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To blog, or not to blog?

6 replies on 1 page. Most recent reply: May 22, 2008 6:25 AM by Matthew Wilson

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Matthew Wilson

Posts: 145
Nickname: bigboy
Registered: Jun, 2004

To blog, or not to blog? (View in Weblogs)
Posted: Apr 24, 2008 5:33 PM
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Summary
After having spent the last 15 frustrating months of too-successful consulting that has stolen all my time for writing and most of my time for researching/open-source development, something's got to give! Is blogging the answer to my quandary?
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The last year has been one largely of ups for me, and I'm not complaining or taking that for granted. However, it has put the mockers on my attempts to achieve what I'd planned for 07, namely
  1. Finish my next book, Breaking Up The Monolith: Advanced C++ Design without Compromise
  2. Get Pantheios 1.0 completed and out the door, and start working on the 1.1, 1.2, ... 1.5 plans.
  3. Release FastFormat, the (humbly) last, best C++ output/formatting library you'll ever use.
Part of the problem with these activities is that I've been looking for outlets in which to publish the articles and sample chapters, necessary to launch them properly. The publishing world is changing rapidly, in response to the web, and I've realised that I'm a bit of a dinosaur (I like proper journals, articles and paper-in-hand). I just don't know clearly where to direct my C++-specific musings any more.

There've also been significantly fewer sales of my second book, Extended STL, vol 1 (2007), than for my first Imperfect C++ (2004). This puzzled me at first, since Extended STL is significantly better written (in terms of prose style, and my, er, jokes) than Imperfect C++, and also there are no parts of it that I would elide in hindsight, whereas Imperfect C++ could be improved if 5-10% of it were simply removed. But in thinking about it awhile I can't help but note that the number of articles/column entries I've written around the time of publication of the two books is radically different, something like 50:1. I guess if I want to sell books on advanced C++ design to a potential market that is pretty small to start with, I should put more effort into getting the word out.

So, I've decided to get hip to the new reality, and embrace a combination of old and new media as follows:
  1. Articles
    I'll continue to write occasional articles (and will certainly do more in 08 than in 07) on significant items of interest about which I can wait for the publishing lead time. Expect to see introductions to FastFormat, Pantheios (a bit late in that case ...) and flecxx later this year.
  2. Tutorials
    For tutorials about how to use my libraries, I'm going to write small articles on the library websites, and on CodeProject and similar sites.
  3. Blogs
    For things that are small and quick and shouldn't have a long publishing lead time, I'm going to pretend that the world is interested in my every evanescent thought and do more blogging:
  4. Books
    Based on the advice of several venerable C++ authors who've published (and sold!) many more books that me, I've decided to henceforth save all the detailed technological design reasoning, concepts, principles and so forth, for my books and nowhere else. Anyone who cares that much about how a library can be written that is at once extensible, 100% type-safe, portable, discoverable and incredibly efficient can pay $50 (that's $1.5 to me) for the privilege. ;-)

    The first book off the line will be Breaking Up The Monolith, with two more to come in 09/10.
So, if you want to know more from me, feel free to partake in any/all/none of these media forms. Be seeing you!


Vincent O'Sullivan

Posts: 724
Nickname: vincent
Registered: Nov, 2002

Re: To blog, or not to blog? Posted: Apr 25, 2008 2:38 AM
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> There've also been significantly fewer sales of my second
> book, Extended STL, vol 1 (2007) than for my first
> Imperfect C++ (2004).

I'm not involved in C++ in anyway, but the result above doesn't surprise me. C++ is a mainstream language, so will have many users. Imperfect suggests it is a general purpose book that may be of interest to any C++ coder. It sound like a very inclusive book.

STL? A specialist subset of C++, so you've lost a big chunk of audience already.
Extended STL? A specialist subset of the STL subset. There goes another chunk of audience.
Extended STL, Vol 1? It's only covers an unspecified subset of the Extended STL subject. You'll still need to buy at least one more book to get the whole picture.

If it's sales you want - and that's the reason for putting the stuff into a book rather than just posting it online - then you need to keep the subject as inclusive as possible.

How about Extended STL, vol 1... for Dummies?

Matthew Wilson

Posts: 145
Nickname: bigboy
Registered: Jun, 2004

Re: To blog, or not to blog? Posted: Apr 25, 2008 3:16 PM
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> > There've also been significantly fewer sales of my second
> > book, Extended STL, vol 1 (2007) than for my first
> > Imperfect C++ (2004).
>
> I'm not involved in C++ in anyway, but the result above doesn't surprise me. C++ is a mainstream language, so will have many users. Imperfect suggests it is a general purpose book that may be of interest to any C++ coder. It sound like a very inclusive book.
>
> STL? A specialist subset of C++, so you've lost a big chunk of audience already.
> Extended STL? A specialist subset of the STL subset. There goes another chunk of audience. Extended STL, Vol 1? It's only covers an unspecified subset of the Extended STL subject. You'll still need to buy at least one more book to get the whole picture.
>
> If it's sales you want - and that's the reason for putting the stuff into a book rather than just posting it online - then you need to keep the subject as inclusive as possible.

That's a fair point. That hadn't - doh! - occured to me, and yet my editor's always going on about titles. Well, you live and learn. :-)

Kevin K

Posts: 1
Nickname: kkahley
Registered: May, 2008

Re: To blog, or not to blog? Posted: May 15, 2008 10:24 AM
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I bought Imperfect C++ and Extended STL and learned quite a bit from both. I'm glad to see you're going to start posting more blog entries; however, it seems you're considering spreading your contributions to different blogs. How about a little "DRY SPOT" in your online posts. Would make it much easier to follow all of your posts.

Thanks for all the good work.

Matthew Wilson

Posts: 145
Nickname: bigboy
Registered: Jun, 2004

Re: To blog, or not to blog? Posted: May 15, 2008 12:55 PM
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> I bought Imperfect C++ and Extended STL and learned quite
> a bit from both.

That's great to hear. Truly, this is what makes it worth doing. ('cos it ain't the royalties! <g>)

> I'm glad to see you're going to start
> posting more blog entries; however, it seems you're
> considering spreading your contributions to different
> blogs. How about a little "DRY SPOT" in your online
> posts. Would make it much easier to follow all of your
> posts.

Ouch! Fair point. :-)

I guess the reason is that I feel a little embarassed twittering on about the minutiae of STLSoft in this forum that is supposed to be insights of great thinking. :$

> Thanks for all the good work.

It is a great pleasure.

Charles Cooper

Posts: 1
Nickname: sablime
Registered: May, 2008

Re: To blog, or not to blog? Posted: May 22, 2008 5:15 AM
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Please consider this another note of appreciation for your books and work on STLSoft.

> Anyone [ ... ] can pay $50 (that's $1.5 to me)

If it is not too personal, is the second figure in the ball park or just a number to make a point?

Matthew Wilson

Posts: 145
Nickname: bigboy
Registered: Jun, 2004

Re: To blog, or not to blog? Posted: May 22, 2008 6:25 AM
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> Please consider this another note of appreciation for your
> books and work on STLSoft.

Thanks! :-)

> > Anyone [ ... ] can pay $50 (that's $1.5 to me)
>
> If it is not too personal, is the second figure in the
> ball park or just a number to make a point?

I'd have to root through some of my royalties documents, but I think it's pretty on-the-ball.

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