Last week we completed our largest direct shippment, as we sent out the preorders for Agille Web Development with Rails, Third Edition. We had tons of books delivered, and bought tens of thousands of dollars of shipping supplies and postage, but despite the volume everything went well (apart from the inevitable paper cuts). I even learned where the big boys go to the Post Office (which turns out to be a pretty impressive facility right next to DFW airport).
So I thought I'd share just a couple of statistics. Domestically, we shipped books to every state except North Dakota. Internationally we shipped to three US bases, and a total of 55 different countries (from Angola to Vietnam). Sometimes I close my eyes and think of the trajectories of all those books spreading out from Raleigh and Dallas—it's a cool picture.
So, if you bought a Rails book from us: thank you! It's been an interesting year (way longer than would would have liked, but that's the joy of working with a rapidly changing technology). We hope you enjoy the result. And, remember, we now have eBook formats available for your Kindle, iPhone, and so on.
Congratulations!!
I'm looking forward in getting a copy. :)
Posted by: Tanner Watson | March 23, 2009 at 02:39 PM
Great! I can't wait to get my copy.
Regarding the e-books, Ruby 1.9 seems to be the only book on my pragmatic bookshelf that doesn't have the mobi and epub versions. I can still only download PDFs.
Posted by: Rich Warren | March 23, 2009 at 03:58 PM
Rich:
I'm afraid you won't be seeing the PickAxe in epub or mobi formats anytime soon: the book predates the Bookshelf, and it's not in a format we can convert.
Dave
Posted by: Dave Thomas | March 23, 2009 at 04:10 PM
Hi Dave,
Many thanks for all the hard work going into the new Ruby and Rails books. Can't wait to get my copies!
You mention the rapidly changing technology ... would you consider an extension to the Beta book format in which you could subscribe to an ebook that was regularly updated as new tech releases come out, or would that just be impractical? The reason I ask is that it doesn't seem like it will all that long before Rails 3 (with all its Merb-y goodness) is available and a new AWDwR book is required. I do however appreciate the Sisyphean nature of writing, editing etc. a new book on these subjects and that this may not lend itself to a model like the one above.
Just my 2c!
Posted by: Alan | March 23, 2009 at 05:56 PM
Great to hear about the ebook formats! The link is broken though - looks like adding an 's' fixes it.
-Charlie
Posted by: Charlie O'Keefe | March 23, 2009 at 06:09 PM
Hey Dave,
The eBook formats link (http://pragprog.com/frequently-asked-questions/ebook) is broken.
Cheers,
-- Felipe
Posted by: Felipe Coury | March 23, 2009 at 06:17 PM
Fixed. Thanks
Posted by: Dave Thomas | March 23, 2009 at 06:19 PM
I have placed the old Ruby book in an Aule Browser wrapper at www.aule-browser.com/books/programming.curl
It does not yet track your position in the book ( I am distracted by an evernote.com wrapper ) but I will get back to it.
The next version will have a "resume" button to return your to your page and then comes some user notes by topic and tag (both using Curl CSPD)
But I may get distracted by www.web-velocity.com ... and whatever is The Future of The Book
Posted by: Robert | July 01, 2009 at 07:04 PM