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> -----Original Message-----
> From: Matthew Horn [mailto:mhorn -at- macromedia -dot- com]
> Sent: Tuesday, September 18, 2001 1:23 PM
> To: TECHWR-L
> Subject: using 3rd-party books
> So my doc manager had an interesting idea... why not include
> third-party books that cover the basics of application development
> so we, the writers, can concentrate on the more specific
> discussions of our product?
>
> My question to you is what do you think of this notion?
> What are the upsides/downsides? Has anyone tried it before?
In a previous life, we tried something similar. Some professor wrote a
book for use in his class based on a version of our product. The book
was published and was really nice.
We ordered up a bunch of copies and were shipping it with our product.
Of course, we had the permission of the Professor, but even without
permission, he got the normal royalties from his publisher for our
purchase of the books.
The downside was that his book was specific to an earlier release of our
product. He wasn't in the business of updating it and keeping it current
with our platform. We had no control over the text and examples.
Improvement to the product got his book out of synch quickly with what
we were doing.
However, if you can avoid these problems, it's a swell idea that I would
pursue. I'm sure the writers of those books will be overjoyed that you
are providing them a certain number of guaranteed book sales. You might
even get discounts on quantity.
Glenn Maxey
Voyant Technologies, Inc.
Tel. +1 303.223.5164
Fax. +1 303.223.5275
glenn -dot- maxey -at- voyanttech -dot- com
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