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Comment by paultannenbaum | Hacker News Reader

Is it just me, or does $49 seem high for a digital copy? I went to buy it expecting it be somewhere around $20, and then had a bit of sticker shock when I was in the checkout path. I know it took a lot of time and effort and on the author's part, so not saying it isn't worth it, but for a non-physical copy it seems like a pretty steep price. I ended up passing, wonder how many others did the same as me.

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It's high, but not terribly high, imo. When it comes to professional development, this could be considered quite cheap. A freelancer who charges $100/hr can pay for this in 30 minutes, and if it gives more than 30 minutes of productivity in the future, then it was worth it. (Figure out your rates, and do the math. Odds are that it'll be worth it.) Furthermore, a lot (if not most) companies will be willing to purchase such a book for their employees, because the math is even better for them.

If you're a tech writer like Sandi, you can absolutely get away with $49/copy, or even $99 or $199 per copy. They usually offer extended examples online or what-have-you to justify the $199 price, but it happens all the time.

For professional development books like this, you can't really think of it in the same terms as leisure books, like fiction, where the only benefit is having a good time. There's a benefit that goes beyond entertainment -- benefits that are monetize-able by the reader. If I read this book, and I learn something that allows me to do something in 30 minutes that previously took me an hour, then I've effectively doubled productivity. That means I'm more valuable -- and therefore, the book is more valuable. More valuable = more expensive.

Hope that helps explain why it's the price it is. That said, I'm passing too. I tend to prefer physical books for professional development, or ideally, a physical + digital combo.

I just wish there was a sample chapter or something. This sounds extremely interesting and useful, but I'm not willing to shell out close to $50 whether it is interesting and useful. I'm also not going to send a postcard because I can afford it, I'm just not willing to risk $50 on something I have so little information on. If we were in a bookstore I could at least crack it open and see what it looks like inside.

Edit: Ah, found sample pages and chapter 3 at the purchase site[1]. That would be a really good link to put in this announcement.

1: http://www.informit.com/store/practical-object-oriented-desi...

I believe that's their previous book, not "99 Bottles".

You are correct. I arrived there by clicking on the bottle diagram, and wasn't paying attention to the specific book it brought me to as I assumed it was the one the page is about and was excited to see a link to sample content. That's a shame.

The value of a book is not in its format (digital vs. print), but in the quality of the content and the reputation and relationships the authors have earned due to their previous efforts. And you can always try negotiating a discount via postcard ;-) http://www.sandimetz.com/99bottles/postcard

For me as a consumer, the format is very much correlated with price. I am always willing to spend more money for a physical copy of a book than the digital version. For them as publishers, it also costs less to come to market with a digital versions, and so should be reflected in the price. I do hear what your saying about value being derived from content, but without a free preview of a couple chapters and a price that I deemed to high, I ended up passing.

If I don't think about it, yes, a physical version seems to be worth more, because I feel like I'm actually buying a "thing", rather than just paying for access to information. It feels nicer to know that printing it cost the publisher more to produce; there's a sense of fairness. It's an interesting psychological effect.

A physical book can also be interacted with and utilized, physically, in ways a digital copy cannot.

And the same can be said about the digital version. You can use it in ways that you can't use a physical one. Which is better is completely a matter of preference, IMO.

Physical: It's pleasant, intuitive, and the tactile aspects change as you go through the book. Page layout and the feel of flipping through the book can be nice mnemonic devices.

Digital: I can carry a few thousand books on my pocket, put copies on all my devices, do full text searches, follow hyperlinks in the document, etc.

As stated the book is not finished yet, two chapters are missing, so they can't print a not finished book:

-- Please Note --

99 Bottles of OOP is currently available in digital form only.

This is version 0.2 beta-1, which contains about 45,000 words / 240 pages. Although it qualifies as a complete book as it stands, two chapters are pending. When they are finalized, we'll automatically email you a link to the updated book.

My book (Haskell Programming FFP) is $59 for the ebook version, but it's a lot longer and covers a lot more, because of the "from first principles" part and the method we use.

We heavily discount it or give it away for students and others who can't afford it. We don't ask for a postcard, just an email describing their situation.

I think it's less about the "can I afford this" and more about "I don't know if this will be valuable, and I'm not willing to pay $50 on a gamble"

Makes sense. Most of our book is word of mouth. People know what they're getting and what we cover, we're pretty detailed about it: http://haskellbook.com/progress.html

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