A Mugged Liberal
Written on 14 Oct 2009
A Liberal is a Conservative Who Hasn’t Been Mugged
I discover that our book Growing Object-Oriented Software, Guided by Tests is already up with the file sharers. This is before Nat and I have even seen a printed copy. I don’t know whether to be flattered that someone thinks our effort is worth pinching or annoyed that the production process has not protected our interests.
If you’ve downloaded a copy, remember that it took us three years to write, which includes a great deal of lost income. The least you can do is tell the world how good it is so that maybe we sell a few more copies.
Filed in: Book, Grumpy Old Man.
Years ago, when someone stole my car (along with it most of my technical book collection and my extra LCD monitor) I thought to myself, “Hmmm… It’s a pretty fast car, I hope whoever stole it doesn’t drive too fast, get into an accident and hurt himself”. That’s when I knew just how liberal I am.
Piracy or not, I’ll still buy your book.
@Martin. Thanks. That’s /one/ sale
Remember that there are three possibilities for people who download your book.
1. Those who have downloaded, but wouldn’t have bought anyway (no loss of sale)
2. Those who have downloaded, and now won’t buy (1 lost sale)
3. Those who have downloaded, and will also buy (1 sale)
Also, most physical book stores only stock the “Dummies guide” or “Teach Yourself x in 21 days” style of books… I would like to have a flick through before I cough up my hard earned cash…
When I went out to buy my first CD, many years ago, I had in my mind that I wanted to buy “Pocket Full of Kryptonite” by “The Spin Doctors”. When I picked up the case, there were something like 9 songs of which I knew 2. It was £12. I finally ended up buying a Beach Boys CD with 27 songs of which I knew more than half for £10.
I still don’t own Pocket Full of Kryptonite
The last three CD albums I bought (before swearing off buying CDs from money-grabbing production companies) I would not have bought if I had not been able to “try” the tracks before I bought.
Do you know where I can download a review copy?
The point, that might be in the previous comment somewhere, is that you might end up with more sales due to this.
You know what the Monty Python boys say…
+1 been waiting for this book for almost 2 years now, would buy it regardless
I’ll be buying a copy – a free download would also be nice, but isn’t a replacement for the book. Has anyone done any stats on sales of books that have (legal) free downloads? There seems to be quite a few around these days.
So that’s 3 copies, then.
In retrospect, Addison Wesley probably should care more about this than me–after all I’m never going to cover my costs directly from sales.
I’m most impressed by the speed at which this has happened.
@Andy Palmer “I would like to have a flick through before I cough up my hard earned cash…”
It is on Amazon “Look Inside” http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/reader/0321503627/ref=sib_dp_pt
Rough Cuts are up on Safari. Links from http://www.growing-object-oriented-software.com/
Oops! I hadn’t realized it was out yet. I just bought a copy.
Thanks for writing it.
@Tom. Thanks for buying it
I just ordered my copy from amazon. Is the source code of the worked example downloadable from somewhere ?
nevermind i found the answer here http://groups.google.com/group/growing-object-oriented-software , where i should have look first
I have been waiting for the book since I read the first draft. I ordered today. Thanks for the great work.
The people who copies this book will write software and than expect others not to copy their software.
Ironic!
Steve,
Just bought the book based merely on how much I like the title. There’s my one stab in the eye of piracy.
–Tim
@Tim Thanks, every little helps )
http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/2010/05/steal-this-ebook.html
Konrath follows Baen’s Eric Flint in claiming piracy HELPS sales, instead of hurting them. Given the amount of money I spent buying books from Baen, I’m with him