Thread by @kamilskowron

I decided to *keep* my book both open-source and freely available online. IMO this the only way to prolong its value for the community, and I can make continuous maintenance of it sustainable 🚀

Read the thread below to check how I plan to do it 👇

#myelixirstatus #elixir

(2/11) In the past couple of days, I had conversations on the topic of monetizing the open-sourced book🤔. In the end, a lot of effort needs to be put into writing the book, and then continuous updating requires dedication and commitment(similar to any other open source project).

(3/11) The theory is that making the book open-source and freely available to read online will cause me to lose all potential sales profits. I believe that nobody should be banned from benefiting from it because of a lack of financial resources, so I can't sell it.

(4/11) Numerous alternatives were mentioned, and initially, I felt like the suggestion from @arvidkahl is a great balance -

https://twitter.com/arvidkahl/status/1407335647711567885

(5/11) I need to admit that after "sleeping on it", I was struggling with the idea as I:
* don't want people to need to ask for codes
* want to keep it open-source to make it up-to-date
* want to make it as accessible as possible to everyone ♥️

(6/11) I like the idea put forward by @hubertlepicki -

https://twitter.com/hubertlepicki/status/1407418839512588294

but I don't think that this will be a comprehensive enough solution to finance the project(although probably will use it as well 😀)

(7/11) Let's think about this for a second. By writing the book I packed my knowledge/experience that more and more people find *valuable* as they visit the book's website. This is comparable to for example going to a conference where you listen to speakers.

(8/11) How conferences get their budget? By having sponsors. What if, what I'm doing here is not creating a book but building an audience? Short-term/high churn of course but very targeted - those are people that would like to learn Elixir.

(9/11) Companies sponsoring the ongoing work to upkeep the book would gain exposure/recognition by being featured as "supporters"/"backer". Maybe even they could advertise their jobs? I'm a little bit thinking out loud here as it looks like possibilities are endless?

(10/11) This way, I would create an *environment* where the book can sustain itself forever to provide value for the community free of charge. Let me know what do you think? Am I crazy? Is this groundbreaking? Going against the current? Am I daydreaming?

(11/11) If you(or your company) believe in creating and maintaining free and accessible online educational materials and would like to support this cause feel to reach out so we can chat about how all of this could work! Thanks for tuning in ♥️🚀👋🎤