Date: Thu, 16 Jan 1997 19:39:05 -0800 From: "Jordan K. Hubbard" <jkh@time.cdrom.com> To: Chris Coleman <chris@bb.cc.wa.us> Cc: "Brian J. McGovern" <mcgovern@spoon.beta.com>, chat@freebsd.org, julian@whistle.com Subject: Re: Commerical applications (was: Development and validation tools...) Message-ID: <1895.853472345@time.cdrom.com> In-Reply-To: Your message of "Thu, 16 Jan 1997 13:38:11 PST." <Pine.NEB.3.94.970116132530.2130B-100000@aries.bb.cc.wa.us>
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> What books or articles would you suggest we get started on.
Articles can be very wide ranging - from your own experiences setting
up FreeBSD to do something specific, and don't be put off by what
sounds like the obvious: "Setting up a News server with FreeBSD" is a
fine magazine article topic, even if it _has_ been done dozens of
times before with different values for ${OS}. If you've ever
subscribed to a single magazine for more than a couple of years,
you'll find this repetition to be hardly rare. :-)
And as to coverage, just pick your favorite (or most likely) magazine
and go for it. Send the editor a description of your article,
intended audience and a short outline (if you *really* want to make
points) of your article. They will then respond either positively or
negatively to the idea, and if you've already submitted the outline
then they'll probably just say "Do it! When can you have it ready for
us?" at that stage.
After that, you get a contract in the mail stating your deadline in
writing and how much you'll be paid for the article. You sign it,
send it back, then one day before your deadline, you drink lots of
coffee and write the entire article in a single night and send it in.
Just kidding. :-)
The point I'm trying to make here is that it's a solo activity, and
you don't "organize a magazine article" with a group, you just pick
your target and go for it as an individual (unless you and someone
else really want to write an article together, which is fine too if
you can pull that off). The editor of whichever periodical you pick
will also help you in refining your concept for their magazine, so
don't sweat that bit.
> If we kept a list of who was working on what books on the FreeBSD Web
> page, people could contribute experiences and encouragement.
Well, the FreeBSD web pages are now handled by the FreeBSD Documentation
Project, which has its own section of the Handbook so go take a look. :-)
As to books, there are probably not too many of those in the pipeline
right now.
> How to run an ISP using FreeBSD (cdrom included)
This was actually mostly written by someone, then he said he had
trouble finding a publisher. Hmmmm.
> I say we just list these on the web page and have people claim a book and
> start writing. We keep track of how many pages they have written on the
> web page, and then help them get it published.
It's pretty hard to take on a serious book without having a publisher
lined up for it first - the temptation to flake out is otherwise just
too high, and you've got the insecurity about wasting all that work if
someone doesn't take it to deal with. Editors are also pretty
important, which is why I chose to make my own pitch to Addison Wesley
(who are keen, but now I'm the flake with not enough time). A good
editor is worth his weight in gold, and AW has Brian Kernighan. :-)
Jordan
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