Thanks for the feedback. I'm not sure if I can update the PDF for an
existing SKU, or if I would have to put out each release as new SKU. I'm
expecting the latter. I'll find out soon enough.
I still intend to eventually do the multi-volume edition, including print,
but first things first - and easiest things first. Maybe in six months.
We'll see, based on how things go.
Whether I stay with lulu is a separate matter. I'll start with them just
because they're well known and its easy to get started with them. Then,
we'll see how things go.
-- Jack Krupansky
-----Original Message-----
From: Alexandre Rafalovitch
Sent: Friday, June 21, 2013 9:22 AM
To: solr-user@lucene.apache.org
Subject: Re: The book: Solr 4.x Deep Dive - Early Access Release #1
Does Lulu actually supports recurrent charge? And if it is PDF only, I
am not sure Lulu is the best option for you (their focus is on print
after all). But I haven't done any research.
The way I have seen this done is to have a single high-price for all
the updates but give early/beta buyers a discount for - basically -
paying forward in trust. So, get $30/$40 from those who pay now and
full price from those who wait until later. Though that may have been
to drive Amazon rankings. Still, it feels right that early buyers
should pay less rather than more over time.
I might be however confused regarding your strategy. I thought you
were going to do several different volumes, rather than one large one.
Or is this all a 'first' volume discussion so far.
Pricing: $7.99 feels better for the book this size. Under $5 it feels
like it may be mostly filler (even if it is not). I don't think
anybody will pay every month just because it got updated.
Regards,
Alex.
Personal website: http://www.outerthoughts.com/
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/alexandrerafalovitch
- Time is the quality of nature that keeps events from happening all
at once. Lately, it doesn't seem to be working. (Anonymous - via GTD
book)
On Fri, Jun 21, 2013 at 9:04 AM, Jack Krupansky <j...@basetechnology.com>
wrote:
I’m expecting to self-publish the first Early Access Release for my book,
Solr 4.x Deep Dive, on lulu.com sometime today. It is still far from
finished and needs lots of work and missing a lot of important areas
(SolrCloud and distributed Solr in general, DIH, highlighting, core and
collection API, admin API and UI, query elevation, etc.), but I think
there is a critical mass of useful material that is a decent foundation to
build the rest of the book on. For those who participated in the early
chapter review process for the book’s predecessor (Lucene and Solr: The
Definitive Guide), most of those review chapters (at least the ones
authored by me) are included, plus a bunch more, especially chapters on
indexing data, update processors, and faceting. The new book is Solr-only.
Alas, I have not incorporated most of the reviewer feedback yet as I have
been focused on writing for the indexing and faceting chapters for the
past two months.
It will be e-book (PDF) only for the time being. Don’t even think about
printing it yourself – over 1,100 pages, and counting! Currently a 5MB
download.
I still haven’t settled on pricing. For early access, the intent is that
people will want to check back every couple weeks or month or two, more
like a subscription. My current thought is to treat it as if it were a $60
to $80 paper book bought once per year, but on a monthly subscription, say
$5 to $8 per download. My expectation is to update roughly every two
weeks, or at least monthly, as new material is added, issues resolved, and
new Solr releases. In the early going, I’ll probably update the PDF on
lulu every week.
Given this rough model, what price point has the most appeal: $2.99 (yeah,
who doesn’t want it, but little incentive for me!), $4.99 (seems
reasonable, but incentive for me is still low although marginally
acceptable), $7.99 (starting to get steep for an EA multi-download), $9.99
(better incentive for me, but will people pay it?). Thoughts?
None of this is cast in stone. My current thought is to publish this
initial release at $4.99 or $7.99, and then set a revised price for the
second or third release.
If I hear nothing, I’ll go ahead with $7.99, although I might go with
$4.99.
Thanks in advance for any feedback!
-- Jack Krupansky
