Show HN: GitBook WebEditor
gitbook.com
gitbook.com
One thing I've noticed (and that I tweeted earlier) is that having my github hooked up to my book, every time I save (via cmd-s, which I do out of habit every minute or so) it automatically pushes to my repo. So without realizing it, I had something like 50 commits after working for 15 minutes. Not a big deal, but it might be nice to separate the two.
The other thing I've noticed is that saving also builds the book. So in this same 15 minute period of working, I went to the status page of my book and noticed I had 50 or so builds currently being processed, with almost all of them failing in a flurry of emails an hour later. (Side note, any reason for this?)
So the only thing I would say is that I'd like to see a separation of the saving, committing, and building, much like the desktop version had. I'd like to build my book (and commit it) at the end of the session, not on every save. But maybe that's just me.
It's a cool product, but they could use some original direction in their branding and marketing.
Edit: I think I misread, the writer probably gets 80% royalty.
Through my current publisher I get 70% after cost, so it depends on what their fee is (and it irritates me more that they don't specify what that fee is).
I'm also more than a little uncomfortable with the monthly fee angle, especially with it being mandatory to have your books listed on other services. I'm a firm believer in 'money should flow to the author,' and it makes your book's public availability outside of a niche site with poor discoverability contingent entirely on continually providing said site with more money. Your book now no longer pays for itself, but rather must make at least enough to cover the cost or else it vanishes from the public eye.
It's a small fee, but having been through it and seeing what the long-tail of a book can look like, it's something that can add up and be problematic in the long run, and it also hampers the service's utility for those who wish to offer their book free in digital. You can also probably bet on the likelihood it will get bigger, not smaller, over time.
This is, in small scale, why vanity publishers were awful and why everyone jumped on board with POD in the first place.
Fees are only fees on PayPal payments (not on credit card transactions).
I am impressed.