indicate that the tech book business in general and the xml book
business in particular are
in dire
straights
.
looking at my own behavior, i can easily pinpoint the answer. my
tech book purchasing has dropped to near nothing over the years and
it’s due entirely to the fact that, for most tech topics most of
the time, a quick one-two punch of
google
and
google groups
is “good enough”. i love to support great companies like
o’reilly
, but there is an undeniably diminishing incremental value in many
technical books.
it’s a sad fact, but it’s proven by the decreasing number of times
that i’ve cracked open one of the books collecting dust on my desk
and the decreasing sales of tech books that those in the technical
publishing industry are reporting.