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Vanity Press For Linux Geeks?
VasLor asks: "I am considering going into the publishing business and would like to publish manuals, how-to computer books, documentation for specific applications or anything else related specifically to Linux or geekdom. I would like to set this up on a vanity press system and then sell the books directly off of my site without going through Amazon (They insist on a 55% discount on any book they sell). My question is this: Will the Linux/Computer Geek community be willing to pay something around $100 to have their book printed? The model would be something akin to iUniverse, though you would retain ALL rights and it would not be so expensive (iUniverse tends to nickle/dime you with extras, like using images inside the book and a custom book cover.) What would be the best terms for an author? Or is it just too easy to go to Xlibris or iUniverse? This will help me decide whether it's worth my effort."
Last month I spent two days printing out and binding the freely avaliable mod_perl guide. In the end I ended up with four bound sections that take up a lot of space. This took a lot of my time, and was a very frustrating experience (Dammit Jim, I'm a coder, not a reprographics clerk.)
I'd chip in 20usd to have this published, and know at least four other people who'd do the same. I simply am that lazy - and I think it would be great advocacy too. We rely a lot on this kind of information, and it'd be great to have it in meetings, take it home to read in the bath, on the desk not taking up screen space, etc, etc, etc.
What I'm basically trying to say is that there's a lot of online only material that I'd love to have in dead tree form as well. And I (and my firm) would be quite willing to pay to see it happen.
-- Sorry, I can't think of anything funny to say here.
Well, it seems like you have a bad business plan. You plan to enter a market with an established firm by undercutting them. You wish to target a technical audience selling documents that have equivalents on the web. It would appear that you are going for a VERY small market.
/.) of die-hard coders that believe in Free Software, there is a HUGE majority of kids who believe in free stuff, for whom Linux is "leet" (or is it 31337?)and never pay for anything.
To make matters worse, remember the mentality of many people in this "community." While there is a small minority (that is vocal on
I think that you're aiming for a VERY small market, and I wouldn't suggest this group for your target.
Alex
Personally, I hate having to read reference material off a monitor. I have poor eyesight, which just exacerbates the problems of eyestrain/bad posture of reading stuff online.
Also, books are still far more convenient to lug around wherever and whenever you choose, allowing you to get in a little reading whenever you have a spare moment (no batteries required is also a nice feature).
Of course, both of those points will eventually be rendered moot by advances in portable computing and display technology, but until then, given the (relatively) low infrastructure costs of setting up a vanity press as described, I would advise the original poster to make hay while the sun shines.