Re: postgresql book - practical or something newer?

On Thu, 31 Jan 2008, Robert Treat wrote:

> Just so you know, I approached OReally about writing a PostgreSQL Cookbook,
> and they turned it down. They did offer me some other titles, but those don't
> seem to have gone anywhere.

I think the market for a PostgreSQL book is limited by a few things:

1) There just aren't that many potential buyers (yet!)
2) The included documentation is too good
3) There's way too much community-generated material like the mailing
lists available
4) Multiple earlier free books are already floating around

You almost have to go out of your way to cover material that isn't in the
manual to get something that's worth buying in book form, but then it's
hard to find a market for that--so much of the popular material is already
in there.

> I have thought of going the self-publishing route, but the reason against it
> is the same one as you don't see a lot of book publishers working on PG
> books; the sales just aren't that strong.

For publishing a book to make sense, you have to get more in sales than
the author could have made doing other work rather than working on the
book. That's still tough for anyone qualified to write about PostgreSQL.

I think there's enormous potential for an online book that referenced the
existing manual heavily, serving more as an tutorial index to help guide
people through that document. "Potential" from the perspective of being
useful, not so much as a way for the author to get much out of spending
that time.

--
* Greg Smith gsmith(at)gregsmith(dot)com http://www.gregsmith.com Baltimore, MD