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Subject:Re: Karen Schriver's new book From:Stuart Burnfield <slb -at- FS -dot- COM -dot- AU> Date:Tue, 27 May 1997 08:39:30 +0800
Irene -
> I might add that the Sun Publication book, style guide for the computer
> industry, has been available for a couple of months here in Sydney. I
> think that it was released about the same time as Karen's book.
>
> It is hardly worth people in Australia just ordering one book through
> Amazon because of the postage costs. Also I like browsing bookshops
> and seeing what I'm buying.
Boffins, my technical bookshop, quoted a ludicrous A$114 to order in the
Sun book ("Read Me First!: A Style Guide for the Computer Industry"),
with about 2-3 weeks delivery. I got it through Amazon for about A$43,
including shipping costs. It took about 3 months coming surface mail.
If I'd chosen the faster delivery option I think it would only have been
a few dollars more.
Like you I prefer to browse books first -- check the index, the writing
style, the TOC. Sometimes I need a book in a hurry and can't wait. So,
I'll still get some books from Boffins in future. But for books I know
I want (like Karen Schriver's book) I'll wait till I can order several
at once and get them from Amazon. (Tip: Amazon's delivery estimates are
ridiculously optimistic; double them and you'll be closer to the mark.)
BTW 'Read Me First!' is excellent. Other people "wrote the book" on
indexing, writing, editing, illustration, etc. -- the people at Sun
wrote the *chapters*, which for busy TWs can be even more useful.
Also BTW, an article in last week's 'The Economist' (10 May) said that
Amazon (and I assume other online bookshops) offer other Web sites an 8%
share of each sale they direct to the bookshop. I'd have no problem at
all if Keith Soltys, Peter Ring, John Renish, etc, chose to provide these
links from their Web sites. They provide excellent resources for us TWs,
so if we're buying a book anyway, why shouldn't they get a slice?
Regards
---
Stuart Burnfield
Functional Software Pty Ltd mailto:slb -at- fs -dot- com -dot- au
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