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digitalmars.D - D Consortium as Book / App Publisher... ?

reply Jakob Jenkov <jakob jenkov.com> writes:
I was thinking that the D Consortium could function as publisher 
of D books too, for the following (obvious) reasons:


1) To raise money for the D Consortium (from sales)

2) To increase the available documentation about D

3) Increased amount of documentation might lead to increased 
adoption.


Those in the D community who have experience writing books could 
chip in
with a chapter each. The books could then be put together as EPUB 
and the D Consortium could self publish them online (e.g. for 
Amazon Kindle). I have self published a few books on Amazon about 
programming. It's not that hard to do, once you get the first one 
done.

The books could be smaller with a more narrow scope, to get them 
done faster. For instance, one book about D collections, one book 
about D IO etc.

The price range could be around $5 - $9.99 . I think that is a 
fair price - especially if developers know that the profits goes 
back into the D Consortium. Each sold book on Amazon for $9.99 
should be able to give a profit of $7 to the D Consortium.


Another option to raise money and increase the documentation for 
D would be to make an Android / iOS app which collects all the D 
documentation in one app. The app could work like an e-book. It 
is possible to charge a subscription fee for apps. Thus, 
supporters could pay e.g. $1 / month - or $6 a year for the app. 
The money would go to the D Consortium. In return subscribers 
would support D, and have all their D documentation gathered in 
one place.

An app would also be able to link to videos, or articles around 
the web about D.


Yes, I know it's a lot of work etc. but it's not impossible. 
Writing a focused book of around 100 pages can be done in 3-6 
months. If more people chip in, it might even be faster.
Dec 20 2015
next sibling parent reply Joakim <dlang joakim.fea.st> writes:
On Sunday, 20 December 2015 at 21:09:31 UTC, Jakob Jenkov wrote:

 I was thinking that the D Consortium could function as 
 publisher of D books too, for the following (obvious) reasons:

 [...]


All decent ideas- I've been thinking recently about setting up a 
paid blog for articles by D devs- but without someone to explore 
and push them, they will go nowhere, ie somebody has to do the 
work of wrangling the writers and docs.
Dec 21 2015
parent reply Jakob Jenkov <jakob jenkov.com> writes:
 All decent ideas- I've been thinking recently about setting up 
 a paid blog for articles by D devs- but without someone to 
 explore and push them, they will go nowhere, ie somebody has to 
 do the work of wrangling the writers and docs.


What do you mean by a "paid blog" ?
Dec 22 2015
parent reply Joakim <dlang joakim.fea.st> writes:
On Tuesday, 22 December 2015 at 12:55:19 UTC, Jakob Jenkov wrote:

 All decent ideas- I've been thinking recently about setting up 
 a paid blog for articles by D devs- but without someone to 
 explore and push them, they will go nowhere, ie somebody has 
 to do the work of wrangling the writers and docs.


 What do you mean by a "paid blog" ?


Simple, a blog that you pay to read. :) It's amazing to me that 
people still continue to pump out books, such an outdated form, 
simply because it has an existing payment model in place, rather 
than trying new paid models online.  Simply churning out ebooks 
or the equivalent is all they do, when so much more is possible 
online, everything from pay-per-post to comments.  The lack of 
imagination is simply stunning.

I've been thinking about trying to get some D devs to contribute 
posts to such a paid blog- contacted one guy a couple weeks ago, 
he didn't have time- but I wasn't sure if anybody would be 
interested in writing posts and if I wanted to spend much time on 
getting it going.  That's why I said the main issue is having 
someone push it, at least initially.  After that, it of course 
depends on who wants to write and if anyone wants to read it.
Dec 22 2015
next sibling parent reply Jakob Jenkov <jakob jenkov.com> writes:
 Simple, a blog that you pay to read. :) It's amazing to me that 
 people still continue to pump out books, such an outdated form, 
 simply because it has an existing payment model in place, 
 rather than trying new paid models online.  Simply churning out 
 ebooks or the equivalent is all they do, when so much more is 
 possible online, everything from pay-per-post to comments.  The 
 lack of imagination is simply stunning.


I agree. A website / blog allows links to videos etc. and it can
be expanded over time, and indexed by search engines.

Have you considered using LeanPub for this?
Dec 22 2015
parent reply Joakim <dlang joakim.fea.st> writes:
On Tuesday, 22 December 2015 at 15:33:50 UTC, Jakob Jenkov wrote:

 Simple, a blog that you pay to read. :) It's amazing to me 
 that people still continue to pump out books, such an outdated 
 form, simply because it has an existing payment model in 
 place, rather than trying new paid models online.  Simply 
 churning out ebooks or the equivalent is all they do, when so 
 much more is possible online, everything from pay-per-post to 
 comments.  The lack of imagination is simply stunning.


 I agree. A website / blog allows links to videos etc. and it can
 be expanded over time, and indexed by search engines.

 Have you considered using LeanPub for this?


Never heard much about them.  Looking at their site now, I like 
that they focus on getting chapters in front of readers right 
away, while they're being written (which almost every writer 
should be doing), but don't like their emphasis on producing 
books at the end.

A categorized/tagged blog with comments is a much better 
experience than a static book with a table of contents and index, 
yet they import blog posts and turn them into a book!  The only 
reason is that books have a long-standing payment model in place: 
it's as though everyone were still selling buggies because there 
are only buggy dealers and no car dealers yet.

It is all beyond idiotic: it is amazing how long antiquated ideas 
stick around, only because people cannot imagine anything else.
Dec 22 2015
next sibling parent reply Adam D. Ruppe <destructionator gmail.com> writes:
On Tuesday, 22 December 2015 at 16:10:23 UTC, Joakim wrote:

 It is all beyond idiotic: it is amazing how long antiquated 
 ideas stick around, only because people cannot imagine anything 
 else.


What you're describing sounds basically like a magazine... paid 
freelance authors contributing articles.
Dec 22 2015
parent Joakim <dlang joakim.fea.st> writes:
On Tuesday, 22 December 2015 at 16:16:53 UTC, Adam D. Ruppe wrote:

 On Tuesday, 22 December 2015 at 16:10:23 UTC, Joakim wrote:

 It is all beyond idiotic: it is amazing how long antiquated 
 ideas stick around, only because people cannot imagine 
 anything else.


 What you're describing sounds basically like a magazine... paid 
 freelance authors contributing articles.


Heh, never thought of that analogy. :)  I can see why you might 
think that, because a blog is continually produced by many 
writers, like a weekly magazine, as opposed to a single end 
product written by one person over a year or two, like a book.  
There is some similarity to magazines, though bloggers wouldn't 
be forced to any schedule, even weekly.

As for the paid freelancer aspect, magazines pay by the piece and 
I think they usually keep the copyright, because they had that 
bargaining power.  With paid blogs, you'd do revenue-sharing, 
with the writer getting 70%+ of the money their posts garnered, 
and keeping their copyright, similar to the deal LeanPub makes.  
There's just too much competition for writers these days for them 
to get much less than that.

But the biggest difference is that online is a much more dynamic 
format, with all kinds of innovations to come, with everything 
from tipping extra for articles you like, as you might for good 
service at a restaurant, to building recommendation systems to 
find the best customized selection of posts for _you_ to read.

If you'd have told me at the inception of the Web 25 years ago 
that most writers would still make money primarily through _print 
books_ in 2015, I'd have said you're nuts.  And yet, sadly, 
that's where we are today.
Dec 22 2015
prev sibling next sibling parent Jakob Jenkov <jakob jenkov.com> writes:
 It is all beyond idiotic: it is amazing how long antiquated 
 ideas stick around, only because people cannot imagine anything 
 else.


I agree 100%. I published 4 books for Amazon Kindle, then stopped 
for exactly this reason. You can do so much more advanced stuff 
on the web than in an ebook.

I run http://tutorials.jenkov.com which has a good bit above 1 
million page views a month. I do a few videos too. I just publish 
as I write. I earn a bit of money from the ads, but it's not that 
much money. The % of people browsing with ad blockers is rising.

How would a paid blog work? Subscription? Texts hidden behind a 
pay wall? Hard to get it into the search engines then...
Dec 22 2015
prev sibling parent reply Rikki Cattermole <alphaglosined gmail.com> writes:
On 23/12/15 5:10 AM, Joakim wrote:

 On Tuesday, 22 December 2015 at 15:33:50 UTC, Jakob Jenkov wrote:

 Simple, a blog that you pay to read. :) It's amazing to me that
 people still continue to pump out books, such an outdated form,
 simply because it has an existing payment model in place, rather than
 trying new paid models online.  Simply churning out ebooks or the
 equivalent is all they do, when so much more is possible online,
 everything from pay-per-post to comments.  The lack of imagination is
 simply stunning.


 I agree. A website / blog allows links to videos etc. and it can
 be expanded over time, and indexed by search engines.

 Have you considered using LeanPub for this?


 Never heard much about them.  Looking at their site now, I like that
 they focus on getting chapters in front of readers right away, while
 they're being written (which almost every writer should be doing), but
 don't like their emphasis on producing books at the end.

 A categorized/tagged blog with comments is a much better experience than
 a static book with a table of contents and index, yet they import blog
 posts and turn them into a book!  The only reason is that books have a
 long-standing payment model in place: it's as though everyone were still
 selling buggies because there are only buggy dealers and no car dealers
 yet.

 It is all beyond idiotic: it is amazing how long antiquated ideas stick
 around, only because people cannot imagine anything else.


I've got two books through leanpub.
It is ideal for a magazine or books.

If you want help, please let me know!
I would be happy to help for it.
Dec 22 2015
parent reply Joakim <dlang joakim.fea.st> writes:
On Wednesday, 23 December 2015 at 01:33:22 UTC, Rikki Cattermole 
wrote:

 On 23/12/15 5:10 AM, Joakim wrote:

 On Tuesday, 22 December 2015 at 15:33:50 UTC, Jakob Jenkov 
 wrote:

 Have you considered using LeanPub for this?


 Never heard much about them.  Looking at their site now, I 
 like that
 they focus on getting chapters in front of readers right away, 
 while
 they're being written (which almost every writer should be 
 doing), but
 don't like their emphasis on producing books at the end.

 A categorized/tagged blog with comments is a much better 
 experience than
 a static book with a table of contents and index, yet they 
 import blog
 posts and turn them into a book!  The only reason is that 
 books have a
 long-standing payment model in place: it's as though everyone 
 were still
 selling buggies because there are only buggy dealers and no 
 car dealers
 yet.

 It is all beyond idiotic: it is amazing how long antiquated 
 ideas stick
 around, only because people cannot imagine anything else.


 I've got two books through leanpub.
 It is ideal for a magazine or books.

 If you want help, please let me know!
 I would be happy to help for it.


Are you offering to write for a D blog or to get it set up on 
leanpub?  I'd never use an external platform like leanpub where I 
don't control the source, as one of the main points would be to 
add new paid blog features like the ones I've mentioned above.
Dec 22 2015
parent reply Rikki Cattermole <alphaglosined gmail.com> writes:
On 23/12/15 3:26 PM, Joakim wrote:

 On Wednesday, 23 December 2015 at 01:33:22 UTC, Rikki Cattermole wrote:

 On 23/12/15 5:10 AM, Joakim wrote:

 On Tuesday, 22 December 2015 at 15:33:50 UTC, Jakob Jenkov wrote:

 Have you considered using LeanPub for this?


 Never heard much about them.  Looking at their site now, I like that
 they focus on getting chapters in front of readers right away, while
 they're being written (which almost every writer should be doing), but
 don't like their emphasis on producing books at the end.

 A categorized/tagged blog with comments is a much better experience than
 a static book with a table of contents and index, yet they import blog
 posts and turn them into a book!  The only reason is that books have a
 long-standing payment model in place: it's as though everyone were still
 selling buggies because there are only buggy dealers and no car dealers
 yet.

 It is all beyond idiotic: it is amazing how long antiquated ideas stick
 around, only because people cannot imagine anything else.


 I've got two books through leanpub.
 It is ideal for a magazine or books.

 If you want help, please let me know!
 I would be happy to help for it.


 Are you offering to write for a D blog or to get it set up on leanpub?
 I'd never use an external platform like leanpub where I don't control
 the source, as one of the main points would be to add new paid blog
 features like the ones I've mentioned above.


I would be happy to help with leanpub. With regards to pretty much anything.
Ok so here is the thing about leanpub. You control the manifest.
You can then once published do what ever you want with the generated files.

For a magazine or book leanpub is great.
If you really want to go the paid blog route, I'm sure we could kit out 
our own Markua (markdown) to html in worse case scenario.
Dec 22 2015
parent reply Joakim <dlang joakim.fea.st> writes:
On Wednesday, 23 December 2015 at 02:36:38 UTC, Rikki Cattermole 
wrote:

 On 23/12/15 3:26 PM, Joakim wrote:

 Are you offering to write for a D blog or to get it set up on 
 leanpub?
 I'd never use an external platform like leanpub where I don't 
 control
 the source, as one of the main points would be to add new paid 
 blog
 features like the ones I've mentioned above.


 I would be happy to help with leanpub. With regards to pretty 
 much anything.
 Ok so here is the thing about leanpub. You control the manifest.
 You can then once published do what ever you want with the 
 generated files.

 For a magazine or book leanpub is great.
 If you really want to go the paid blog route, I'm sure we could 
 kit out our own Markua (markdown) to html in worse case 
 scenario.


Heh, I think you've missed the point of what I've written a bit: 
I'd _never_ publish a book or magazine, even if it wasn't in 
print but primarily online.  I consider that almost as bad as 
telling me to write it on a parchment scroll 
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scroll). ;) I'd only publish on a 
tech blog where I control the source and could continuously add 
paid blogging features like those mentioned previously, which 
almost nobody is doing today.  As such, I find no use for an 
external platform like leanpub.

It wouldn't take much effort to set up a paid blog based on 
vibe.d, one which you could add new features to over time.  The 
issue is that I'd have to find D devs who want to write for it, 
as I'm not the right person to write about D (I'd probably edit 
articles and run the tech/business side).

I've been thinking about contacting various D devs to see how 
much interest there is- I mentioned that I contacted one guy 
already- but I wasn't sure if I myself wanted to put time into 
this.  I really want to put these paid blogging ideas into use 
one day, but maybe D isn't the place to do it.
Dec 22 2015
next sibling parent reply Jakob Jenkov <jakob jenkov.com> writes:
 I really want to put these paid blogging ideas into use one 
 day, but maybe D isn't the place to do it.


Or - maybe D is exactly the right use case. D doesn't already 
have a ton of available material, but still as a decent size 
community.

I'd say the hardest part is to get information about those parts 
of D which are not documented. I find the D docs for Phobos 
pretty hard to read. There are very few explanations to the 
methods and classes.

The "read the code" dogma is not very helpful to beginners in a 
new language or API.
Dec 23 2015
parent reply Joakim <dlang joakim.fea.st> writes:
On Wednesday, 23 December 2015 at 12:54:39 UTC, Jakob Jenkov 
wrote:

 I really want to put these paid blogging ideas into use one 
 day, but maybe D isn't the place to do it.


 Or - maybe D is exactly the right use case. D doesn't already 
 have a ton of available material, but still as a decent size 
 community.


Yes, D could always use more material, other than the books 
available now.  Whether it's done through my paid blogging ideas 
or not will depend on how many D devs decide they'd like to try 
writing for such a paid blog.


 I'd say the hardest part is to get information about those 
 parts of D which are not documented. I find the D docs for 
 Phobos pretty hard to read. There are very few explanations to 
 the methods and classes.

 The "read the code" dogma is not very helpful to beginners in a 
 new language or API.


I recommend Andrei and Ali's books for the language itself, 
though they don't go much into phobos (still reading the free 
chapter on ranges from Mike's book and have not read most of 
Adam's book yet).

On Wednesday, 23 December 2015 at 15:28:34 UTC, bachmeier wrote:

 On Wednesday, 23 December 2015 at 03:05:46 UTC, Joakim wrote:

 I've been thinking about contacting various D devs to see how 
 much interest there is- I mentioned that I contacted one guy 
 already- but I wasn't sure if I myself wanted to put time into 
 this.  I really want to put these paid blogging ideas into use 
 one day, but maybe D isn't the place to do it.


 I don't think it would be worth your time to focus on D in 
 general. If you want someone to pay more than a couple dollars 
 a year, you need to offer something specific, and it needs to 
 offer a direct, immediate career benefit. Web development with 
 D might work if done right. Probably the better thing is to go 
 into it with a low price and a goal of learning. Then you can 
 move on to a more profitable market.


I was thinking of focusing on more advanced usage of D, ie the 
new idioms that D makes available with its specific constructs 
and libraries, maybe supplemented with posts for intermediate 
users.  I don't think there's such a book now, as they 
understandably focus on new or inexperienced users.

I don't think D can offer a "direct, immediate career benefit," 
as you can't use D in most workplaces.  I'm skeptical that D will 
ever do well in web development, as no AoT-compiled language 
garners much share (maybe Go has gotten a little recently).  
Rather, the goal would be a site for hobbyists to learn how to 
use the language to its fullest, without having to dive into the 
source and github PRs to extract all that info themselves.  
Obviously, learning D might indirectly benefit someone in their 
career, by learning new concepts from D that other languages 
don't employ, but that's not direct or immediate.

The prices would be low- I mentioned a $5-10 paid balance- but 
more importantly pay as you use, ie metered.  So if someone found 
a lot of use, it would be possible for them to spend $50 or more 
in a year.  Someone else might just read an article or two 
occasionally, and only end up using $1-2 from their balance.  I 
believe such metered models are the endgame online, crazy to me 
that almost nobody is doing it yet, decades after it's been 
possible.
Dec 27 2015
parent reply Ola Fosheim =?UTF-8?B?R3LDuHN0YWQ=?= writes:
On Sunday, 27 December 2015 at 08:25:58 UTC, Joakim wrote:

 recently).  Rather, the goal would be a site for hobbyists to 
 learn how to use the language to its fullest, without having to 
 dive into the source and github PRs to extract all that info 
 themselves.  Obviously, learning D might indirectly benefit 
 someone in their career, by learning new concepts from D that 
 other languages don't employ, but that's not direct or 
 immediate.


I think wannabe game programmers is a sizeable market. 
Programmers that dont have the capacity to learn modern C++ and 
would pay for a quality tutorial of how to build a commercial 
level game using OpenGL, OpenAL and a physics engine, with 
downloadable chapter by chapter source code.
Dec 27 2015
next sibling parent Joakim <dlang joakim.fea.st> writes:
On Sunday, 27 December 2015 at 14:44:37 UTC, Ola Fosheim Grøstad 
wrote:

 On Sunday, 27 December 2015 at 08:25:58 UTC, Joakim wrote:

 recently).  Rather, the goal would be a site for hobbyists to 
 learn how to use the language to its fullest, without having 
 to dive into the source and github PRs to extract all that 
 info themselves.  Obviously, learning D might indirectly 
 benefit someone in their career, by learning new concepts from 
 D that other languages don't employ, but that's not direct or 
 immediate.


 I think wannabe game programmers is a sizeable market. 
 Programmers that dont have the capacity to learn modern C++ and 
 would pay for a quality tutorial of how to build a commercial 
 level game using OpenGL, OpenAL and a physics engine, with 
 downloadable chapter by chapter source code.


That's a good idea.  When I heard Mike Parker was putting out a 
book, I was expecting it to be something like that.  Maybe he'll 
do it on a paid blog instead. :)
Dec 27 2015
prev sibling next sibling parent Rikki Cattermole <alphaglosined gmail.com> writes:
On 28/12/15 3:44 AM, Ola Fosheim Grøstad wrote:

 On Sunday, 27 December 2015 at 08:25:58 UTC, Joakim wrote:

 recently).  Rather, the goal would be a site for hobbyists to learn
 how to use the language to its fullest, without having to dive into
 the source and github PRs to extract all that info themselves.
 Obviously, learning D might indirectly benefit someone in their
 career, by learning new concepts from D that other languages don't
 employ, but that's not direct or immediate.


 I think wannabe game programmers is a sizeable market. Programmers that
 dont have the capacity to learn modern C++ and would pay for a quality
 tutorial of how to build a commercial level game using OpenGL, OpenAL
 and a physics engine, with downloadable chapter by chapter source code.


I want to do this myself as part of the The way to program series of books.
Unfortunately I need to learn it all myself...
Dec 27 2015
prev sibling parent Wyatt <wyatt.epp gmail.com> writes:
On Sunday, 27 December 2015 at 14:44:37 UTC, Ola Fosheim Grøstad 
wrote:

 I think wannabe game programmers is a sizeable market. 
 Programmers that dont have the capacity to learn modern C++ and 
 would pay for a quality tutorial of how to build a commercial 
 level game using OpenGL, OpenAL and a physics engine, with 
 downloadable chapter by chapter source code.


This may have potential.  Sort of like that old "Game Programming 
Gems" book series, only geared for a specific language.

-Wyatt
Dec 28 2015
prev sibling parent bachmeier <no spam.net> writes:
On Wednesday, 23 December 2015 at 03:05:46 UTC, Joakim wrote:

 I've been thinking about contacting various D devs to see how 
 much interest there is- I mentioned that I contacted one guy 
 already- but I wasn't sure if I myself wanted to put time into 
 this.  I really want to put these paid blogging ideas into use 
 one day, but maybe D isn't the place to do it.


I don't think it would be worth your time to focus on D in 
general. If you want someone to pay more than a couple dollars a 
year, you need to offer something specific, and it needs to offer 
a direct, immediate career benefit. Web development with D might 
work if done right. Probably the better thing is to go into it 
with a low price and a goal of learning. Then you can move on to 
a more profitable market.
Dec 23 2015
prev sibling parent reply Bubbasaur <bubba gmail.com> writes:
On Tuesday, 22 December 2015 at 15:24:23 UTC, Joakim wrote:

 On Tuesday, 22 December 2015 at 12:55:19 UTC, Jakob Jenkov 
 wrote:

 All decent ideas- I've been thinking recently about setting 
 up a paid blog for articles by D devs- but without someone to 
 explore and push them, they will go nowhere, ie somebody has 
 to do the work of wrangling the writers and docs.


 What do you mean by a "paid blog" ?


 Simple, a blog that you pay to read...


In the age of "FREE" everywhere do you really expects people 
paying for a blog? I don't think so. You may go with ads instead!

Bubba.
Dec 22 2015
parent reply Joakim <dlang joakim.fea.st> writes:
On Tuesday, 22 December 2015 at 16:51:38 UTC, Bubbasaur wrote:

 On Tuesday, 22 December 2015 at 15:24:23 UTC, Joakim wrote:

 On Tuesday, 22 December 2015 at 12:55:19 UTC, Jakob Jenkov 
 wrote:

 All decent ideas- I've been thinking recently about setting 
 up a paid blog for articles by D devs- but without someone 
 to explore and push them, they will go nowhere, ie somebody 
 has to do the work of wrangling the writers and docs.


 What do you mean by a "paid blog" ?


 Simple, a blog that you pay to read...


 In the age of "FREE" everywhere do you really expects people 
 paying for a blog? I don't think so. You may go with ads 
 instead!


The problem is ads make no money for the vast majority of 
writers, so they have to write a book and sell it to make writing 
worth their time.  This is why you have to pay for almost all the 
D books, with free online books like Ali's the rare exception to 
the rule.

Most readers know they have to pay for quality.  If you don't 
want to, that's up to you.
Dec 22 2015
parent reply Bubbasaur <bubba gmail.com> writes:
On Tuesday, 22 December 2015 at 17:01:17 UTC, Joakim wrote:

 The problem is ads make no money for the vast majority of 
 writers, so they have to write a book and sell it to make 
 writing worth their time.  This is why you have to pay for 
 almost all the D books, with free online books like Ali's the 
 rare exception to the rule.


I see, but I thought the money was for the D 
Consortium/Organization.

Anyway it's really a big problem, if you see, currently sites 
like: vice, verge, medium etc. They all work with ads, every time 
you see a "click bait" title.

I remember paying $50 ~ $80 for Programming books, but that were 
the old times, today with ebooks and piracy things are bad.

Bubba.
Dec 22 2015
parent Joakim <dlang joakim.fea.st> writes:
On Tuesday, 22 December 2015 at 17:29:56 UTC, Bubbasaur wrote:

 On Tuesday, 22 December 2015 at 17:01:17 UTC, Joakim wrote:

 The problem is ads make no money for the vast majority of 
 writers, so they have to write a book and sell it to make 
 writing worth their time.  This is why you have to pay for 
 almost all the D books, with free online books like Ali's the 
 rare exception to the rule.


 I see, but I thought the money was for the D 
 Consortium/Organization.


If there's almost no money coming in, does it matter where that 
pittance goes? ;) I wasn't talking about the D foundation, but a 
paid blog that would get writers to produce good articles online.


 Anyway it's really a big problem, if you see, currently sites 
 like: vice, verge, medium etc. They all work with ads, every 
 time you see a "click bait" title.


The dirty little secret is that those sites make little to no 
money, relying on funding from dumb VCs before they go out of 
business, like the Gigaom tech blog.  Vice has done well, and 
looking up why now, I see it's because they mostly focus on video 
and made deals with TV channels and cable companies, not exactly 
replicable for most writers.

The best way to illustrate how inadequate ads are is this chart, 
that shows what happened to US newspaper ad revenue over the last 
15 years:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Naa_newspaper_ad_revenue.svg

That little blue squib at the bottom, that's online ads.  
Newspaper revenue used to be 80% from ads, now they're all 
putting up paid subscription banners, because ads just don't work 
for most sites online.


 I remember paying $50 ~ $80 for Programming books, but that 
 were the old times, today with ebooks and piracy things are bad.


Ebooks definitely lower costs, so they _should_ be cheaper.  As 
for piracy, that genie is out of the bottle, all you can do is 
mitigate it.  But paid books still sell well, and that's only 
because of the complete lack of imagination of people to try paid 
online models, such as paid blogs.

On Tuesday, 22 December 2015 at 17:55:16 UTC, Jakob Jenkov wrote:

 It is all beyond idiotic: it is amazing how long antiquated 
 ideas stick around, only because people cannot imagine 
 anything else.


 I agree 100%. I published 4 books for Amazon Kindle, then 
 stopped for exactly this reason. You can do so much more 
 advanced stuff on the web than in an ebook.

 I run http://tutorials.jenkov.com which has a good bit above 1 
 million page views a month. I do a few videos too. I just 
 publish as I write. I earn a bit of money from the ads, but 
 it's not that much money. The % of people browsing with ad 
 blockers is rising.


Wow, that's pretty good traffic.  I've been reading your IAP/ION 
spec and was surprised how clearly it's written, guess that's why.


 How would a paid blog work? Subscription? Texts hidden behind a 
 pay wall? Hard to get it into the search engines then...


Paywall for 80% of the posts, with the remaining free to sample, 
and the reader puts in $5-10 and gets charged 5-25 cents from 
that balance per post clicked on.  That metered model is much 
better than subscriptions.  If I don't read any posts for two 
months, I don't get charged any money from my balance.  There are 
ways to get content behind a paywall indexed, paid sites like the 
WSJ do it.
Dec 22 2015
prev sibling parent reply karabuta <karabutaworld gmail.com> writes:
On Sunday, 20 December 2015 at 21:09:31 UTC, Jakob Jenkov wrote:


 Writing a focused book of around 100 pages can be done in 3-6 
 months. If more people chip in, it might even be faster.




There are these books floating around where various programmers 
actually come together to write them. Each author take charge of 
a section. They go like:

Problem: How to rename all files in a directory.
Solution: ......


They take advantage of common tasks and make them into a book. 
These books really sell. D community/Consortium can do similar if 
is worth it.
Dec 24 2015
parent Jakob Jenkov <jakob jenkov.com> writes:
On Thursday, 24 December 2015 at 17:19:30 UTC, karabuta wrote:

 On Sunday, 20 December 2015 at 21:09:31 UTC, Jakob Jenkov wrote:


 Writing a focused book of around 100 pages can be done in 3-6 
 months. If more people chip in, it might even be faster.




 There are these books floating around where various programmers 
 actually come together to write them. Each author take charge 
 of a section. They go like:

 Problem: How to rename all files in a directory.
 Solution: ......


 They take advantage of common tasks and make them into a book. 
 These books really sell. D community/Consortium can do similar 
 if is worth it.



Wrox Publishing uses this model. Not all their books are really 
good, but they can be decent. I was thinking the D Language 
Foundation could do the same. But I guess someone has to take the 
reigns, make a plan and mobilize people.
Dec 25 2015