Readit NewsIts amazing what Chuck Peddle accomplished
After being forced to read books in high school over the summer (school mandated summer reading) I got turned off on reading for years until I picked up Harry Potter. That changed my perspective and I read gobs of books now. I actually prefer to read information mostly than to watch a video about it.
If they like reading comics, then get a stack of comics.
I allowed them to stay up later (if they want) but the condition is that time only can be used for reading. They really enjoyed that and it helped.
In time they traded the comics to fiction novels and their reading ability kept improving. They now get books from the library on their own and read quite a lot for their age. No parental pressure needed, they are addicted.
I managed to save some of the rare works but I could find absolutely no takers for the bulk of the books, at any price or even for free. That generation is leaving behind an enormous amount of paper and it is mostly going to waste. Very frustrating, if I had had the space I would have been happy to take all of it. I would have read some and I would have tried to find a new home for the remainder but that takes time and the housing company only gave us two weeks to vacate the place, which was much too little time even for proper cataloging. Fortunately he had already organized things to the point that it was obvious which ones were the precious ones.
And the violin got a good home. The guy lived like a monk, the whole flat was just paper and shelves, and a tiny spot for a bed. You could have made the pictures in this article in his flat as well (I didn't make any, it was too sad of an occasion).
My own books I keep giving away on the promise that whoever gets the book will read it and pass it on. That way they stay alive for a little bit longer. Some books I keep buying again just so I can have the pleasure of giving them away once more. Douglas Adams' hhgttg is probably the record holder.
I used to imagine running some kind of second hand book business (non profit) when I retire. Sad that these days it may not be feasible.
The issue was Sony released the PS2 a year later and convinced almost everyone it was far superior with the emotion engine.
Most people I knew at the time were convinced PS2 was next coming of Jesus and worth waitng for. Few people had multiple consoles, so Sega really got crushed by the competitive market and accumulated losses from their past mistakes.
My advice is this: if you want to write a book, then write it. But if you do have this sick, twisted desire to spend countless hours writing and editing your work, telling yourself you are an idiot, not good enough, and a horrible writer, then at least do so with the thinking people are going to read it and as a result you will make money. Set yourself up for the possibility of success. How can you do this?
* Package the book in different ways (print, print + videos, print + videos + consultation). This has been extraordinarily successful for me personally.
* Use the amazing Leanpub.com to do the book production (turn your Markdown into PDF, epub, etc). Not an affiliate or whatever, just mentioning it because you will save untold hours of pain.
* If you want to work with a publisher (and in 2024 I don't suggest you do), then choose very, very wisely. There are two who I would even consider working with today, and even in those cases I would absolutely not cede the usual rights.
Hope this helps, Jason
[1] As of this fifth edition my name is no longer on the book due to a disagreement with the publisher.
Jeff Geerling gave his devops books away (free) on multiple occasions. I chose to pay for them as he kept working on and improving them well after release.
If more writers took this approach, the quality would increase.
Modern cars are designed like smartphones with mandatory cloud connectivity and updates, but they are cars: a faulty / hacked car is far more dangerous to the public than a faulty / hacked smartphone.
A tariff helps balance the playing field for US manufacturing and does not try to solve the hacked car scenario
US needs manufacturing and tariffs unfortunately are in part necessary
If this is true, then I'd prefer dividends. I can put the capital in another company if I choose.
Buybacks seem like another lever to help management class cash out as a company starts to slump.