> On Dec 20, 2004, at 11:05 AM, Mark Guzdial wrote:
> > "Wealth"?  Have you written a book, PhiHo?  There ain't much profit in 
> > most book writing endeavors.  You do it because you want to, and you 
> > sink the time in because you think it's worth it. The royalty checks 
> > are nice, but the profit margins are pretty thin.  I'm quite sure that 
> > Prentice-Hall hasn't broken even on the nublue book.  I'm grateful 
> > that Alan Apt (our publisher) was willing to take a gamble and publish 
> > these books.

And I'm grateful that you (and your contributors) wrote them. I bought a
copy of each.

On Mon, Dec 20, 2004 at 11:25:43AM -0800, Michael Latta wrote:
> I agree with many of your sentiments.  Squeak is very hard to approach 
> as a new user, even with tons of Smalltalk background.  Publishing is a 
> hard business, and authors only make money on the mass market.  But, 
> part of the issue with the Squeak books is price.  At $100 for both 
> books, you are not going to get new users to buy them.  Only the 
> committed Squeaker will buy them.  Yes, there are Java and OpenGL books 
> selling in that price range, but for a niche market they are 
> overpriced.

What, lower the price and make it up on volume? Don't be rediculous. If
you can afford to do so, just buy a book and feel good that the money is
going to a good cause.

Dave