Publishing Effective Modern C++, Part 1 | Hacker News Reader

Publishing Effective Modern C++, Part 1

scottmeyers.blogspot.com

73 pointsingve25 comments

  > I briefly considered self publication via Kindle Direct
  > Publishing, because I thought it would be an interesting
  > experiment to publish EMC++ for $9.99 and see what
  > happened. [...] I fantasized that it would also have
  > shaken up the market for programming books and paved the
  > way to a world where $10 was the new normal for
  > high-quality technical books in digital form.

Guess we'll never know now.

While I enjoy reading on my Kindle, I find that Kindle is not the best format for technical books with code samples, charts and tables. If you go electronic, it's much better to just produce a PDF. FWIW I have the PDF-only version of this book (a digital purchase from O'Reilly) and it's great

It depends on the book. I just bought Peter Norvigs Paradigms of Artificial Intelligence and although it is available for Kindle I chose the print version. The book is a monster! Too big to fit in my bag so I can't take it on my commute. Wish I'd bought the Kindle version now..

It's an incredible book, though. Well worth the effort. I didn't try it on a Kindle, but I suspect any non-trivial code listing (and this book has many) will look back because it will have to be downscaled.

Not sure. I mean, probably it is a good book for beginners, but when you have many years of experience, worked in various domains (AI, compilers, logic programming, etc..) - then this book just touches the surfaces of various these topics.

I went with the Kindle version, as e-ink is quite easier on the eyes.

PDFs would be great, but so far I haven't seen a book reader on this part of the world that offers a proper experience.

Yes, I use Kindle DX for tech books. Sometimes I wish for a slightly larger screen tough.

Compared to the time investment in reading a book, $50 is already incredibly cheap.

Yeah. I'm willing to spend $50 and more on the right book: the one that covers what I want to learn, walks me through the finer points with good pedagogy, and points me to other places I can learn more when something is outside scope.

And I know the kind of effort involved in creating such a thing is possibly not adequately rewarded at $50 retail -- $10 per retail sale might well be a disaster that leads to a glut of even crummier books.

The problem is that until I invest the time to read it, I don't really know whether it's a $50+ book that delivered what I'm asking for or a $5 book I could have gleaned from basic docs and blog entries but priced as a $50 book.

$10 retail on Kindle would give Scott $7 for each sale.

$50 retail in print gives him less than half that. Typical royalties are 10-12% of publisher net, which is around 50% of the cover price.

Some titles offer 10-12% of the cover price, but that's not very usual.

Bob Nystrom wrote a blog post[0] about self-publishing his book, Game Programming Patterns[1]. He used Kindle Direct Publishing and compares it against sales from CreateSpace, Smashwords and iBooks.

[0] http://journal.stuffwithstuff.com/2014/11/20/how-my-book-lau...

[1] http://gameprogrammingpatterns.com

This book is fantastic, by the way. It's a great resource, but I really appreciate the clever dry humor, like:

  <C++11 code example>
 
  Very cool. In C++14, the temperature drops further, because...

Scott, if you're reading this, that made me laugh out loud.

I thoroughly enjoyed his previous books, but somehow forgot about this book. Just ordered it, looking forward to it!

It seems that C++ is gathering much momentum since C++11: a minor revision in the form of C++14, some new great books, CLion, etc.

Writing a good technical book is hard work with uncertain rewards, and the very real possibilities for loss for those involved, so how do some publishers seem to be able to have so many titles? Is the model reliant on a few bestsellers to keep the rest going? Would love to know how it really works...

In the meantime, I still love these books, still buy them (I have this one), and hope they don't go away.

Well, it stands to reason that the majority of the titles don't return their costs, like in the publishing and music worlds. It's the few blockbusters that effectively subsidize everybody else, though no one seems to be able to identify them in advance. I don't have specific knowledge of the technical publishing industry, to be sure.

What would be a good reference for getting back up to speed, but in an environment of C++ from about 2000 to 2005? Maybe a particular version of the ARM on Abe Books? One of the original Ways books? Something else?

Accelerated C++: Practical Programming by Example is a great "getting up to speed" book.

Ordered from Abe Books, thanks.

Effective C++ and More Effective C++, both written by the author of this blog.

Ordered that too, thanks. The maddening thing is, I got rid of most of my C++ material (including those) around 2003, never expecting to write C++ again, and now I find myself in an environment of C++ from that exact era, and having to get back up to speed. It's nice to have Abe Books and be able to get specific old editions, cheap too.

Abe Books is owned by Amazon, you can see it at the bottom of most Amazon pages. http://www.abebooks.com/

He talks about some of his book making journeys here (with some deviation throughout): https://youtu.be/smqT9Io_bKo

It's sad to hear him talk about such a small amount of money for his efforts. Sounds like the book wasn't worth his effort. Even artists understand the value of their work.

https://signalvnoise.com/archives2/picasso_paula_scher_and_t...

I think it probably was more than worth the effort. This is of course not his main source of income, but it certainly strengthens his reputation as one of the foremost experts on C++.

At a company I worked for previously, some people thought it would be nice to invite him for giving a talk. Even though there was a reasonable budget available, it still didn't go through because the guy is apparently pretty expensive.

Very few people make money out of programming books, but it can be a very valuable thing to have one on your resumé.

It always struck me as strange that the person who typically makes the least out of a book is the author (unless you're a best seller)

Can't wait.

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