[Catalyst] O'Reilly Radar

[John Lifsey - Contractor -]

True enough. The hard part about writing a book is the writing of the 
book. Email a ps file to internet publisher XYZ and viola it exists.

apv wrote:
> 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).
>> <smime.p7s>_______________________________________________
>> Catalyst mailing list
>> Catalyst at lists.rawmode.org
>> http://lists.rawmode.org/mailman/listinfo/catalyst
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Catalyst mailing list
> Catalyst at lists.rawmode.org
> http://lists.rawmode.org/mailman/listinfo/catalyst
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: smime.p7s
Type: application/x-pkcs7-signature
Size: 4082 bytes
Desc: S/MIME Cryptographic Signature
Url : http://lists.rawmode.org/pipermail/catalyst/attachments/20051208/7b654807/smime-0001.bin