I can call 2013 "the end-of-the-line for book writing." After starting in 1990, I at one time was writing multiple books for four publishers, resulting in some sixty titles and updates. Thank you to Delmar, Wordware, OnWord, and Springer for taking on me and my words.
My last remaining book publisher, Delmar, earlier this year entered bankruptcy protection. At the same time, I noticed my ebook orders slowing down over the last year.
The good folks at Delmar tells me they think the problem is that people prefer to watch free YouTube tutorials, rather than buy and read books. I know that piracy also plays a devastating role, as people can get my PDFs free from numerous disreputable sources, and there is nothing I can do against them. To my dismay, even respectable engineering firms would rather steal than pay, I have learned.
End of the Line
And so I'm announcing that I won't update my ebooks any more; there is too little money in it for my time involved. Even, I've had no demand from customers to update my line of ebooks for AutoCAD 2014, as I would have in years past.
I will continue with some ebook projects, such as for Bricsys and other special clients. Naturally, existing titles will continue to be sold at www.upfrontezine.com/ebooks.
Thank you to you who bought ebooks from me over the last dozen years!
Perhaps your description of firms willing to steal rather than pay should be changed to "even otherwise respectable engineering firms".
Posted by: David Koch | Oct 22, 2013 at 06:34 AM