I have written a foss python book on github. In the apst 5yrs, the same Acquisition editor from Apreas reached out to me about publishing my book. When he reached out to me for the first time, I was excited. He gave me a format and I expanded my book in their format. Then 6 months later dude emails me that it was rejected and if I could write something else, he recahed out to me and now he made a u turn asking me to write something different blah blah

I said no thanks and moved on.

A few years later, dude sends me the exact same email. I replied saying that get me in writing that you'll publish the book this time because the last time you wasted my 2 3 months.

Publishing is hard. Yess publishing is even harder. Royaltie are dwindling not to mention these days the documentation has improved so much that people learn from that.

My foss books have netted me more $ than if I had signed up with Apress, so not a loss!

I killed a book deal I had for this book I mostly finished:

https://kevmo.io/zero-to-code/

I inked the deal in 2023, but shortly after felt like the market was too dead for newbies. When I initially removed the website for the book, I got a small wave of complaints, so I guess some folks still found it helpful.

The illustration is an extremely AI-generated book image with all the usual AI image generation mistakes (especially read the book spine). If people stop reading the article because they expect the text to be AI slop as well, I can understand why.

"12% of total sales ..."

Me: That doesn't sound too bad! They keep 12% of the profit, leaving him 88%!

".. and then 15% [after that]"

This reminds me of the scene in Queen of the South. FL (female lead) is new to power, negotiating some deal.

Guy: How much?

FL: Unsure how much to take 10%.

Guy: Thinking her cut is only 10%, seeing her as weak Oh.. heh.

FL: Detects her mistake For you.

Guy: Face gets red, angry But.. but..

New meme:

[Earth] [Astronaut 1] [Astronaut 2 + Gun]

Astronaut 1 says nothing

Astronaut 2 says "More AI"

I read a good part of the OP.

I don't get why he went with a publisher despite the serious cons he listed up front.

> There was also a daunting voice in the back of my head that LLMs have eliminated the need for books like this. Why buy this book when ChatGPT can generate the same style of tutorial for ANY project that is customized to you?

Why have sex with your wife when you can buy her a dildo?

Nice of them to transfer back the rights when they terminated the contract! I haven't heard of anyone not doing that, but it feels suspiciously not always a given if they have to specify explicitly.

Good for you.