Re: Book Introducing Free Software to Laypeople

[Paul Sutton]

Hi

Not sure what is needed here

We already have books on LibreOffice and debian

https://books.libreoffice.org/en/
https://debian-handbook.info/download/stable/debian-handbook.pdf

So lots of books and resources are out there.

Richard Stallman has also penned books on free software.

If we look in to why people don't use free software, one reason could be 
people don't know something exists unless we tell them.

So it may be worth,  trying to get these books / resources in to public 
libraries,  you don't need the whole libreoffice series,  maybe simply 
writer and getting started guides.

Maybe put up posters too.  But face to face advocacy works,  you can 
challenge misconceptions and answer questions there and then.

Paul


On 06/07/2022 02:47, Nicholas Johnson via libreplanet-discuss wrote:
> 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
>
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Paul Sutton, Cert Cont Sci (Open)
https://personaljournal.ca/paulsutton/
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