Book

I have been saying it for a while… traditional book publishing will go through a transformation… The Internet as a medium, as a distribution channel, as a repository of great content is changing the landscape. Now authors can publish their work, electronically or as hardcopies, while dictating their own schedules, and more importantly, at least for me, maintaining ownership of the rights to their work.

I have been exploring the concept of “DIY, many, cheaper, shorter concise notebooks or booklets” for a while now, and I think the idea of shorter books that are very good at a specific topic is very powerful. Below is some of the rationale for this:

  1. Publishing more often, shorter booklets with concise content benefits the reader.
  2. Experiment with content, layout, formats, and on how to express thoughts.
  3. Dictate own schedule.
  4. Keep the rights to the content.
  5. Readers are consuming high-quality online technical publications, like my own and many others. The
    Internet has proven to be a great
    distribution channel. Authors should leverage this.
  6. Freedom to publish electronic copies, and hardcopies on-demand (see LuLu and
    BookSurge).
  7. In addition to revenue from soft and hardcopies, experiment with content and context sensitive ads.
  8. Tim O'Reilly said "People don't care about books, they care about ideas". But I say instead, "People don't care about books per-se, they care about content
    and better ways to consume such content".

Some time ago I started writing using this concept – that is my personal experiment. But don't take my word alone on this, nothing is better than facts. Recently (March 3, 2006) I read about 37signals new book, and it just validates what I am saying:

"How’s the book doing so far? Since we launched it yesterday, we’ve sold
over 1,750 copies. That’s exciting. These numbers demolish the sales
pace of our first book, Defensive Design for the Web, which was released
through the traditional publisher/bookstore model. DIY publishing: There’s
a new sheriff in town."

Through the Internet and the Web I foresee empowered authors, and an infrastructure that allows authors
to write as they please, then make their work available to others, and make money
in different ways, from targeted ads to selling their content as softcopies and hardcopies (on-demand printing).
This same infrastructure allows readers to search for content, and consume
content in a way that is fair to the author. Over time this infrastructure will
create an ecosystem. Google and Yahoo! and O'Reilly are in the best position to
power such an ecosystem, but a new startup could as well.

Will DIY publishing replace traditional publishing? Of course not. But there is change in the air. Publishers are reluctant to this idea, and those who adapt will succeed. The era of DIY publishing is here… There is no turning back.

ceo