Published by Deborah on 08 Sep 2005 at 05:47 pm
Moral Dilemma Leads to a Decision
Before I wrote one word of The Layman’s Guide to WordPress, I did my research both online and off. To date, there is no book available on the market. So I decided to write one myself when two of my readers confessed that they didn’t have a clue how to use WordPress and were intimidated by the interface. I decided right then that my book would be aimed at beginners, and that it would be a visual guide.
Once I came up with this idea, I posted my thoughts on The Writers Buzz and WBA to gain some feedback from my readers. The response was positive.
So before I moved, I wrote the outline and started my research. I continued to receive positive feedback from readers over the next several weeks. Then, yesterday morning, I found this comment waiting for me:
You probably haven’t seen it because one is being written right now by experts in WordPress?
Stay tuned.
Well . . . no. Obviously I didn’t know about this book because these experts have kept the project under wraps. The commenter sent me two emails, explaining their WP book was being written by several volunteers. She was nice enough to invite me to contribute.
I’m not sure if I’m going to accept the invitation since I’m no expert. I’ve just been blogging with WordPress for a little under a year and wanted to share my experience with other novices. And, I wanted to help promote WordPress since I enjoy this program so much. I meant absolutely no harm, yet I’ve clearly violated very serious territory.
I’ve decided to continue writing the book because it’s my own personal challenge. However, I will not publish it due to the high probability that I’ll piss off the WP community.
melly on 13 Sep 2005 at 6:38 pm #
I’m a bit confused here, Deborah.
How is your writing a book on the matter piss-off anyone?
Sorry for being so ignorant about WP and shareware stuff and all. Seems I obviously don’t understand the fine intricacies of this matter… I just know I’m missing something here.
Deborah on 14 Sep 2005 at 8:16 am #
One of the WP contributors doesn’t want me to steal their thunder (publish my book before they publish theirs). I got tripped up by the word “expert” and took her comment too personally. That happens to me sometimes.
Last weekend, I looked over the comments in The Writers Buzz and realized that several of the comments came from the WordPress team. I received an email from Matt Mullenweg, directing me to the nightly downloads.
So, needless to say, I’m testing out the program right now. The interface is very pretty, and on the surface it doesn’t look much different from version 1.5. I’ll be delving into the program tonight and taking furious notes.
As for publishing the book, I’m still not sure if I’m going to publish it. I want to see the finished product first and compare it to the expert version.
Podz on 31 Oct 2005 at 7:20 am #
Hi Deborah - there is no moral dilemma. Go ahead and publish your book. Feel very free to contact me by email.
Deborah on 31 Oct 2005 at 8:38 am #
Thank you, Podz. I will be contacting you shortly.