Buried behind my Windows XP machine is an old PIII/500 running the now unsupported Windows 98SE. I’m not sure why I still have this computer, though it’s probably easier to keep than dispose of, since it’s connected to the monitor, keyboard, and mouse of the XP machine through a KVM switch. One never knows when they might come across a piece of software that requires booting up the legacy machine and operating system. Yeah, right…
I won’t go into details of why, but the other day I needed to retrieve some files from the Win98 machine. I figured the quickest way would be to attach a USB thumb drive (also known as a USB flash drive) to the computer, copy the files over, and then connect the thumb drive to the XP machine. I was in for a surprise because when I connected the thumb drive to the Win98 machine, the computer didn’t recognize the drive. Okay, I thought. I’ll just visit the thumb drive manufacturer’s site, download the Win98 drivers, install them, and connect the drive.
Well, after seven installs of the manufacturer’s driver and Windows 98 being unable to find the driver to install, I then realized why all the Windows 98 books I published sold so well. Unfortunately, because I was involved with so many books over the years, I had at some point in the past purged all my Windows 98 books, so I couldn’t reference any for an answer. Of course, in reality, very rarely do I reference any of my books for quick information, when I can usually find the information on google. Anyway, I typed in the Google search box “flash drive generic driver” and the second search result had my answer at Technical-Assistance.co.uk, a Windows 98 SE Generic USB Mass Storage Device Drivers installer. I downloaded the file, installed the drivers, and and was able to mount the thumb drive under Windows 98 without any further problems.
So why am I sharing this story with you? Well, this experience reminded of a conversation I had with Dave Taylor at Gnomedex in Tahoe a few years back. Dave presented the idea of posting the content from out of print and obsolete books online, so people could have access to the information. The publisher/author could monetize the content through advertising, upselling and maybe even affiliate relationships. Soon after the conference, Dave called me at the office with the idea that a huge portion of the population was still using Windows 98 in one form or another, most books on Windows 98 were either out of print or hard to find, so why not post all the content from our Windows 98 books online for people to access for answers? Wow, what a cool idea.
Well, unfortunately due to some legal and contractual issues, I couldn’t use the content from the Windows 98 books to create the Windows 98 online super resource that Dave had sold me on, but the point is many publishers and authors out there are sitting on what they consider to be obsolete material, when in reality the content is only obsolete while on paper and being sold through traditional retails channels. It may still have an audience and value to you as publisher or author, if you explore what the internet has to offer for distribution.
Being an author of several of those books that still have value, I am loathe to just give them away. One book sold 192,000 copies. Another sold 8,000. Still another sold 62,000 copies. But I put as much into the book that sold 8,000 copies as the one that sold 192,000, so I would like to realize every bit of income from the book that sold only 8,000 copies.. Because of that and because of the fact that writing is my sole income, I am loathe to give away the text by just posting it on the Web for anyone to pick up.
If there’s a way to sell “obsolete” content, I’m for it. That may sound greedy, but I don’t have another income, and I don’t have a partner who supports me. I am always looking for reprint opportunities. There are more opportunities with my old science fiction stories–some of which have been reprinted four times–than with nonfiction. But I hold out hope for some of the nonfiction. At present I’m considering going through Google’s program. (Any thoughts on that from anyone?)
Perhaps here’s an opportunity for a publisher to set up a sideline sponsoring the electronic or POD publication of, say, Win98 or old hardware guides (for which I do see a market). Is the “long tail” profit there for someone distributing such books in aggregate? Difficult to say. The publisher would have to be motivated in part by altrusim and the desire to see these works available. Something along the lines of Houghton-Mifflin publishing poetry at a loss.
–Mike
http://www.michaelabanks.com
Addenda: Due to some experiences with plagiarism, I’m probably more skittish than most about making works available in easily copyable format–not that the incidents to which I allude involved work in electronic format. (Details in my blog.)
I have posted this comment on wikert’s site as well:
clearcontent blogger states:
“most books on Windows 98 were either out of print or hard to find…”
yet Amazon lists many Win98 titles, gently-used books for less than a dollar (plus shipping).
Given publishers’ limited resources (production, editorial, marketing, infrastructure updates/support), the obvious need to stay head of competition by being at the forefront of new technologies, AND the limited number of users who will really need outdated info asap (ie, can’t wait for a used book to ship from amazon, half.com, ebay etc) — this idea doesn’t make any sense to me.
In terms of a third-party outfit that offered POD content, seems like the real money’s to be made in red-hot content, not in using resources to aquire/support content on an outdated OS/technology like Win98.