Possible WordPress Book

I think the real problem with this whole thing, is that most of feel that there are individuals more qualified to write a book about WordPress. And, out of those individuals, Podz is probably the most qualified. Podz cranks out tons of WordPress tutorials and is constantly contributing to both the forums and the Codex, but I’ve never heard of Larry Ayers until he made this forum post about his book plans. In fact, this topic is the first topic he’s ever made. Since then, he’s added several replies to this topic and posted one reply to another topic in which he recommended Emacs for composing your WordPress posts. My personal opinion is that a book should be written as a co-venture between the chief developers of WordPress, Podz, NuclearMoose, and anyone else who wishes to contribute a page or two. IOW, it should be a paper version of the Codex.

I dropped the below comment at Larry Ayers’ blog (which is quite nice, both in design and content, I might add).

I bought the first O’Reilly book on “Blogging” and as I read it, I thought to myself, “Gee, I could have written this thing.” A monumental waste of a good $20 plus shipping. Do you know how many lattes I could have had with that?! Well, a few anyway!

So either the O’Reilly editors are slip-sliding into the “Dummies” field, because that book was as basic as it gets — Is there even a Blogging for Dummies book out there?

I will say here what my gut reaction to your post was, and not intenting an insult, just to impart what went through my head at the time:

Who is this guy and why would I buy a WP book from him? I’d probably buy one written by any of the devs or any of the regulars on WP. I’d have to ask, what are your credentials?

Plus someone did make a good point: By the time the book went to press it may be so outdated as to be rendered useless, much as the aforementioned book on Blogging was. This kind of technology ages quickly because of its mercurial nature.

The argument that only WP devs should be writing a WP book is baseless, since I don’t believe the Trotts had a say in the O’Reilly book I read. I did note that one contributor developed a blog tool called Bloxsom, and it was given considerable more page time than I thought it merited, probably simply due to the fact that its developer was one of the book’s writers.

If you feel capable of writing about WP no one can stop you. Furthermore, if you get a foot in the door at some publishing house, then more power to you.

I personally feel it is the answer to a question no one asked.

Nice blog, BTW. Like the design and the content, as I’ve been birdwalking through here this afternoon!

And … I just have to ask: Why haven’t we seen you on the WP forums before?!

To respond to some of the preceding posts: perhaps Podz could have turned his tutorials into a book. But he chose to make them freely available on the web and should be commended for doing so.

Not everyone learns well from documentation spread around the web. Everyone here probably is comfortable learning this way as we’ve grown up as the web evolved. Others like to have a tangible printed book that they can take into the bathroom.

To make my intentions a bit more clear, I think that WordPress is such a quality product that it should be more accessible to the many people who aren’t the type to even know about it or the existence of such useful forums as this one.

My qualifications? I enjoy writing, can write clearly and understandably, and I’m able to put myself in the shoes of those who don’t have geeky tendencies.

Larry

I could post a reply, but then I’d have to moderate it. Heavily.

Come on Podz. Have I stolen something from you? I take a look at your site, appreciated the information you so graciously provided, and you are still pissed off?

Don’t provide free information if it makes you angry when people read it!

Or thwart my evil connivings and write a book yourself!

Larry

I don’t think he’ll be less pissed if you keep poking him like that.

Not yet Larry, no.
You have taken a look at the documentation available. That involves many blogs – mine included – and also Codex. You decide that seeing you cannot log into Amazon and buy a book on WordPress, you will write one. But not by taking the time to get to know the program, or by hanging around the forums to see what the typical questions and issues are (and believe me, I have a better idea of that than 99% of the forum users). No, you will just steal the work of others and put that work out in a form that makes YOU money.
My views on capitalism and such matter not, what does matter to me is that I have provided work which is – by my own admission – easily converted to another form. I have never put ads on my site, and until today (and in a move which had been planned for a short while) had not even had a donate button. I believe that quality help for WP should be available free.
It’s not just my guides, it’s also my time. I have given (freely I know) a huge amount of time, and here you are, swanning in and creaming off the profit. I have paid in time and money, yet you seek to steal the rewards.

People can read my work as much as they want – I know the visitor count (no, I’m not telling you).

As for what I plan to do ?
It’s 01:48 here, and I’m tired. Very pissed off and very tired. So I will sleep on it. But yes, I do have a course of action in mind and would you mind terribly if you do not get to be the first person on the list to know ?

Now, flamers / anons / unregistered – poke away. I’m sure you’ve been looking forward to it.

Well said, Podz.

This whole thing is very reminiscent of the Root vs. Kubrick controversy awhile back.

SO WHAT if LarryAyers talks about writing a book about WP? Has he done so? Chris Davis talked about doing one for O’Reilly, too…eons ago, it seems, in #wordpress. (It must be at least a year ago, now.) Still no WordPress book on the shelves. And even if he did somehow write this book and find a publisher, no one’s forcing anyone to buy it, are they?

With all respect, Podz: SO WHAT if LarryAyers has been to your site? I’ve been to your site too. Back when I was an active member of the docs team, I visited lots of docs-related sites (and not just WP-related ones). NOT to steal people’s content, but to see what others have done: how they presented the material, what they’ve covered. That’s just good research, in my opinion. How you make the leap from ‘you’ve visited my site’ to essentially accusing the man of ripping off your work (or planning to) is puzzling to me. Believe me, I understand the difficult and largely thankless job docs-writing is. I understand not wanting to feel that someone may profit from your (freely-given) works.

HOWEVER. You’re accusing this man of stealing from you,
based upon the fact that a)he’s been to your site and b)wants to
write a commercially produced work. Your conclusion seems
logically flawed. Nor do I understand the red-faced anger so
apparent in your posts on this topic. If your works are copyrighted, you have no worries. If LA uses works that are
covered under the Creative Commons or some similar licensing
scheme, that’s fair play too. What’s the license on the contents of the Wiki/Codex, by the way? I couldn’t find one that was apparent, after some time spent looking specifically for that. If the content is covered implicitly under the GPL, he’s free to use it, as well.

I’d be a lot more comfortable with Chris Davis, another heavy WP contributer and developer, writing the book than someone who just appeared and has only used WordPress long enough to write 29 posts.

Well, Chris Davis is as free to write a book about WP as I am. More power to him if he does it!

Larry

Having read Larry’s comments on his own site, I noted that he only discovered WP approx 3 weeks ago, so either he would be writing a very small book or he would have to take much of the material from existing items.

There’s nothing wrong,r eally, with what Larry is doing, just as long as it is credible and fair, and doesn’t venture on plagarism. As has been stated, however, that even after 1.5 goes final, there are so many elements to WP that are dynamic that it is forever changing. The book may not be able to truly reflect the latest updates, but it may prove useful for those who are trying to venture into WP.

Still, I have to question Larry’s experience with WP – I mean 3 weeks and already you feel confident enough to write a book? I also thought it unfair at taking a dig at podz on personal issues on your site, be they true or not, about the bi-polar issue. Rather than making snide observations, it may have been better to stick to the topic at hand and justify your reasoning for a book by yourself than to make assumptions about whether Podz’s personal health is the cause for his disappointment with you writing a book.

You obviously fail to take Podz’s arguments without any serious thought – and assuming you’re of the older generation, I would have expected a more mature response to Podz’s comments.

The only way your book will work is if you work with the WP community, rather than against it – the truth is, that even Larry did steal the work from anyone, he could change the content to such an extent that it would look different enough to be considered original. I don’t think he would foolish enough to do so, but I question the credability with which you’ve approached this matter.

Well, basically any program that has a set “way” to accomplish a certain task (e.g., posting an entry, backing up a database) is going to fall victim to claims that someone’s words were stolen.

To back up a PHP database, open a browser, launch a Windows program, there are several specific steps. There are only so many ways to string the words together telling people how to do these things. Someone somewhere is bound to have written down those steps in the same or similar verbage. Do you see where I’m going with this?

I still think a “how-to” book on WordPress is an exercise in futility, but it’s not my time or resources that are at stake here. And no one is forcing me to buy such a book should one ever hit the bookstore shelves. Since WordPress encompasses so much more than just its own code, being PHP-based and all, if I were a person interested in gleaning as much knowledge about it and its underpinnings as possible, wouldn’t I be better served picking up one of the many O’Reilly books on PHP, CSS or XML/XTML?

Well, I personally have done my share to beat this horse, be it dead or alive. G’night everyone!

I think the idea of a book is awesome. Just having the book on the market would open up the exposure to anyone looking for a blogging book. I personally like having books to reference. Even though I haunt these lists daily. How many people are there looking for ‘said’ book? That I don’t know but having the WordPress name on the shelf would never hurt.

I agree that a book on WordPress would be dated fast due to the rapid development going into the platform. So maybe do a hybrid Book/Wiki. You work out a deal with the publisher to release the book and after a pre-determined number of months (6 months or something), you could release a wiki that would allow the book to become a running document that could change and grow with the changes.

Good luck!

Good point, Joni. It is true that all of the underpinnings of WP are covered well by other O’Reilly books. I have many of these books on a shelf in my room, but isn’t there a need for a book that brings together the necessary elements of these varied free software subcultures and shows how they can work together to make possible a revolutionary publishing platform such as WordPress?

Thanks for the positive comments, ZephyrSky! The idea of a book/wiki combination has crossed my mind. I’m very impressed with the Wikipedia and use it often.

Larry