[Me & X] Books, creative commons and community
X : I'm really enjoying your book on Wardley Mapping.
Me : Thank you, that's very kind.
X : Can I get you to sign it?
Me : Tricky. I don't actually have a physical book, just the online posts. I have always encouraged others to turn it into physical books. It's all creative commons share alike. I'll sign it but I'll add a note about the person who put the effort into turning it into a physical book.
X : Why don't you create your own physical book?
Me : Same with rewilding software engineering (the new book that I'm writing with Tudor Girba). I'm much more interested in spreading the ideas than having a dead tree version. I celebrate that the community thinks the ideas are good enough that it is worth them spending time tidying things up, translating and making physical books.
X : Will you ever create your own book?
Me : Maybe. When I retire, if that ever occurs.
X : So, no then?
Me : Probably.
X : What about royalties though?
Me : That there exists a community willing to put in the effort is more valuable than any imagined revenue that could have been created. There's not much money in books and the goal has never been money but diffusion. Wardley mapping wouldn't have spread without the community. You probably wouldn't have heard of it, let alone tried it without that community. That is what I value. If anything, I owe the community.
X : You're weird.
Me : I'll take that. I also believe in giving back more than you take. Principles are important to me. The wider open source community has always been good to me. I owe them everything. We all do.
Originally published on LinkedIn.