Just as I thought it was OK to speak, bad news for O'Reilly's Blogging Hacks book I was contributing to.
Ben Hammersley recently told the contributors that production of the book would cease immediately. In a note to all contributing Ben states, "the long and
short of it is that the channel, the bookstores and so on, are saying that
weblogging books are just not selling."
Undaunted Ben has announced and begun work on The Book of Blog with input from the contributors and others.
While disappointed in the ultimate decision, as a business person I can understand O'Reilly's reasoning. Blogging books have not sold well and distributors are not interested in another for now – no matter how much better it was suppose to be. No matter how well intentioned O'Reilly's advocacy is they are still a business that sells primarily through distributors. No sales. No profits. No sense in going forward.
I disagree with the notion that blogging books cannot sell. Absent from the market is a blogging book that goes deep into the technical/how-to that I sense many are seeking. I know because I can see the stats of my MT plugins article and I get a lot of how do I
email from my work in the MT community.
The Blogging Hacks I think would have succeeded in taking a deeper dive into blogging. However I was concerned that covering such a wide breadth of tools in one book as Blogging Hacks endeavored would have succeeded. The vast majority of users work with just one tool for weblogging. If the book where to cover 4 tools in equal amounts then only 25% of a book would be useful to a reader. This would make the books cover price rather steep for all tool audiences and that I suspect few would have would have bothered purchasing the book.
The little grey cells are abuzz as I seriously contemplate an effort to put my money where my mouth is. Stay tuned.
<p>Just as I thought it was OK to speak, bad news for <a href="http://www.benhammersley.com/archives/004671.html">O'Reilly's Blogging Hacks</a> book I was contributing to.</p>
<p>Ben Hammersley recently told the contributors that production of the book would cease immediately. In a note to all contributing Ben states, "the long and <br />short of it is that the channel, the bookstores and so on, are saying that <br />weblogging books are just not selling."</p>
<p>Undaunted Ben has <a href="http://www.benhammersley.com/archives/004723.html">announced</a> and begun work on <a href="http://www.bookofblog.com/">The Book of Blog</a> with input from the contributors and others.</p>
<p>While disappointed in the ultimate decision, as a business person I can understand O'Reilly's reasoning. Blogging books have not sold well and distributors are not interested in another for now – no matter how much better it was suppose to be. No matter how well intentioned O'Reilly's advocacy is they are still a business that sells primarily through distributors. No sales. No profits. No sense in going forward.</p>
<p>I disagree with the notion that blogging books cannot sell. Absent from the market is a blogging book that goes deep into the technical/how-to that I sense many are seeking. I know because I can see the stats of my MT plugins article and I get a lot of <q>how do I</q> email from my work in the MT community. </p>
<p>The Blogging Hacks I think would have succeeded in taking a deeper dive into blogging. However I was concerned that covering such a wide breadth of tools in one book as Blogging Hacks endeavored would have succeeded. The vast majority of users work with just one tool for weblogging. If the book where to cover 4 tools in equal amounts then only 25% of a book would be useful to a reader. This would make the books cover price rather steep for all tool audiences and that I suspect few would have would have bothered purchasing the book.</p>
<p>The little grey cells are abuzz as I seriously contemplate an effort to put my money where my mouth is. Stay tuned.</p>
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