To Write A Book - Okay, 200,000 Of Them
In an extremely innovative example of print on demand, Philip M. Parker has generated more than 200,000 books, making him, in his own words, “the most published author in the history of the planet.”
Books published under his name vary from ” Webster’s English to Zarma Crossword Puzzles: Level 1” ($14.95), to “The 2007-2012 Outlook for Lemon-Flavored Bottled Water in Japan” ($495.00) not to mention “The Official Patient’s Sourcebook on Vitiligo” ($24.95)
The secret however lies in the manner of creation, or more accurately compilation - via a series of computer algorithms that collect publicly available information on a subject, be it broad or obscure. The results with a little help from computers and programmers are then turned into books in a range of genres, many of them in the range of 150 pages and printed only when a customer buys one. Unbelievable? here’s a YouTube Video of the action.
For most of these, the number of buyers would be very low, but his print on demand model ensures zero inventory.
Readers claim that the books seem very generic, and for anyone comfortable with using the Internet, probably useless. However, for someone not very comfortable, this may be quite useful - depending on the level of information required (finding Dulcinea, which I had blogged about some time back, would perhaps find this technique useful).
I wonder what implications this has for content - the recent cases against Google News for instance have shown that all content in the public domain does not necessarily lend itself to use for profit.
Meanwhile, Mr. Parker is going strong. After conquering medical, crossword puzzles, rudimentary poetry and even scripts for animated game shows, he is now turning his attention towards romance novels, “There are only so many body parts,” he claims. [Via]
Filed under: Ideas & Innovations