[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
>
> On 22 Apr, Jon Bloom wrote:
>
> > One reason why I want to see the size (and thus the cost and the
> > financial risk) not grow *too* large is because on this nonexclusivity.
> > Whatever the market for this document may be, clearly only a fraction of
> > it lies in physical media.
>
> I almost can't believe you said that :)
>
> O'Reilly and Associated have been actively printing GPL'd Linux works
> such as the Network Administrators Guide, System Administrators Guide
> etc.
How many copies of those books (each of which is substantially less than
500 pages, BTW) have been sold? Now, how many electronic copies have
been distributed?
You also have to remember that the market for almost any amateur radio
publication is small, and the more narrowly focussed the publication,
the smaller the market. If the publication is both volatile and
expensive, the market contracts yet again.
> Could I suggest to you that you will find that the *larger* the book,
> the *lower* the risk for people wishing to publish it in physical
> medium. Very few people are happy to read large tomes electronically.
I'll be sure to mention that to the folks who are buying our Handbook
and Antenna Book CD-ROMs. :-) (Those books are 700-800 pages or so.)
People like electronic publications for searchability, portability and
space saving. (And they are reluctant to pay for something that they
already have for free.) The per-unit risk on larger publications is
greater, and the marketability really isn't. As the price rises, so does
the reluctance to purchase.
> A
> publisher such as the ARRL, or the RSGB would have a virtual monopoly
> on the market if they were prepared to back such a book.
In terms of sales, yes. (Assuming ORA didn't decide to publish it too,
of course.) But a free electronic copy is going to bite into the market
no matter how you slice it. And it's a small market to begin with.
Anyway, the discussion is moot until someone shows that there are 500
pages of material in the offing. I haven't seen anything yet that leads
me to think that's the case. 500 pages is a lot of writing! It's
substantially longer than the NAG or install guide and about 5 times the
length of the SAG.
Again, I'm not rejecting the idea of a larger book out-of-hand. Show me
the detailed plan for the book and I'll get you a definite answer.
If you can get ORA to publish it instead, that's okay, too. The point of
the exercise is to get it published, right?
Jon
--
Jon Bloom, KE3Z
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Electronic Publications Manager
(CD-ROM publications, software products and Web site)
