Dillemma: Write a book or write Open Source book?

[The Pentium Guy]

Cliffnotes (for the lazy)

Background: I've had this site, vbProgramming, up for a while. I mean there's a sizable collection of tutorials related to game programming with VB.NET there. The site was pretty active last year.

Now: I'm writing a book about this very topic, a pretty big portion (about 1/4) of the content is already contained on my site. It's a daunting task, but I'd make some cash and look really good on college apps.

Insetad, should I make this an open source book (WikiBook, OurMedia, CreativeCommons, etc)? The problem is, I'd need a large userbase, which I don't have anymore.

Any thoughts and opinions would be appreciated.


Not-cliffs:
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It's all about giving back to the community. Information exchange is crucial in this world, and without it we woudln't progress. As programmers, we learn from our masters and our peers. Beginner programmers are guided by more experienced programmers (or resources they've created, such as articles, books, or websites). As these new programmers get more experienced, it becomes their duty to give rise to the inexperienced programmers. The cycle continues...

A month ago I decided to write a book, "Learning Visual Basic.NET - The Game Programmer's Path." The book uses the website's tried-and-true trial and error method of teaching. It quickly introduces the reader to Visual Basic.NET and progresses through game development. It begins with simple games such as tic-tac-toe, pong, checkers, tetris, brickout, demonstrating the development process and game loops. Then, the book moves onwards to introduce AI with games such as pacman, and space shooters. Advanced scrolling and level-creation is introduced with a game similar to Mario. Complicated event-driven concepts such as information storage (character stats, inventory, etc), optimization, etc. are introduced in a mini RPG. I haven't decided yet whether or not a section on 3D will be introduced or not.

Here's the dillemma I'm facing. Information exchange is meant to be free right? Right. Well the flip side of the coin is: If I wrote this book I'd make profit, and have a major ++ on my college application. Problem is, books take months to write. I'm up for it, however.

Well, going back to the Information = Free idea. If I made a WikiBook (www.wikibooks.org) would anyone contribute? A WikiBook is an open-source book which anyone is free to edit (and features a History system that allows an article to be reverted to a previous version if it gets messed up). The key to such a project is a large fanbase, as you'd have many users submitting small bits of content at a time, which amounts to something. It's a shame, really - last summer (when I was constantly updating the site) if I launched the project I might have gotten this project rolling along quite smoothly.
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Cliffs are at the top section

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Thanks,
-The Pentium Guy

 

[HardcoreRobot]

i dont know where you get the idea that info exchange should be free

you take the time and effort to write a book, theres no shame in wanting something in return

 

[DrPizza]

Regardless of which route you're going, get a good spell checker. (dilemma)

But, I'd go with the profit-seeking approach.

 

[Lonyo]

Write a book and make your website a wiki site.

 

[The Pentium Guy]

Originally posted by: Lonyo
Write a book and make your website a wiki site.

That's what I was thinking. A book would encourage a userbase, which would, in turn, lead to content submission.

It's a damn daunting task though.

 

[The Pentium Guy]

To the top, for some more opinions.

 

[rgwalt]

IF you do decide to write a book for publication, be sure that you can find a house that will publish you! Look into how expensive it will be to get published. And, I recommend using LaTeX for your typesetting if/when the time comes.

OpenSource is great, but you'll never make any money off it. While knowledge is, in itself, something that should be free, you deserve to be compensated for the effort put into conveying knowledge to others.

R

 

[notfred]

Books don't have source code, therefore they can't be "open source". If you want to license it with Creative Commons or something, fine, but don't call it "open source".

 

[SarcasticDwarf]

Originally posted by: rgwalt
IF you do decide to write a book for publication, be sure that you can find a house that will publish you! Look into how expensive it will be to get published. And, I recommend using LaTeX for your typesetting if/when the time comes.

OpenSource is great, but you'll never make any money off it. While knowledge is, in itself, something that should be free, you deserve to be compensated for the effort put into conveying knowledge to others.

R

You also are not going to make money off of a book published by a POD company.

 

[GreenGhost]

I don't think it's possible to make money from writing a book, although I made $11.90 in royalties last year (I got an envelope that said "Important Tax Return Documents Inside" - has to be joke from the publisher, but that was a thesis). Professionaly, however, it's the best thing you can do. I'd check smaller publishers that have computer series. You will do most of the work, like typesetting and editorial work; get friends and colleagues to review chapters and suggest changes. If you want to have professional credit, an electronic book doesn't do much.

 

[MoPHo]

if you're going to write a book, take the stuff off your site. That way people won't be like 'ZOMG HE CHARGED ME TO READ SOMETHING HE POSTED FOR FREE WTF HAX!'

i like the idea of writing a book and turning your current site into a wiki. but again, people might wonder why they paid if a good chunk is already online.