[Catalyst] O'Reilly Radar

[apv]

Just to put the idea out there. Today, it's not even really necessary 
to have a publisher. The main benefits are the distribution and 
automatic market. But, of course, you do give up a huge chunk of the 
money too.

A Catalyst book could be put together by the core developers, typeset 
(by, say, me--it's been years but I've done a couple of published 
textbooks), proofed/reviewed (ask a few of the senior PerlMonks), and 
printed (many places out there now) for just a few dollars a piece and 
sold for $20-$40 through programs that make them widely available like 
Amazon.com's Advantage.

Writing/Making a good book is a lot of work and doing it yourself makes 
it even more work but it's certainly possible.

Also, I think Manning's Perl books (I have three) are as good or even 
better than many of O'Reilly's (I have almost all of them). It's worth 
checking in with them if you haven't.

-Ashley

On Thursday, December 8, 2005, at 11:36  AM, Christopher H. Laco wrote:
> Ovid wrote:
>> --- "Christopher H. Laco" <claco at chrislaco.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Whah? I think O'Reilly has, or is slipping off the deep end
>>> over the last year. I'm not sure if it's a
>>> too-big-for-our-britches syndrome, or just a loss of touch
>>> with the community; the flip flop from publishing quality
>>> books towards publishing what buzzwords the sheep hear and
>>> look for.
>>
>> Since I do a lot of tech reviews for O'Reilly and am fairly familiar
>> with them, I can assure you that they are not "off the deep end".
>> O'Reilly has long had a strong commitment to Perl and the Perl
>> community.  However, they have no choice but to respond to market
>> forces.  A publisher who doesn't consider that is doomed.  Putting
>
> Right, but only after they become a giant gorilla.
> Long ago, the apeal of O'Reilly books [for me] was they they were great
> books from an underdog who would pursue new book topics with the
> recklass abandon that a small publisher could. I don't see that flame
> from them any more.
>
> That doesn't mean it's true of course; just my perception of it all.
>
>> together *quality* technical books is very difficult and O'Reilly has
>> done an admirable job of handling this.
>>
>> They also, if I recall correctly, have a policy of trying not to
>> introduce books which compete with other books thay are currently
>> selling.  This is a *strong* incentive for an author to choose
>> O'Reilly.  Whether or not that applies in this case is not for me to
>> say.
>>
>> Cheers,
>> Ovid
>>
> My curiousity stems from the shy from Catalyst, yet we have things like
> the AxKit book (which I own too).
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