{"id":180,"date":"2013-02-07T16:46:00","date_gmt":"2013-02-07T21:46:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/minireference.com\/blog\/?p=180"},"modified":"2025-10-12T00:42:39","modified_gmt":"2025-10-12T04:42:39","slug":"techzing-interview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/minireference.com\/blog\/techzing-interview\/","title":{"rendered":"Techzing interview"},"content":{"rendered":"

Earlier this year I\u00a0launched my book on hacker news<\/a>\u00a0which resonated very positively with the hacker crowd. \u00a0This HN exposure landed me an \u00a0<\/span>interview on the TechZing podcast<\/a>\u00a0 to discussed my textbook project.\u00a0<\/span>Even though it was an hour and a half long interview,<\/span>\u00a0there were a some things\u00a0that we didn’t get to discuss.\u00a0I want to take the moment now to write down my observations about the textbook business and the\u00a0<\/span>educational market.<\/span><\/p>\n

This blog post is organized with the best stuff at the top so feel free\u00a0to trail off at any point.<\/p>\n

Insights<\/h3>\n

The most important things I’ve learned about the textbook business:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Writing is tough, but writing down lecture notes after<\/em> a lecture is easy.<\/li>\n
  2. Teaching students is gold. By interacting with your students 1-on-1 you get feedback on your explanations.
    \nIf you are lucky you will get a “Sorry, I didn’t get that”, which allows you to iterate.<\/li>\n
  3. People still appreciate the printed book. Some people are willing to pay good money for a PDF.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    <\/a><\/p>\n

    Opportunities<\/h3>\n

    Print-on-demand and eBook technology allow for everyone to publish and sell books.\u00a0This is a revolution on a Gutenberg scale. One of the forefathers of the Internet\/WWW,\u00a0when asked about the motivation behind his inventions said he did it “so people will be able to earn a living from the fruits\u00a0of their intellectual labour.” \u00a0We have now finally reached this moment where this idea is practical. \u00a0Could books be the missing monetization strategy for the Internet?<\/p>\n

    What have been traditionally two markets—the general audience and the educational market—are now becoming a single market of people who want to learn. Lord knows there are\u00a0things to learn out there so there is an opportunity for knowledge products for\u00a0people who want to learn. The key monetization routes will be through selling\u00a0organized knowledge as textbooks, ebooks, or apps.<\/p>\n

    I used the term revolution<\/em>\u00a0above and I stand by this choice of wording\u00a0<\/span>because this is what we call it when a value chain collapses from six-plus levels\u00a0<\/span>to three levels.\u00a0<\/span>The value chain in the “book business” previously looked like this:<\/span><\/p>\n

    author\r\n  __editor\r\n       __copy-editor\r\n            __typesetter\r\n                 __printer\r\n                     __distributor[1..]\r\n                           __book store \r\n                                __client<\/pre>\n
    With print-on-demand the new book business will look like this:<\/p>\n
     \r\nauthor -- printer -- shipping -- client\r\n^^^^^^                           ^^^^^^ \r\n<\/pre>\n
    Let us call this “author centered” publishing. From now on, authors can expect to get up to 50% of the\u00a0profits instead of 10% (which could be as low as 5% of the list price).\u00a0Good times for authors. Incentive-giving-to-move-to-a-new-publisher times.<\/p>\n
    Even amazon looks like a dinosaur in this context:<\/p>\n
    author\r\n  __editor\r\n       __copy-editor\r\n            __typesetter\r\n                 __printer\r\n                      __amazon\r\n                          __shipping\r\n                               __client\r\n<\/pre>\n
    Why do you need the warehouse to store all the books?\u00a0Why not ship from the printer?<\/p>\n
    There is one element in the traditional publishing value chain that we must keep.\u00a0Copy editing is actually very important because you really want someone to go through
    \nyour writing and fix mistakes in it. You can use your target audience (crowdsource copy-editing),\u00a0but nothing beats professional services.<\/p>\n
    OK, so you want to see the future of publishing? Here it is:<\/p>\n
     author -- (1) pub.srvc. -- (2) printer  -- shipping -- client\r\n                         _ (3) booksite -- client<\/pre>\n
     <\/p>\n
    The opportunities are (1) for small publishing houses (copy editor + creative person for covers + latex guy)\u00a0to really come-in and take over the entire market within a couple of years.\u00a0You could also have larger publishers who focus on marketing the book to certain audiences etc.<\/p>\n
    Opportunity (2) is for new print-on-demand shoppes to come up (compete with lulu.com and lightning source).\u00a0These giants have as their main advantage the established processes they have in place, but how difficult\u00a0would it be to build an “Espresso Book Machine”-like system based on a quality BW laser printer (think buying\u00a0toner in gallon tubes at costco \ud83d\ude09 and some automation.\u00a0The competitive advantage of a small print shop would be that they offer pick up service (0\\$ shipping).\u00a0Currently lulu charges you 6\\$ for shipping to Canada (9\\$ for 2 books, 12\\$ for three books, …, 3+3n.)\u00a0Shipping within the states is \\$5 which is better, but still not free.\u00a0In particular for printing small books (100-200pp) it would not make sense to order from lulu.\u00a0They would charge you 5\\$ for the printing and another 6\\$ for the shipping. Your cost 11\\$.\u00a0If you go to a local print shoppe, they will charge you 7\\$ for printing. Same product, half price.<\/p>\n
    The third opportunity is for high-level editorial services (think curation of content)\u00a0which would collect book recommendations and let authors and readers interact. Ideally\u00a0there should be independent “book blogs” for discovery of new content — not marketplaces.\u00a0Something must be done about the current appstore monopoly. Every app you develop relying\u00a0on Apple for your distribution is feeding the monster at 30%. Every web app you develop\u00a0based on Google or FB apis could stop working tomorrow if the API is retired.\u00a0Go get hosting somewhere and build your own website. Don’t depend on anyone.\u00a0Okay sorry I got a little off the topic of textbooks. Let’s get back on topic.<\/span><\/p>\n
    I was telling you guys about the book and stuff from the interview.\u00a0One thing which we talked a lot about was the hacker news launch.<\/p>\n
    The HN launch<\/h3>\n
    I told Jason how surprized I was when I got 30 000 visitors in one day\u00a0and how I didn’t get up from my chair for one day. There were roughly\u00a07000 people who clicked on one of the modals. Of these 300 people bought\u00a0the book in print. By the evening of Jan 1st and into Jan 2nd there were\u00a0also 100 PDFs purchased from gumroad.<\/p>\n
     <\/p>\n
    I still working out the numbers (<\/span>conversion\u00a0rates) and I don’t want to get\u00a0<\/span>too hyped up about them (ok ok, 7k –> 300 = 4.3%) because the HN audience\u00a0<\/span>is really VERY sympathetic to the product. I am not sure if everyone else\u00a0<\/span>on the internet will like it as much.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
    (SIDENOTE: I am finding it hard to get the analytics I want for the <\/span>book page<\/a>.\u00a0<\/span>GA reports analytic <\/span>en masse<\/em> so I cannot see what individual visitors did w<\/span>hen they came to \u00a0the site. I have basic questions I need answers for and it seems like\u00a0<\/span>the current state of analytics is very unimpressive (relative to my expectations).\u00a0<\/span>Here is what I would like to know:<\/span><\/p>\n
      \n
    1. Which modal my visitors looked at before deciding to continue onto lulu.com\/shop or gumroad?<\/li>\n
    2. Which of the 800 people who clicked through to lulu.com\/shop are the 300 that actually ended up buying the book?<\/li>\n
    3. Which sections did they read (scroll to and stay for 4secs+)?<\/li>\n
    4. What “path” did each visitor follow through the modals? (subquestion: did anyone see the apg-get install mechanics? did anyone see the integral calculus modal? )<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
      Are there solutions for these? I think the only way I can have end-to-end information is if I run\u00a0<\/span>the whole show. If I want to have information about converstions I must build my own shopping cart.\u00a0<\/span>Wait, we are on the Internet — I can just submit a feature request to lulu.com support and gumroad support.\u00a0<\/span>I am working on the full writeup of the launch experience\u00a0<\/span>here<\/a> which will have more graphs and numbers. (\/SIDENOTE)<\/span><\/p>\n
      I got a lot of feedback from the discussion on hacker news. People really like the idea. The tech crowd of Hacker News is precisely the kind of crowd is interested in learning about advanced math and physics. Many programmers learn the about calculus in mechanics at University but never actually understood these subjects. This is way when the no bullshit guide to mass in physics the really wanted and the 29 dollars price range is definitely not an obstacle for them.\u00a0Several people also asked for a PG 13 version cleaned up with out of cities in the references to park and alcohol. This is definitely something I will look into it because no told jokes need to be about these subjects. We can stick to the political stuff and the joke about the investment banker being dropped off a building.<\/span><\/p>\n
      What is the goal of the book?<\/span><\/p>\n
      The goal of the book and more generally of Minireference Co. is to teach.\u00a0Teach students how to get rid of the exam stress when they’re doing their studies.\u00a0If you know the material really well, then there is nothing tricky that the teacher
      \ncan do on the final. Understanding trumps memorization any day of the week.\u00a0A secondary goal is to teach math to adults, grown ups, so they can let go of their math complexes.\u00a0<\/span>There is no reason why a forty year old person should avoid conversations about math and feel\u00a0<\/span>uncomfortable when their teenage daughter or son asks them about the solutions to a quadratic equation.<\/span><\/p>\n
      The third goal is to prevent the next generation of analytic reminded youth from going into\u00a0the defence, pharmaceutical and finance sectors, which I consider to be detrimental to society.\u00a0I grew up listening to Rage Against the Machine and I feel it is my duty to continue their work\u00a0in educating the next generations about the system. By situating analytical knowledge in the\u00a0context of the current world geopolitical situation, it is my hope that the next generation of\u00a0Einsteins, Gates, Pages, and Zuckerbergs will make informed and moral choices.\u00a0With knowledge comes responsibility, and I don’t want my students to think about the numbers\u00a0without understanding what the numbers represent in the real world.<\/p>\n
      Textbook market<\/h3>\n
      There are a couple of intrenched companies in the publishing world (the big five<\/a>). Mainstream publishers in the educational market produce textbook that are so expensive, that\u00a0<\/span>we can talk about a textbook racket<\/em>. The readers, subject to their teachers authority, are forced to buy specific textbooks, often at an exorbitant prices > \\$100.\u00a0<\/span>Mainstream textbooks are also too long and full of fluff like full-page photos designed to pad the pages and impress the student with the “high endness” of the 1000-page publication. \u00a0<\/span>Mainstream textbooks are the kind of product which is the signed by committee. They’re thick and boring.<\/span><\/p>\n
      On the other hand there are several\u00a0positive things about textbooks. \u00a0Irrespective of the widened usage of electronic formats, the “book format” remains the primary medium of intellectual discourse, of which textbooks are a subset.\u00a0<\/span>Textbooks are old technology, but good technology. T<\/span>extbook, as a mean for acquiring knowledge, are <\/span>better than most educational resources produced for the web. \u00a0And it’s not just eBooks, p<\/span>rint is here to stay because students <\/span>don’t like the idea of ebooks replacing textbooks<\/a>. \u00a0<\/span>Having a PDF to go along with your printed textbook is definitely a feature, but not as a replacement.<\/span><\/p>\n
       <\/p>\n
      Business model<\/h3>\n
      The business model for Minireference Publishing Co. is quite simple: we sell math and science textbooks\u00a0and PDFs.\u00a0The specifics of the book “<\/span>container” are not important. W<\/span>hat is important and of value is that we offer an\u00a0<\/span>“information distillation” service: complicated science subjects are presented and explained in a concise coherent narrative, including all prerequisites. Instead of reading 100 wikipedia pages to learn about calculus in a month, students can read one chapter in the No BS guide and pick up the same material in a week.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
      Backstory<\/span><\/p>\n
      During the interview, I had a chance to give the full story about the genesis of the book.\u00a0At 7min40sec in the interview, I say how I started from a collection of notes on advanced\u00a0physics subjects and that at some point decided to make those notes into a book. Jason replies to this jokingly “Wow that is a big jump!” but I totally missed his\u00a0joke and just kept on blabbing.<\/p>\n
      Pivot 1:<\/strong>\u00a0TOO ADVANCED. There are not that many physicists. We need to go for something more mainstream. New product will be a\u00a0mini-reference book of formulas for all of science.<\/p>\n
      Pivot 2:<\/strong>\u00a0FORMULAS ARE NOT ENOUGH to learn. Let’s have the formulas, but add enough\u00a0context and explanations to explain where the formulas come from and how they are used.<\/p>\n
      Once you have the idea…<\/strong> It took two years and 200 commits.\u00a0It wasn’t high intensity work: I just wrote down lecture notes and my favourite\u00a0explanations after teaching. During the summer of 2012, I worked intensely to tie together\u00a0and organize all the material into a coherent story with a beginning (solving equations),\u00a0a middle (use equations to predict the motion of objects in physics), and an end\u00a0(learn where the equations of physics arise from calculus).<\/p>\n
      Product<\/h3>\n
      What is special about this book is the deed forms contains a complete dependency graph of topics. E<\/span>ach subject is explain along with all the prerequisite material.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
      Another thing special about the book is its conversational tone. The narration in the book\u00a0<\/span>switches from serious to joke mode and back to serious again, and is intended to\u00a0<\/span>keep the reader engaged. \u00a0Everyone needs a little brake after learning pages and pages of formulas…\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
      Technology used<\/h3>\n
      During the interview, I didn’t get a chance to discuss the technology stack I used to generate the book.\u00a0The book started as a bunch of text file in dokuwiki. I then used the dokutexit plugin to export the book as LaTeX.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
      Another important tool for the production of the book has been to use the text-to-speech tool in Mac OS X for proofreading<\/a>. It\u00a0allowed me to catch lots of mistakes and quickly.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
      I use lulu.com for print-on-demand and\u00a0gumroad.com for the PDF distribution.<\/span><\/p>\n
      Future<\/h3>\n
      Some future directions for the development of the book are:<\/span><\/p>\n