Tag: openbeta

#uppingyourgame (v0.2) now ready!

Posted on February 1, 2010 by Doug Belshaw

Due to having a bit more time on my hands than I anticipated recently, I’ve pressed on with #uppingyourgame: an educator’s guide to productivity. I’m delighted to announce that v0.2 is now ready! This is the first version to contain a chapter, in this case The Philosophy of Productivity. #uppingyourgame is the first book to be published using the OpenBeta publishing model and will be completed over the course of 2010.

If you want to buy into the ideas that this book contains (and will contain) NOW costs £3. You will receive free updates and notifications as each version is published. Buying into the contents means you have access to each subsequent version up to 1.0. If you decide not to purchase now the price will increase as I complete each chapter (and release each version) – up to a maximum of £10.

This version has now been superseded. Permanent link to the book’s page at http://bit.ly/uppingyourgame

~~Once you’ve completed the payment process clicking on the orange button to ‘Return to DAJ Belshaw’ will take you to the download page.~~ 🙂

#uppingyourgame: an educator’s guide to productivity (v0.1)

Posted on January 18, 2010 by Doug Belshaw

I’m delighted to announce version 0.1 of #uppingyourgame: an educator’s guide to productivity is ready! This means it currently comprises of the cover, preface, introduction and contents page. #uppingyourgame is the first book to be published using the OpenBeta publishing model and will be completed over the course of 2010.

If you want to buy into the ideas that this book contains (and will contain) NOW costs £2. You will receive free updates and notifications as each version is published. Buying into the contents means you have access to each subsequent version up to 1.0. If you decide not to purchase now the price will increase as I complete each chapter (and release each version) – up to a maximum of £10.

Please note that this version has been superseded. Permanent link to the book’s page at http://bit.ly/uppingyourgame

~~Once you complete the payment process, clicking on the orange button to ‘Return to DAJ Belshaw’ will take you to the download page.~~ 🙂

OpenBeta: a publishing model.

Posted on December 30, 2009 by Doug Belshaw

Update: I’ve attempted to elaborate on the OpenBeta model here.

Image based on original CC BY-NC-SA imaginaryGirl

I want to write a book, but none of the traditional models really appeal to me. Seth Godin puts neatly the opportunities available in The magic of dynamic pricing:

When you produce a physical good like a book, it’s really hard to change the price over time, especially if there are retail stores involved. But changing the price on an electronic good is trivially easy.

So, for example, you could charge $24 for the Kindle edition for the first two weeks, then $15 for the next two weeks and then $9 for the year after that. Once it’s a backlist classic, it could cost $2…

…

Technology puts a lot more pressure on your imagination and creativity, even in pricing.

I think Godin has missed a trick here as there’s no reason why dynamic pricing can’t be used for physical media as well. Taking the Software release cycle as inspiration and Lulu.com as a method I’d like to expand on the idea of creating an Unbook as understood by Dave Gray. Dave’s creating a book called Marks and Meaning and releasing it as one would with software. As I write this post it’s up to version 0.5.

Whilst I admire the Unbook model, it’s not what I want to use in 2010. Why?

An unbook is never finished (but I want mine to reach version 1.0 and then be ‘complete’)
An unbook is a community product (whilst I respect the views of my readers, I want to be the author)

So I’m going to call the model OpenBeta. Here’s how it works:

I’ll be releasing v0.1 of my upcoming OpenBeta book early in 2010. Want to give it a go yourself? Feel free to use the logo:

(click through to larger sizes on Flickr)