Bruno, You are the exception!
I am familiar with your book, as I bought a copy about 4 months back. iText is a great open source library! Please accept my commendation of your work. Having said that, I don't know that there are many of us that would have time to write a book on our favorite FOSS program. This is a great task that you have accomplished! Landon -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Bruno Lowagie Sent: Monday, May 05, 2008 8:04 AM To: OSGeo Discussions Subject: Re: [OSGeo-Discuss] Your open source career Landon Blake wrote: > The lack of good user documentation is a weakness of many open source > projects. The problem is that most of us like to code, but few of us > like to write! Speak for yourself! ;-) Am I the exception to the rule? *LOL* Please don't regard the following as shameless promo. I just want to share a very interesting experience with future F/OSS writers. I'm an Open Source developer ( http://www.lowagie.com/iText/ ) but I also like to write. In 2004, I took some time off from my day job to write a free online tutorial for iText because the lack of proper documentation was a problem that had to be addressed (you're right about that, Landon). Once the first pages of the free tutorial were online, I immediately received an offer to write a book about iText, first from O'Reilly, later on also from Manning. After long consideration, I decided to try writing a book for Manning Publications Co. because they have the reputation that they are very demanding. You may think I'm a masochist, but I thought that would be the best guarantee to write a good book. And it was! I talked with some authors who claimed that writing their first book for Manning was a good choice. In hindsight, I agree, although I might choose for O'Reilly next time ;-) I spent 3 months writing the book proposal (full TOC included). 6 months writing the manuscript. After these 9 months of hard labor, another 9 months were needed to get the book ready for production (copy editing, proof reading, making the index,...). The result is: http://www.1t3xt.com/docs/book.php Want to know how much I earned? No problem! Have a look at my Quarterly overviews here: http://www.lowagie.com/maand.php?year=2008&month=4#806 The revenue listed is limited to the Royalties. You don't get rich from writing a book, but I also have indirect revenue from sales (when people buy the book after clicking a link on my site). I get 10% Royalties and if you study the Quarterly Overviews, you'll see that the sum I get for each book varies depending on many factors (time, location,...). I get between 5% (Amazon) and 15% (Manning) for selling the book using a link on my site. But it's not only about the money: the product has gotten much more attention and it has really boomed! Having a book is (almost) a guarantee for success for every F/OSS project. If you are planning to write a book, and you want an introduction at Manning Publications; or if you just want to talk about starting such a venture, let me know, and we'll chat. I know plenty of people who dream of writing a book, how I would like to persuade them that they should just start writing. I like to quote Henry David Thoreau: "If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them." best regards (and please pardon my enthousiasm), Bruno Lowagie _______________________________________________ Discuss mailing list Discuss@lists.osgeo.org http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss Warning: Information provided via electronic media is not guaranteed against defects including translation and transmission errors. If the reader is not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you have received this information in error, please notify the sender immediately. _______________________________________________ Discuss mailing list Discuss@lists.osgeo.org http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss