Book Introducing Free Software to Laypeople

[Nicholas Johnson]

There is loads of free software, but relatively few people using it for
their personal computing. So I thought "Why not write a book
introducing laypeople to free software?" I'm not sure if something
like it has been done before.

I've never written a book before. I know little about publishing or
marketing, so it would be a first for me. I do have a few ideas:

* Use LibreOffice.
* Make the book available both as a hard copy and as an eBook.
* Make the eBook available as a pdf and epub.
* Design a cover page and edit the book.
* Design a website for the book.
* Integrate the lulu API into the website?

I'll probably pay people to do the cover page design, website design,
and edit the book. The target demographic is non-techie software users
and the goal is inspiring them to use free software for their personal
computing.

I don't have a detailed outline of the book yet, but I think the first
chapter should get the reader interested in free software and point out
some ways proprietary software harms them. Then, in the later chapters
after the reader is hooked, I'll tie it all together by explaining the
philosophy of free software. I don't want to start with the philosophy.
I feel that may come off as preachy, too abstract, and turn people off.

I'm posting here because I'd like some community input so I can
represent free software in a good way. It would be good to have a few
people to send draft copies of the book to and get feedback before
publishing.

Any advice is appreciated as long as it's constructive!

- Nick