The initial announcement for Approachable Open Source included a statement:
my brief book about the open source movement!
The phrase brief book was alliterative and pleasing to me, but I received some feedback almost immediately.
You might want to reconsider calling the book “brief” if the price is $32 (or more) 😅 It decreases your book’s perceived value, making $32 price tag hard to swallow. Maybe “practical” is better or “in-depth”.
I acknowledged the feedback and did my best to explain the origin of the effort. This “brief book” is nod to A Book Apart. This post serves both a longer-form explainer and a thank you.
First, this book wouldn’t have come into being without their early support, encouragement, and editing. I am forever grateful for the opportunity to work with Katel, Lisa Maria, Mat, and Tina. A Book Apart occupies a huge mindshare in the corners of the industry that I frequent. The subject matter covered in their books is outright iconic—Ethan Marcotte published Responsible Web Design there. How much more foundational to our zeitgeist can you get? To be a part of it (pun unintended) was a dream come true, then deferred.
I am humbled to say that Approachable Open Source was shaped so thoroughly in its early revisions by ABA. A hallmark of ABA books is that they offer primers on important subjects for busy folks. No topic can be concisely covered in the depth it may deserve, and yet that was ABA’s tightrope-walk mission. They helped put my thoughts on a diet. We had a budget and we were sticking to it. It shaped the clip and cadence of the book. It focused my intents and left cruft on the cutting room floor.
What’s left are 7 chapters. What’s in it?
- Principles and Promise
- The Spectrum of Engagement
- Consuming Open Source Software
- The Four Files of Any Open Source Project
- Community Investment
- Open Source in the Workplace
- Open Source Sustainability
We clock in at 150 pages of core content. There will always be more to say. Is it comprehensive? No. What then?
The breadth and depth of open source software is a vast territory. In my best of estimations, I’ve provided a map and a compass.
So, if I only have you for a moment, what do I want to tell you? You can read it in a weekend. You can refer to elements of it while working, while convincing your boss, while looking to inspire others.
What this book is, to me, is clear. It’s what I hope to enable within you all. It’s in the name.
It’s approachable.
Edit: I’m a one-man marketing operation. I’m still figuring this out. I don’t intend to make a lot of money on the sales of Approachable Open Source. It costs me around 13 dollars to print and ship domestic. As such, I’ll be lowering the preorder bundle price to $27 dollars to open more access to the book. Appreciate your understanding and support. 🙏