On Tuesday 23 December 2008 06:40:51 Ethan Metsger wrote: > On Mon, 22 Dec 2008 16:48:13 -0500, Steve Litt <sl...@troubleshooters.com> > > wrote: > > if you can view it online, why should you > > pay for the book? > > For my part, I hate reading electronic copy. I'm willing to scan it to > see if the content is worth reading, but I would much rather turn to a > paper library than an electronic one. > > Best, > > Ethan > > (PS - José, I haven't forgotten the Docbook stuff--I'm pretty swamped at > the moment and don't expect to get out until after the holidays.)
Just to add an additional data point on this rather controversial issue: There is an Italian "author" called Wu Ming (it is really a group of writers publishing under this name) who makes *all* of their works available on their web site on a Creative Common license in addition to publishing them in traditional format with a major Italian publishing house. They write fiction and are very successful, That is, they can make a living as writers, are translated in several languages, etcetera. So in a sense they are providing evidence that an even more extreme approach than Google's is not detrimental to traditional paper-based book sales. In fact, just the opposite. Of course they write fiction, and the argument may not extend to technical publications. I am sure I would rather read a novel on my way to work rather than a TeX book. Cheers, Stefano -- ______________________________________________________________ Stefano Franchi Department of Philosophy Ph: (979) 862-2211 Texas A&M University Fax: (979) 845-0458 305B Bolton Hall fran...@philosophy.tamu.edu College Station, TX 77843-4237
