when you click them.
The Java applet ensures people can't read without paying the modest
pay-per-view fee. You may let people come in for 5 minutes at
a time without fees, or whatever other rules turn out to work
optimally.
The Java applet may also control whether the customer is permitted
to keep a permanent copy of what she views.
Summary
If Mike Nichols were to remake The Graduate, instead of
"plastics", "subpenny royalties"
would be whispered into Benjamin's ear.
If you don't surf the Java/Internet wave, it will bury you.
On the other hand, we all should re-read Orwell's 1984 ISBN ??
to see the consequences of failing to maintain an adequate
change log. The other consequences are legal. Without
hard copy, digital signatures, or a permanent change log,
what does slander mean?