[sdiy] From Bernie of Electronotes

[sleepy_dog at gmx.de]

 >> The way to encourage the brightest among us to share their knowledge 
is not to see how low we can devalue what they do.  No thank you, I am 
not interested in a race to the bottom. <<

The paper is only the carrier material. I don't see the virtue of 
burning money on an inefficient form of delivery.
Not to mention the substantial added cost of shipping half a boatload of 
paper from the US to overseas.

And he already mentioned he isn't making a lot off of it.
If you could increase the number of sales, which lower prices tend to 
do, and, after some initial fixed effort, could reduce the ongoing 
effort, as was suggested, it might actually increase the profit.

Perhaps some people with expertise in the newest scanning tech can give 
some insights, to remove some of the roadblocks.

Perhaps if enough people are interested from the get go, no risk of up 
front investment for such a project would be necessary.
I.e., open a *Kickstarter* project, and spread the news throughout any 
damn site that has (wannabe) synth DIYers on it, and let's see whether 
enough backers can be found to meet the goal. If so, he gets the money, 
no ifs no buts. If not, the project gets the failed status, and not much 
harm was done.

Or how about this here:
https://leanpub.com/

People can buy not-yet-finished e-books, the books status (and content) 
is updated by the author, and those who already purchased, have access 
to it.
I.e. you can read what's already there when it's there, nobody has to 
wait until it's *all* done, which might increase the willingness of some 
to pay up front. You don't have to wait so long until you get *something*.


Maybe some people forgot that, but 300..400 bucks is a lot for some, 
especially young people.
And those are a target audience, too,  if you don't want this niche 
hobby to die out ;-)

Now perhaps I am exaggerating due to ignorance, I'm not that long into 
SDIY, but my impression is that there are not that many (still in print) 
good books out there explaining analog synth circuits. So making 
material that makes that more accessible would be most excellent, dudes.


Steve


Am 25.06.2017 um 22:39 schrieb Tom Farrand:
> Michael,
>
> Shakespeare is dead and any copyright of his work died a very long 
> time ago.
>
> Beethoven is also at end-stage death but his stuff costs a little more 
> because the copyright is still very much alive on the PERFORMANCE of 
> his works.  That is what the $28 is for ... the performance of 
> Beethoven's works.  Beethoven and his descendants get nada.  Same for 
> Shakespeare ... nada.
>
> I fail to see any similarity between two dead guys and what copies of 
> their stuff sells for, to that of Bernie, who is very much alive and 
> still producing stuff.
>
> Electronotes is a "vintage" history book that is still being written 
> by the original author.  I am more than just a little grateful for his 
> contributions to my education.
>
> As to cost, I think that most any single order I've placed to 
> SynthCube or Mouser or Digi-Key for parts, would exceed the full cost 
> of the paper version of Electronotes on which many of us learned from 
> Bernie what it's all about.  A deep understanding of this subject 
> matter that has made many of us fairly skilled in the art, is for sale 
> for less than $400.  I think that is a bargain.  Hells, bells, an 
> opening night opera ticket can cost up to a grand or more.  And when 
> it's over ... it's over.
>
> The way to encourage the brightest among us to share their knowledge 
> is not to see how low we can devalue what they do. No thank you, I am 
> not interested in a race to the bottom.
>
> Tom Farrand
>
> On Sun, Jun 25, 2017 at 1:19 PM, MOB <mob at mindspring.com 
> <mailto:mob at mindspring.com>> wrote:
>
>     Tom,
>
>     I completely agree that Bernie should be free to do whatever he
>     wishes with his intellectual property.
>
>     I did think, and I do take issue with your last argument. In less
>     than a minute, I found a Kindle edition of the complete works of
>     Shakespeare for 99 cents and CD's of the complete symphonies of
>     Beethoven for $28.
>
>     There's a trade-off satisfaction from income from fewer
>     high-paying users and from having your work more widely known and
>     used.  We all know that in a consumer-based world, the single-item
>     price is *not* the index of value.  An individual has a right to
>     choose either, but it's nice to know that both options are available.
>
>     Best regards,
>
>     Michael
>
>     On 6/25/2017 1:37 PM, Tom Farrand wrote:
>
>         Can I reduce your life's work into a $50 PDF?  Is that what a
>         lifetime of work is worth nowadays?  People: think.
>
>
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