November 06, 2003

The XML book business

I am pretty darn proud of XML Primer Plus. I knew the subject well, and I worked hard on it. I also feel good about the fact that it covers not only Java, but also C++, VB.NET, Perl, and PHP, thanks to the help of some additional writers. The reviews have all been good, and even the four star review on Amazon says that the only reason he didn't give me five stars is because he feels that that levels should be reserved for "recognized experts in the field," which I clearly am not.

But sales have been, frankly, disappointing. I was feeling really bad about it -- until I found out that The XML Book Business is in the toilet. With very few exceptions (and frankly I can't think of any), nobody's XML books are selling.

So tell me, are you buying XML books? Why or why not?

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Posted by roadnick at November 6, 2003 11:17 PM | TrackBack

Comments

Hi
Honesty i hadnt seen ure book of XML Primer, but i have a copy of you ASP 3.0 book and that's great! But I can say whenever i started to learn XML Ive found it so boring and even a useless topic, though it has a nice role in da thechnology.
Sincerley yours
Masoud(Mat) Shokri

Posted by: Masoud Shokri at November 26, 2003 05:44 AM

Thanks, Mat!

When I first started looking at XML, I had the same problem -- I couldn't figure out what to do with it, other than just marking up information! But it's gradually catching on, I guess. I think people are just sick of having their data locked up in proprietary formats.

Posted by: Nick at December 3, 2003 04:24 PM

I have purchased both of your XML books. I like the Primer Plus a lot. However I wished you had supplied the examples for C # instead of PHP.
Also, the source code supplied on the web site only contains the .java files. Where are the VB.Net sources? Can you provide them for download?
I am learning on both platforms and they would be very useful.

Thanks
Levy,

llazarre@yahoo.com

Posted by: Levy Lazarre at January 6, 2004 04:00 PM

Oh, my world. It is ok

Posted by: Stephan at May 27, 2006 04:32 AM
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