Lexington Smith

Okay, i get it thats enough pie for now. This thread has been derailed successfully.
Next time, can I get some jelly on my pie ? :P

Andrew Monkhouse wrote:

A publish on demand system. Multiple companies do this today, including Amazon (Create Space)

Interestingly, the Wikipedia article on book stores can be read to imply that both having a source for getting multiple different books and publish on demand were the standard model in 300 B.C.

Thats what I meant. What was i thinking Of course, amazon would have already thought about something like this !

Jeanne Boyarsky wrote:It's also a bit shady if not outright illegal. For an internship, a company can pay $0 and you get school credit. For legitimate work, they are usually supposed to pay at least minimum wage. You are still free to volunteer of course.

I agree with the above - you are better off finding a company that can pay. You'll also probably learn more. If they don't have money to pay you, they probably don't have the time/interest to train you either.

Some of my friends had unpaid internships where they hardly got a chance to get trained or interact closely with the employees of the company. They ended up spending money to travel to the company
and gained almost no experience.

I would be very surprised if some people actually did an unpaid intern (not voluntary) and actually got some good experience.

Maneesh Godbole wrote:I have never fully understood Richard Bach's books, but really enjoyed quite a few of them. Guess it's the same with tech books.

Almost all the tech books I have come across, usually have a "minimal background requirement" section which talks about assumptions. I have also seen some clearly document "{beginner, intermediate, advanced} target user"

Yes, I have seen the "who this book is for" too. But, they don't always live up to it.

Jk Robbins wrote:I like pie.

What ? Is this some kind of zen riddle where the answer is in a pie ?

Ulf Dittmer wrote:Pie is good.

What ? Is this some kind of zen riddle where the answer is in a pie ?

Okay everyone, I know this is a emotional issue and will not take sides on it. In my intern, I got $800 per month which is about 40-50,000 indian rupees. Now, I asked some friends from India and learned about developers who know more than me and can do a much better job than me, for
almost the same amount of money. With examples like these in mind and assuming that security/confidentiality is not critical, how can one even argue against outsourcing ?
To be honest, if I was involved in hiring, I would rather get an experienced guy for the Job than a beginner intern like myself for the same amount of money.

I am not familiar with the process. But, when I see some books I feel that they make too many assumptions about what the reader knows/does not know and don't explain concepts properly or in a simple manner.
You should see some books on software development, they use 18th century english and go in circles before getting to the point.
They also don't talk about the questions that any smart and attentive student might think while reading this book ?
how do authors overcome these challenges ?

Should they put this book in front of several students (beta testers) and get feedback from them ? Then refine the book add new info and simplify the existing explanations ?

I do have some "basic" knowledge of Java and also internship which was 800 US$ a month, full time. I am still in the initial stages of being a developer and my internship experience did not make a stellar improvement to my experience.
Given this background, I randomly applied to a couple of Jobs 3 of which were startups. Guess what ? All of them offered me $0 !!!

Okay, I admit that I have a LOT to learn. But, isn't $0 too less <insert rolling eyes here>. Is this an excuse that most startups make or try to use ? How can I tell if it is actually possible for them to pay me some money ?
How do you suggest I negotiate with them ? Even $500 per month for full time is better than $0. But, I don't understand why they can't give that to me.

Pat Farrell wrote:

Bear Bibeault wrote:The vast majority of the cost of a book is producing the content, not the printing. Printing is a commodity and isn't even close to the major cost of producing a book.

Depends upon one's definition of "producing the content." I agree, physically printing the book is a tiny amount. But managing the manufacture, shipping and distribution, handling from print to distributor, to wholesaler to retailer, etc. is a big deal that adds a lot of cost. Plus with traditional (dead tree) books, the selection, editing, publishing and advertising are huge costs. Once you take an axe to most of those costs, the value of the publishing house starts to look shakey.

I can see a day when an author hires an editor and perhaps a layout person, and cuts out all the rest. Then the price would drop by 80% or so, and the author would still make more money.

Could the authors use something like this ?

Lexington Smith wrote:I thought of one business model to reduce the costs of books -
Make a large cheap printing company, like a Amazon-7-11 hybrid(call it A7). Set them up like 7-11 all over the place. The 7-11's will mainly store printouts shipped from mega-printing warehouses, with the option of paying extra to get printouts immediately.
Authors can self-publish using A7. A7 could even have an author page where he/she can communicate with readers for errata, feedback etc.
A7 get its cash from all kinds of printouts, banners, flyers and such. Maybe even do custom wedding cards, greetings etc to add sources of cash...any more sources ?

Has this even been tried before ?

Greg Charles wrote:Some of them are cheaper. Manning, in particular, gives a pretty nice discount on the electronic versions of their books. For a small fee, you can read your books in the bath, shower, or at the bottom of a swimming pool. Try that with a paper book!

Swimming and reading ? Whats next, reading while sleeping ?

Yeah time management can help. But, how many nerds are hunks or are very muscular ?

Jelle Klap wrote:Yeah, I once infected a company's accounting system with a penny shaving virus that transferred the money into my bank account, but like an idiot I misplaced a decimal point so the account balance grew way too fast. Luckily one of my co-workers burned the company building down, destroying the evidence.

Or did i see that in a movie...

Which movie ?

nir sharma wrote:You made a mistake while "Maaking" this thread also (I hope it was intentional).

Damn it was not intentional. Looks like its not my day.

I made a lame mistake which was really embarrassing here.
Did you ever make such mistakes even after doing more difficult code ? I wish i could bury my head under sand now.