I should have done a blog post to explain what's up but I've become so obsessed with one part of Mixergy that I let this (and other things) slide.
pg knows about this. It was done by a YC company. My site wasn't scraped. This is more than the interview.
Also, entrepreneurs like pg are heroes. Till I'm old and unable to move, you should expect to see me experimenting with ways to get their stories out. If I knew how to draw comic books, you'd see my interviews in the comics section of amazon too.
My first reaction to this was, "OMG, a new book from pg! Why didn't I hear about this before"? The comments here cleared up things for me. I think having the word "interview" in big letters somewhere on the cover would be less misleading.
You do explain things somewhat it in the Product Description, but in a very PR way "hold the answers, etc." without mentioning the book is based on the interview. Some people here say that it's just the interview? Can you clarify if it is more than that and if that what have you added?
In addition to the blog post, I think you should have a better description on Amazon.
All - just want to re-affirm Andrew's points and provide some more clarification - we're the publisher behind the eBook, and we did partnered with Andrew/Mixergy to do it.
In short, we work with domain/subject-matter experts to publish high-quality eBooks. Some we create ourselves, some we work with publishers who already have great content (eg, Mixergy).
Since we're a startup there's still a lot that we need to improve, but one thing we're doing is making the books more interactive, and for PG's book we'll be adding video clips from the interview. Unfortunately Kindle doesn't have an easy way to provide existing customers an update, but if you did buy the book, please email me ([email protected]) and I'll share it with you.
Also, if you have knowledge on any topic that people would pay to learn more about, and want to create a beautiful, high-quality eBook to share that knowledge, please reach out to me - we're actively recruiting authors. A big thing of ours is sharing a lot of the content for free, it's not purely altruistic since that's great for building loyalty and traffic too. Thanks!
Kevin, Founder of Hyperink
PS Right now hyperink.com has almost nothing on it, we'll be launching a marketplace for our eBooks and our authors in the next 2 weeks
Considering that you're the publisher, what is your response to this review? http://www.amazon.com/review/RMK171BE5NOQ1/ref=cm_cr_dp_perm... The third and fourth points, specifically, seem to contradict your claim that you publish "beautiful, high-quality eBook[s]."
Also, thanks a ton for the feedback - we're updating the product description on Nook and Kindle so that it's clear that the content is from Andrew's interview.
Maybe I'm wrong but it looks like Andrew is taking an old interview, converting it into an eBook, adding the interviewee as an "author", and selling it?
If it wasn't with PG's explicit consent, this would be rather dishonest. If that panned out I'd be very wary about conducting an interview with Andrew..
I'm probably being overly cynical, but I'd love to see either Mr. Warner or PG clarify that separate permission was granted for this ;(
I bought it and it looks terrible on my Kindle, some sentences repeat themselves and there is a "Paul Graham" string shown 3 times per page. The about Paul Graham text was actually behind his picture, so overall quality of this is extremely low.
Here's the table on contents in case anyone wants to get a better idea what they're buying: http://i.imgur.com/pzjj7.png The eBook is around 20 pages long.
In other news, Kindle.app only allows copy & pasting 33 words at a time... hence the screenshot.
I'm genuinely curious why you prefer a paperback, could you elaborate? Also, wanted to ask: have you tried the Kindle app on your Mac/PC and mobile device yet?
Its awesome when things like this are put out into the community. I hope it gets very specific. Paul's experiences are most similar to where an early stage startup will have. A couple years back most of the information on this topic glossed over angel investing, which was the first step an entrepreneur needed to know about. Without understanding how to get past that part, knowing how to raise a series A didn't matter.
I've noticed a lot of crap e-books in Amazon lately that are comprised of Wikipedia or about.com style articles and selling for a few dollars. Some of them appear to be computer generated scrapings from PDFs, or some other unreliable method.
Make a killing publishing individual Wikipedia articles as ebooks...check.
I'm wondering:
1) Does the publisher have a right to this material, and to charge for it?
2) Is this material available elsewhere on the web?
3) Does Paul Graham or anyone else get compensated?
I would encourage anyone considering buying this sort of thing to know the answers to these questions before their purchase.
[+] [-] AndrewWarner|14 years ago|reply
pg knows about this. It was done by a YC company. My site wasn't scraped. This is more than the interview.
Also, entrepreneurs like pg are heroes. Till I'm old and unable to move, you should expect to see me experimenting with ways to get their stories out. If I knew how to draw comic books, you'd see my interviews in the comics section of amazon too.
[+] [-] Jun8|14 years ago|reply
You do explain things somewhat it in the Product Description, but in a very PR way "hold the answers, etc." without mentioning the book is based on the interview. Some people here say that it's just the interview? Can you clarify if it is more than that and if that what have you added?
In addition to the blog post, I think you should have a better description on Amazon.
[+] [-] kqr2|14 years ago|reply
http://smartercomics.com/
[+] [-] tangcius|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dools|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] kevingao1|14 years ago|reply
In short, we work with domain/subject-matter experts to publish high-quality eBooks. Some we create ourselves, some we work with publishers who already have great content (eg, Mixergy).
Since we're a startup there's still a lot that we need to improve, but one thing we're doing is making the books more interactive, and for PG's book we'll be adding video clips from the interview. Unfortunately Kindle doesn't have an easy way to provide existing customers an update, but if you did buy the book, please email me ([email protected]) and I'll share it with you.
Also, if you have knowledge on any topic that people would pay to learn more about, and want to create a beautiful, high-quality eBook to share that knowledge, please reach out to me - we're actively recruiting authors. A big thing of ours is sharing a lot of the content for free, it's not purely altruistic since that's great for building loyalty and traffic too. Thanks!
Kevin, Founder of Hyperink
PS Right now hyperink.com has almost nothing on it, we'll be launching a marketplace for our eBooks and our authors in the next 2 weeks
[+] [-] BrandonM|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] magicofpi|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] kevingao1|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] covercash|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] staunch|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] e1ven|14 years ago|reply
I'm probably being overly cynical, but I'd love to see either Mr. Warner or PG clarify that separate permission was granted for this ;(
[+] [-] unknown|14 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] perokreco|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] btucker|14 years ago|reply
In other news, Kindle.app only allows copy & pasting 33 words at a time... hence the screenshot.
[+] [-] grok2|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] atldev|14 years ago|reply
Supporting someone (Andrew) who provides a huge service to startups...check
Easy-to-consume format for Kindle...check
Easy-to-consume price...check
Shut up and take my money.
[+] [-] nhangen|14 years ago|reply
I wish the cover listed the author...it took me a minute to figure it wasn't a book by PG.
[+] [-] FreshCode|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] davidw|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jackpirate|14 years ago|reply
As much as everyone here loves their e-readers, some of us still find hardcopies more enjoyable. I, for one, won't be purchasing for this reason only.
[+] [-] jmtame|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|14 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] guruz|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ceejayoz|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|14 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] 6ren|14 years ago|reply
There's no writing required and it's a unique opportunity to build your own brand and earn royalties.
No writing. That's disruptive to traditional publishing.
[+] [-] jarek|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] rastafark|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] triketora|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] bigohms|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] levesque|14 years ago|reply
I noticed one funny thing while browsing the B&N site, in the "People who bought this also bought" section : http://imgur.com/ZFAwY :)
[+] [-] unknown|14 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] mynameishere|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] sneak|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] aneth|14 years ago|reply
Make a killing publishing individual Wikipedia articles as ebooks...check.
I'm wondering:
1) Does the publisher have a right to this material, and to charge for it?
2) Is this material available elsewhere on the web?
3) Does Paul Graham or anyone else get compensated?
I would encourage anyone considering buying this sort of thing to know the answers to these questions before their purchase.
[+] [-] gunz_rozez|14 years ago|reply