Hi,
Normally I wouldn’t talk about regular Python on here, but I think wxPython is one of the best Python communities and I thought my fellow wxPythoneers would like to know that I am working on a beginner / intermediate Python book. I started a Kickstarter campaign in support of the book: http://kck.st/1kX98BB
Have a great day!
Mike
Thanks for the link. Good Luck. You seem to have met your goal already.
A few questions tho… since I have worked in the print industry.
What is the print edition exactly or your idea of what you want to ship? A hard or soft back book? I know there is decent amount of startup cost here; ie.e proof reading/ typesetting/stock options/ color/etc.
I realize I could just print out the ebook on the shop press as a single copy for 5 bucks, but am more interested in the actual book becoming a reality. But for say around $20 if it actually is a softback rather than $55+.
While the book probably is past my level of learning now, An actual indented book is exactly how I learned python, believe it or not. No computer involved.
Therefore If I would look to for example purchase a copy of the book at a later point for a gift to someone else, I would know what to expect being received.
Got a embroidery project going on, so T-shirts and signings really are not that much interest to me, tho other kickers love stuff like this.
Is this going to be a Kickstater only printing and maybe then offered from your blog or will books be available afterwards from example a book shop with requesting isbn?
Thanks Mike. I like the proposed cover art.
A bit more info will help me make my investment decision.
On Tuesday, February 25, 2014 8:55:21 AM UTC-6, Mike Driscoll wrote:
Hi,
Normally I wouldn’t talk about regular Python on here, but I think wxPython is one of the best Python communities and I thought my fellow wxPythoneers would like to know that I am working on a beginner / intermediate Python book. I started a Kickstarter campaign in support of the book: http://kck.st/1kX98BB
Have a great day!
Mike
Hi,
Hi,
Normally I wouldn’t talk about regular Python on here, but I think wxPython is one of the best Python communities and I thought my fellow wxPythoneers would like to know that I am working on a beginner / intermediate Python book. I started a Kickstarter campaign in support of the book: http://kck.st/1kX98BB
Have a great day!
Mike
Thanks for the link. Good Luck. You seem to have met your goal already.
A few questions tho… since I have worked in the print industry.
What is the print edition exactly or your idea of what you want to ship? A hard or soft back book? I know there is decent amount of startup cost here; ie.e proof reading/ typesetting/stock options/ color/etc.
I realize I could just print out the ebook on the shop press as a single copy for 5 bucks, but am more interested in the actual book becoming a reality. But for say around $20 if it actually is a softback rather than $55+.
Oh I know that. When self-publishing, the publishers I’ve looked at would charge around $20 for the paperback. The cost comes in shipping it to me, buying shipping materials and then shipping it back out to each of the backers and hoping that the postal service doesn’t ruin any of the copies.
While the book probably is past my level of learning now, An actual indented book is exactly how I learned python, believe it or not. No computer involved.
Therefore If I would look to for example purchase a copy of the book at a later point for a gift to someone else, I would know what to expect being received.
Got a embroidery project going on, so T-shirts and signings really are not that much interest to me, tho other kickers love stuff like this.
Is this going to be a Kickstater only printing and maybe then offered from your blog or will books be available afterwards from example a book shop with requesting isbn?Thanks Mike. I like the proposed cover art.
I am planning on releasing the book using Lulu or similar, so there will be a way to purchase it through them via my website. Or at least, that was my understanding. Depending on cost and interest, I may print up extras to sell through my blog as well. We’ll see how it goes.
On Tuesday, February 25, 2014 12:39:27 PM UTC-6, Metallicow wrote:
On Tuesday, February 25, 2014 8:55:21 AM UTC-6, Mike Driscoll wrote:
Oh I know that. When self-publishing, the publishers I’ve looked at would charge around $20 for the paperback. The cost comes in shipping it to me, buying shipping materials and then shipping it back out to each of the backers and hoping that the postal service doesn’t ruin any of the copies.
Yeah, usually that is the way it works.
Unless the printshop has a mailing service division, then this would be sent to another local mailing service company, which works out best in a situations like this when sending stuff many places happens.
Basically the trail of events is like this…
Lumberjack->PaperMill->PrintShop->MailingService->BuyerOrEndUser
Depending on execution, some steps can be eliminated, but most likely will cost more as you said. Labor is always the most expensive part or any item.
So whether you want to deal with the shipping is up to you, but would cut cost down for backers. This would basically depend on if you want to do the extra shipping work or not, which is an understandable cost up and above the product cost itself.
Sidetrackd: We all know the usps isn’t the greatest when shipping/handling stuff at times. Ususally, sticking a piece of mail in a FedEx box or UPS box and sending it express overnight will get your stuff where you want it on time; but note the usps has taken stupid measures to try and prevent this, even tho they know it it the simple truth. This also costs more understandably. And the law doesn’t make a bit of common sense either; it’s just a money-grubbing issue regulated by govenment stamps and taxes that has nothing to do with getting the product where it needs to go on time.
I am planning on releasing the book using Lulu or similar, so there will be a way to purchase it through them via my website. Or at least, that was my understanding. Depending on cost and interest, I may print up extras to sell through my blog as well. We’ll see how it goes.
- Mike
Good to know. Adding a small bit about the book print specs to the kickstarter page would help clear up questions for those interested in a print copy.
Basically: Softback options, Coverstock/pages in color?(Is it a gloss C1S or C2S stock), estimated size/pages/shipweight and maybe a few other little things that end users might want to know.
Ex: I’d like to know if the mailman will actually be able to put it inside my mailbox because of physical limits/etc upon delivery.(It might be a rainy day/etc.)
On Tuesday, February 25, 2014 1:29:12 PM UTC-6, Mike Driscoll wrote:
Oh I know that. When self-publishing, the publishers I’ve looked at would charge around $20 for the paperback. The cost comes in shipping it to me, buying shipping materials and then shipping it back out to each of the backers and hoping that the postal service doesn’t ruin any of the copies.
Yeah, usually that is the way it works.
Unless the printshop has a mailing service division, then this would be sent to another local mailing service company, which works out best in a situations like this when sending stuff many places happens.
Basically the trail of events is like this…
Lumberjack->PaperMill->PrintShop->MailingService->BuyerOrEndUser
Depending on execution, some steps can be eliminated, but most likely will cost more as you said. Labor is always the most expensive part or any item.
So whether you want to deal with the shipping is up to you, but would cut cost down for backers. This would basically depend on if you want to do the extra shipping work or not, which is an understandable cost up and above the product cost itself.
True enough. The price probably is a tad high. I played around with Lulu a bit to figure out costs of producing the book with various page counts and what-not and decided to drop the barrier of entry for the print version. I was thinking about doing that anyway…I was just going to wait until next week to do it. But you convinced me.
Sidetrackd: We all know the usps isn’t the greatest when shipping/handling stuff at times. Ususally, sticking a piece of mail in a FedEx box or UPS box and sending it express overnight will get your stuff where you want it on time; but note the usps has taken stupid measures to try and prevent this, even tho they know it it the simple truth. This also costs more understandably. And the law doesn’t make a bit of common sense either; it’s just a money-grubbing issue regulated by govenment stamps and taxes that has nothing to do with getting the product where it needs to go on time.
I am planning on releasing the book using Lulu or similar, so there will be a way to purchase it through them via my website. Or at least, that was my understanding. Depending on cost and interest, I may print up extras to sell through my blog as well. We’ll see how it goes.
- Mike
Good to know. Adding a small bit about the book print specs to the kickstarter page would help clear up questions for those interested in a print copy.
Basically: Softback options, Coverstock/pages in color?(Is it a gloss C1S or C2S stock), estimated size/pages/shipweight and maybe a few other little things that end users might want to know.
Ex: I’d like to know if the mailman will actually be able to put it inside my mailbox because of physical limits/etc upon delivery.(It might be a rainy day/etc.)
Unfortunately, I don’t have a lot of that information as the book isn’t completely written. I can only guess. Sorry!
Thanks for your interest and your tips.
Mike
On Tuesday, February 25, 2014 2:07:46 PM UTC-6, Metallicow wrote:
On Tuesday, February 25, 2014 1:29:12 PM UTC-6, Mike Driscoll wrote:
Ok, I see it now. $25-30 is more reasonable. Thanks.
Umm the delivery date says is 2015? This must be a typo? The others say 2014. Is this right?
I’ll figure out who in the family has the Kickstarter accounts already set up and just have one of them snag me a copy here in a few days. Juneish… Hopefully I’ll get it in time for the birthday parties. I should probably receive my MicroPython backer board here soon also and get to play around with it.
Another fundraising tactic is for you to consider try and get your local public libraries to host advertising flyers for your book at the checkout desk/etc, for the duration of the campaign in exchange for a public copy for their library shelves.
Anyway, Good Luck.
On Tuesday, February 25, 2014 2:43:28 PM UTC-6, Mike Driscoll wrote:
On Tuesday, February 25, 2014 2:07:46 PM UTC-6, Metallicow wrote:
On Tuesday, February 25, 2014 1:29:12 PM UTC-6, Mike Driscoll wrote:
Oh I know that. When self-publishing, the publishers I’ve looked at would charge around $20 for the paperback. The cost comes in shipping it to me, buying shipping materials and then shipping it back out to each of the backers and hoping that the postal service doesn’t ruin any of the copies.
Yeah, usually that is the way it works.
Unless the printshop has a mailing service division, then this would be sent to another local mailing service company, which works out best in a situations like this when sending stuff many places happens.
Basically the trail of events is like this…
Lumberjack->PaperMill->PrintShop->MailingService->BuyerOrEndUser
Depending on execution, some steps can be eliminated, but most likely will cost more as you said. Labor is always the most expensive part or any item.
So whether you want to deal with the shipping is up to you, but would cut cost down for backers. This would basically depend on if you want to do the extra shipping work or not, which is an understandable cost up and above the product cost itself.
True enough. The price probably is a tad high. I played around with Lulu a bit to figure out costs of producing the book with various page counts and what-not and decided to drop the barrier of entry for the print version. I was thinking about doing that anyway…I was just going to wait until next week to do it. But you convinced me.
Mike
Ok, I see it now. $25-30 is more reasonable. Thanks.
Umm the delivery date says is 2015? This must be a typo? The others say 2014. Is this right?
No…it looks like I got click happy and hit Save too quickly. Unfortunately, once someone backs a level, I can’t edit it any longer. But yes, it’s June, 2014.
I’ll figure out who in the family has the Kickstarter accounts already set up and just have one of them snag me a copy here in a few days. Juneish… Hopefully I’ll get it in time for the birthday parties. I should probably receive my MicroPython backer board here soon also and get to play around with it.
Another fundraising tactic is for you to consider try and get your local public libraries to host advertising flyers for your book at the checkout desk/etc, for the duration of the campaign in exchange for a public copy for their library shelves.
Anyway, Good Luck.
That’s an interesting idea, although I don’t see programming books at the libraries I’ve been to except possibly college libraries. I may have to try that.