Re: [Caml-list] Book sales

[lloyd <lloyd@binaryten.com>]

I also purchased Jon's book and I have to say that I am surprised that
not many other people are championing his efforts. I simply do not
understand why people seem offended that somebody would mention their
own work.

As an avid reader of this list, I have noted, just for the record, that
Dr Jon Harrop's (he earned the title so let's use it) contributions are
wholly positive and indeed extremely helpful.

He is obviously a very talented, open minded developer with an ambition
to succeed both intellectually and financially, but I would conclude
that the former ambition is more prevalent in his writings on this, and
on other lists that I have seen.

At the same time, I appreciate that people do have their own opinions and
while this is true, they should refrain from petty snipes at  
somebody who has invested a LOT of time and effort to produce something
that will help other developers achieve a broader playing field of
computer instruction.

Come on guys, if it is jealousy, or a desire for a world of ultra
altruism, Only those guilty know, but please lets evaluate our own
reasons to contribute to this fantastic mailing list and keep it
positive. You've only got one life (although my last point hasn't been
proven :-) )

Lloyd Moore
http://www.topbooks.com/nothing_here_really


On Tue, May 22, 2007 at 09:47:06PM -0700, Paul Snively wrote:
> Since we seem to be airing our opinions here, I'd like to take the  
> opportunity to add mine.
> 
> I purchased Jon Harrop's book, am glad that I did, and have never  
> minded his occasional reminders to the list that it exists. I'd also  
> like to note that he has made chapters and some code freely available  
> so that people can judge the likely merits of the book before  
> purchase and can gain some understanding of the kind of material that  
> will be covered. There's no question in my mind that this fills a  
> void; it's important to a language that it not be perceived as a  
> "toy," and demonstrating O'Caml's applicability to scientific  
> computing, as opposed to its more obviously natural habitats such as  
> compiler-writing and theorem proving, seems like a good thing.
> 
> By contrast, Dr. Harrop's critics seem to take issue with the notion  
> that Dr. Harrop might actually make a profit, either directly or  
> indirectly, from this. While I appreciate that the list is primarily  
> a mutual information-sharing resource, I have difficulty seeing  
> anything wrong with periodically informing people that there is at  
> least one commercial resource available for those such as myself who  
> desire it. In any case, for those who feel that way, it would seem  
> that the simple solution of filtering Dr. Harrop's messages would be  
> sufficient recourse.
> 
> Best regards,
> Paul Snively
> 
> On May 22, 2007, at 5:20 PM, Oliver Bandel wrote:
> 
> >On Wed, May 23, 2007 at 12:54:11AM +0100, Jon Harrop wrote:
> >>
> >>Tim O'Reilly recently published an article about book sales and, in
> >>particular, gave a breakdown of units sold per programming language:
> >>
> >>  http://radar.oreilly.com/archives/2007/05/state_of_the_co_10.html
> >>
> >>As the author and publisher of a book on OCaml, this naturally  
> >>caught my eye.
> >>So I spent some time dissecting the results and the conclusions  
> >>were quite
> >>interesting:
> >>
> >>  http://ocamlnews.blogspot.com/2007/05/ocaml-revolution.html
> >>
> >>Most notably, we are outselling APress in terms of units sold.  
> >>Also, the OCaml
> >>community is desperately short of cheap introductory books.
> >>
> >>I should also note that the publication of Practical OCaml, rather  
> >>than
> >>reducing our sales due to competition, actually increased our sales
> >>substantially. This indicates to me that the OCaml market is  
> >>sufficiently
> >>small that there is no risk of competition and anything done to  
> >>promote the
> >>language improves the situation for others in the community.
> >>
> >>Consequently, I would like to encourage any budding authors to  
> >>write books on
> >>OCaml and help to promote the language.
> >[...]
> >
> >So your mail is not altruism ;-)
> >
> >
> >For my taste you too often mention your book here in this list....
> >it's ok, if you tell it once or twice, but this is not your personal
> >advertising channel.
> >
> >Why don't you pay the television for sending advertising spots on  
> >your book?!
> >
> >Ciao,
> >   Oliver
> >
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