This post originated from an RSS feed registered with Ruby Buzz
by James Britt.
Original Post: Open-source Publishing Model
Feed Title: James Britt: Ruby Development
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Feed Description: James Britt: Playing with better toys
Dave Thomas and David Heinemeier Hansson are preparing a book abut Rails. Originally to be due in early July, that date appears to have slipped. Unsurprisingly, those involved are unhappy with this, and are considering ways to get the content out earlier.
If I understand the proposed plan , a electronic beta version of the book will be sold to those willing to accept a work that almost certainly has typos, missing sections, and incorrect information which, judging by the gushing on David's blog, there are plenty). When the final, polished, and corrected book is ready, those who purchased the beta version would then get a copy of the final version.
Interesting idea. But here's a part of the pep talk that threw me:
Let's blaze the trail with this one. Show publishers that we want the quality writers that they all have lured in to start delivering according to the open source model.
I not sure where the trailblazing is here, as numerous books have gone through public beta phases. Nor do I to get the reference to "the open source model." Perhaps what makes this plan different is that, whereas the copy for, say Practical Common Lisp has been available completely free on-line, both during its development and after publication, the Rails book will only be available for purchase, beta or not.
I tend to bridle at references to any form of publication as "open source", seeing how all books come with open source; it's called "text." But given the two examples, which one seems more in line with general notions associated with "the open source model"?
It's great to try different ways to write and publish time-sensitive technical content, to adopt an early-access program for one's publishing business, and I readily understand a reluctance to put the book on-line for free (though there are those who swear by it). And, yeah, I know: open source != free. But it's an odd to invoke the aura of "open source" when there are so many truly open books.
There are a number of other Rails books due out over the summer, and the tech book market tends to follow an unfortunate "winner takes all" sales model. I'm sure there will be those who buy each and every Rails book, but it's unlikely that each book will be different enough to justify this. If I were to pick one book, I would go with Dave & David's; it's hard to imagine that the guy who wrote Programming Ruby and the guy who started Rails would not produce the most complete, authoritative work.
But if it's not one of the first to hit the stores, or be available in some form or another, then people are going to snarf up someone else's book. And despite the expected quality, that will hurt sales.
The best way to ensure that the book has a minimum of errors and omissions would be to make a frequently updated pre-release version available, on-line, for free, to all. The best way to ward off sales lost to other, faster-to-market, publications, may be to sell what's available now, with updates to the completed version later.
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