(This is article #1 in a series on “Problems with the print publishing industry”)

The biggest problem with print publishing is that it operates in the physical world (by definition). I often compare developing books with developing computer hardware. With both, you have to use a waterfall-style development process, which has many limitations.

First, there are few iterations in the process and none based on customer feedback. In fact, real-world customers are not involved in the book writing process at all (typically). Another artifact of printing books is that you need something substantial before you can release to the public. You can’t print incrementally; it is all or nothing. This elongates the content development process. Chapter 1 may be ready on day 30, but it is not until all other chapters are completed before the book will be printed (which can take 1 to 2 years). There is a huge opportunity cost in between.*

Anytime you have a physical good, you have to consider inventory and distribution costs. Publishers have to make a significant investment in each book and a certain number of copies have to be sold to recoup these costs. This limits the frequency in which books can be updated so it is usually 2-4 years before new editions are developed.

Since a publisher has to feel pretty confident that a book will turn a profit, they generally go after only mainstream technologies. There is a long tail of less popular technologies and products that are largely ignored by publishers.

All of these issues go away or are minimized significantly when developing content for online distribution. To start, you can publish incrementally which solves a whole host of problems. You can get customer feedback early and often and adjust your plans accordingly. You can develop content for niche topics that are under-documented today. And the inventory costs are calculated based on gigabytes, not square feet.
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* O’Reilly recently announced the RoughCuts program, which is going to act much like the Pragmatic Beta Book program. The idea is that customers can purchase access to early versions of the book in electronic format before it is printed. This is a step in the right direction to help address the lack of iterations and inability to publish incrementally, but it remains to be seen how successful these programs will be over the long-term.