Publisher:
Hayden BooksBy this time, Internet Starter Kit for Macintosh had established itself as the primary Internet book for Macintosh users. That was good, but it also may have proved to be the eventual downfall of the book. Just after it shipped, the exodus started. My editor left Hayden, followed in no particular order by the marketing director, Pat Gibbons, the publisher, David Rogelberg, and the acquisitions editor, Karen Whitehouse. Frankly, it was a little distressing, but the book was selling well still, so I didn't think too much of it and resolved to start off on good terms with the people who came in next.
Nice idea, but that story applies mostly to the fourth edition.
The third edition was put into a box along with a videotape I did and sold in the software channel as Internet Starter Kit for Macintosh 2.0. It did quite well there, but proved to be among the last books that were sold successfully using that strategy. Too bad, because it broadened the market for books that were actually full solutions. The third edition had all the software you needed, an installer that put everything in the right place, and deals with more than 50 Internet service providers around the world.
Every now and then someone complains about how hard it is to set up Internet software, and at the time my standard response was that I'd tested each of the 50+ Internet providers who offered deals in third edition, and even though some of them were in Germany, Japan, and Australia, I was able to set up the software and connect to each one in less than five minutes. Didn't do great things to my phone bill, though.
The main interesting thing about the third edition is that we converted it to HTML (actually, it was done by my friend and co-author Bill Dickson, using some Nisus Writer macros and various other tools) for inclusion with Simply Amazing Internet and Internet Interactive.Once we had the HTML version, I agitated with Hayden to be able to post the entire book online, and David Rogelberg agreed. Thus, Internet Starter Kit for Macintosh, 3rd Edition, became not the first book to be published online, but perhaps the first best-seller to be given away for free online.We felt that publishing online would only generate sales, since the book was far too long to read online (even at the newly reduced 750 pages, something achieved by removing the UUCP chapter at the last minute because my editor freaked out about the length after having had trouble with the second edition).
There's no telling what effect the online version had on the sales of the paper version, but it did get me into a party at Macworld Boston.Some friends and I were going to the invitation-only Mac The Knife party without invitations, hoping we'd meet someone outside who could get us in. After hanging out for a few minutes, we went over and I introduced myself to the designated MacWEEK editor-cum-bouncer Andy Gore, who I knew slightly, but not by face. He did a double-take and exclaimed, "Anyone who has the balls to post a best-selling book on the Web deserves to get in!"
Too bad those parties are way too loud, too crowded, and too smoke-filled to be all that much fun.