I'm writing a Textpattern book - what should it include?

gaekwad · 2012-12-12 15:20:33

Hi. I’m Pete, I’ve been using Textpattern since v4.0.3.

Back in September, I decided it was time for me to write a book on the use and abuse of Textpattern. I’m hoping it will be ready for release/sale in Q4 of 2013. I’ve purchased a domain and installed a holding page — the laws of the Internets dictate that I have to go ahead and do this now, no turning back. No, sir.

My intentions are to write and release the book for sale electronically in late 2013. I am also hoping to have a traditional paper publisher on board for the print rights. Forum members will have preferential pricing on the electronic version which will be made available without DRM or related angst-inducing. I haven’t yet finalised what will happen to the proceeds of sales, but I expect to a) funnel money back into Textpattern development somehow and b) retire to Monaco with a big-ass yacht full of bikini-clad hotties. Or something.

Seriously, though, I’ve had the Textpattern Solutions book for some years and I don’t want to reinvent the wheel with a glorified update/point release. I’ve been doing background tasks and research for a few months, so I’m building some ideas of what the book could include — but, frankly, my opinion doesn’t matter one jot: what do you want from a new Textpattern book? You’re the person who’s going to buy it, so you should have a say.

I’d really appreciate hearing your suggestions for subjects to include and avoid. The scope of the book is not yet wholly defined, so this is an ideal time to share your ideas. I can’t promise I’ll get everything covered, of course, but knowing what’s important is very useful to me.

Thank you in advance for your input.

els · 2012-12-12 20:03:47

Hey, that’s great news, Pete! I’m anxious to see the suggestions that will be posted here. (I have none at the moment, because I haven’t had the time yet to give it a thought. But I’m sure that time will come.)

mrdale · 2012-12-12 20:29:05

I think the key question is that of target reader. Which level of expertise? Textpattern is pretty open-ended in some ways. So you could conceivably do a beginner book and an advanced book, maybe even an intermediate book too.

tye · 2012-12-12 21:57:27

Just of the top of my head, examples of how to create various sites (blog, corporate, photogallery, ecommerce etc) or site sections (Photo gallery’s, guest book, blog/news etc)

springworks · 2012-12-12 22:35:46

mrdale wrote:

I think the key question is that of target reader. Which level of expertise? Textpattern is pretty open-ended in some ways. So you could conceivably do a beginner book and an advanced book, maybe even an intermediate book too.

That’s what I thought too.

Personally, I would be interested in an intermediate/advanced level book that gave interesting and creative examples of how to harness the power of the native Textpattern tags.

Also, an up-to-date guide to writing plug-ins would be really useful.

bici · 2012-12-13 07:05:05

springworks wrote:

Personally, I would be interested in an intermediate/advanced level book that gave interesting and creative examples of how to harness the power of the native Textpattern tags.

I agree. A more advanced book is my preference

While the original needs updating i think it can still be useful in meeting the needs of the beginner who wants to explore Textpattern. Especially as a bloging tool. No need to go over that ground.

gaekwad · 2012-12-13 08:30:42

This is all very useful info, thank you. Truthfully, the scope and level of my book has, right now, not been pinned down. I consider myself an experienced Textpattern user and administrator, but I can’t currently read/write PHP — so plugins are out of my depth. I’m handy with tags, I like to think, but I don’t know how my knowledge compares with other people.

I’ll give this some though and brainstorming.

All input is appreciated -thank you, again.

Destry · 2012-12-13 09:03:33

That’s a great undertaking, Pete! I think this notion of more published literature for Txp has been bubbling under the surface in more minds lately.

For example, something I’ve dropped hints about here and there in the social channels is the idea of creating a series of short ebooks; each authored by a different person, and combined making up a complete set. Each ebook would focus on a specific topic area and thus audience (or audience caliber). I think there are many advantages to this approach (over a single full book) in today’s climate:

People are now mobile device users, and ebooks are more popular than ever. Most people will buy an ebook over a print for cost and convenience (though some will by both if the ebook exists).
Related to #1, more and more small tablets are hitting the market (and doing very well), and one of the prime use of these tablets is reading. Popular grouping and distribution tools around digital reading make ebooks a very attractive choice.
Ebooks don’t require a publisher, thus more freedom to move forward and distribute. (Editing should still be required, but that can be worked out.)
A series of smaller ebooks across multiple authors is a lot easier for each individual than one comprehensive book by one person. (Even the first Textpattern book was written by several authors.)
Readers can buy the ebook they want, for the topic they need or interests them, rather than buying the whole enchilada that may be skipped in large amounts.

There’s even a cool service (can’t remember the source at the moment) that will take short written works and produce slick mini-manual print versions. So even if print was desired over ebooks (or in addition to) by some people, there would be a way to produce print versions without having to deal with a publisher. Revolutions are afoot!

In any case, I intend to write one of these ebooks, and I was thinking of using my Txp Building Blocks articles (quite popular even today) as a basis for the first introductory one. I had a couple of people in mind for others in the series too (editorial connections). If you find you don’t go down the full book road, Pete, by all means consider doing one of the ebooks, because I think they’ll happen regardless.

Destry · 2012-12-13 09:15:43

Okay, I just saw that other thread where you talk about your digital publishing business and mention doing an ebook. Brilliant minds think alike. :)

So, instead of a single book, why not a series of focused mini-books as I was talking about?

Destry · 2012-12-13 09:21:57

Btw, a certain smd_ebook plugin is in the works. Maybe that could have a play in things.

philwareham · 2012-12-13 10:03:38

Whilst eBooks are all well and good, nothing beats a good printed book IMHO, so I’m glad Pete is considering that option. Maybe that’s my print background influencing me.

Wonder if Kevin Potts has some helpful guidance to give on your new book, since he’s the only member of the Textpattern Solutions book still on the scene.

springworks · 2012-12-13 10:12:43

I like your thinking Destry. I think the idea of a series of shortish, clearly-focussed ebooks about Textpattern development could be really useful. Where each one is something like TxP Tips on steroids, with different books perhaps focussing on separate areas of development. From the top of my head:

building different navigation schemes (based on section/category/article) plus benefits and examples of each
efficient re-use of code with forms and pages
making all content editable for clients (use of hidden sections for common content site elements that don’t fit in to main site hierarchy)
integrating external services (Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Google Maps, etc.)
ecommerce applications
community sites (self-registration, membership, user-submission of content, etc.)
writing plugins (best practices, security issues, etc.)

I’m up for getting involved in this in whatever way I can. I’ve got a background in print design and publishing before I got into web design too.

Pete, I think we’ve met before in the pub after an OxMUG meeting many moons ago, when I used to live in Milton Keynes and you were still at Sophos. If I remember correctly we both had bought lifetime accounts at TextDrive and it was shortly after Joyent came on the scene. Anyway, if I can be of any help, please me know.

gaekwad · 2012-12-13 11:09:46

springworks wrote:

Pete, I think we’ve met before in the pub after an OxMUG meeting many moons ago, when I used to live in Milton Keynes and you were still at Sophos.

Y’know, I’ve been racking my brain where I know your name from – you’re exactly right.

gaekwad · 2012-12-13 11:13:18

Destry: thank you for all your input, I’ll definitely be in touch about this.

Destry · 2012-12-13 17:37:49

philwareham wrote:

Whilst eBooks are all well and good, nothing beats a good printed book IMHO…

Let me clarify my position so it’s understood. If Pete wants to go down the road of writing an end-to-end book, he has my blessing, and especially if he’s looking at this as being a source of income (though tech books are a tough market). It’s not my intention to interfere with anybody on that. Go for it!

What I was introducing was something I’ve been thinking about for a number of months now. I even tweeted some hints to it several weeks ago.

But, apparently, Pete is also talking about an ebook, as I just learned earlier, produced through his own digital publishing business, if I understand correctly. There are certainly many advantages to ebooks, both for the author and the reader. Again, Pete has my blessing for a full ebook, if he writes one through his business.

I still think a series of shorter ebooks on specific Textpattern topics are a good idea. And I think they should be sold individually (a low cost for greater volume of sales kind of thing), and in various partial or complete packages later. Not unlike what A Book Apart does. That aspect of it is for talking about later, but the point now is that they would not be written for free. That’s what the wiki is for (have at it).

Wonder if Kevin Potts has some helpful guidance to give on your new book, since he’s the only member of the Textpattern Solutions book still on the scene.

Kevin is one of the people I’m approaching for one of the ebooks, actually. I might as well out my intentions on that now. (Springwork’s hand up is duly noted!)

Speaking of books, and I’ve never shared this story before, but I set out to write a Textpattern book about the same time the authors of Textpattern Solutions did. Devs at the time (all gone now) could verify this because I talked to them about my intentions and was looking for their technical editing support. As it turned out, they already knew another book was in the works but didn’t tell me even when I was talking to them about it (I remember thinking it was strange they wished me luck on my effort). I found out because I was already arranging a book contract with a publishing outfit who then learned in their circles the other book was already in the works with Friends of Ed. Once they learned that, they backed out of negotiation with me because of perceived competition. I had no hard feelings about the other book. In fact I was happy for their collaborative effort. However, I was disappointed by the secrecy on it from Txp devs and having learned second-hand in an awkward way from the publisher. Voila!

Speaking honestly, I think it would be difficult to write a full book on Txp and have it be different enough from the first book to be worthwhile. Txp hasn’t changed that much. A better full book would probably be a Second edition of the first, just updated to reflect modern builds, new examples and plugins, etc. On the other hand, a series of shorter, focused ebooks on a set number of primary topics/tasks seems like a winner. Like Springworks says… each one being a TXP Tip on steroids. Clear code examples and imagery, beautiful typography and presentation, etc.

We could do articles in the magazine like that, excluded from the web version but included in an ebook version of each issue, and sell the full mag issues with premium articles as ebooks. That could work too. Whatever the case, authors need to get something from it. Doing it through the mag would mean figuring out some kind of split where a part of sales would go to magazine efforts (authors/editors of mag articles need love too) and the rest to the ebook authors.

That’s just one idea. There’s different ways to play an ebook series, with or without the magazine. Just keep in mind that with the magazine it’s with the Textpattern project. Without it is entirely independent effort.

Pete, I’m happy to talk about your side of it anytime, though I’m helter-skelter the rest of this month, so let’s wait until after the new year. If you don’t mind.

Last edited by Destry (2012-12-13 17:45:53)

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#1 2012-12-12 15:20:33

I'm writing a Textpattern book - what should it include?

#2 2012-12-12 20:03:47

Re: I'm writing a Textpattern book - what should it include?

#3 2012-12-12 20:29:05

Re: I'm writing a Textpattern book - what should it include?

#4 2012-12-12 21:57:27

Re: I'm writing a Textpattern book - what should it include?

#5 2012-12-12 22:35:46

Re: I'm writing a Textpattern book - what should it include?

#6 2012-12-13 07:05:05

Re: I'm writing a Textpattern book - what should it include?

#7 2012-12-13 08:30:42

Re: I'm writing a Textpattern book - what should it include?

#8 2012-12-13 09:03:33

Re: I'm writing a Textpattern book - what should it include?

#9 2012-12-13 09:15:43

Re: I'm writing a Textpattern book - what should it include?

#10 2012-12-13 09:21:57

Re: I'm writing a Textpattern book - what should it include?

#11 2012-12-13 10:03:38

Re: I'm writing a Textpattern book - what should it include?

#12 2012-12-13 10:12:43

Re: I'm writing a Textpattern book - what should it include?

#13 2012-12-13 11:09:46

Re: I'm writing a Textpattern book - what should it include?

#14 2012-12-13 11:13:18

Re: I'm writing a Textpattern book - what should it include?

#15 2012-12-13 17:37:49

Re: I'm writing a Textpattern book - what should it include?

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