10 replies to this topic

[Kim W]

Is the Book for RM 6 the same as what you see in the Help screen? I'm trying to decide if I should purchase it.

[Renee Zamora]

No the book "Getting the Most out of RootsMagic 6" is more conversational and easier to read.

[Vyger]

No the book "Getting the Most out of RootsMagic 6" is more conversational and easier to read.

With version changes becoming more frequent can you express the company position on whether it will ever be available as an eBook?

I ask as I have only ever bought the book once due to the prohibitive carriage costs to destinations outside the US.

[Renee Zamora]

It is something we have discussed as a company. The RootsMagician still needs to look into the best way of doing that. We want to make sure that it will not allow one user to purchase the ebook and "share" it with all their friends.

[zhangrau]

_{ebooks need to be respected by users just like software. I have recently started self-publishing some books. It's easy enough for anyone who has their book in MS Word 2003 format. I have used www.smashwords.com}

[Vyger]

I would like to state that in my opinion the upside would be greater than any downside. If I had the hard copy of the book I could lend this to a friend if I so desired, if I was really intent on sharing it further I could scan the whole thing to PDF or other and share it on file sharing sites.

I am slightly disappointed that the Rootsmagician appears to have a low opinion of his flock and I believe they deserve better, without any desire to be disrespectful we are not talking about the Adobe Photoshop CS6 Bible here, which incidentally is available as an ebook. The days of lumping around printed material and paying ever increasing carriage costs to have it transported around the world are long gone, even the technical books I own and live on my bookshelf also live in softcopy on my laptop and tablet for reference when on the move. That doesn't mean that I go offering them to any friend who wants a copy but I do recommend them as a good book to anyone who enquires on the subject.

As stated before I have only bought the book once and that was many years ago, stripping out the hard copy publishing costs and pricing an ebook version appropriately I would likely have bought each release but simply refuse to pay high shipping costs.

[Totnor]

With version changes becoming more frequent can you express the company position on whether it will ever be available as an eBook?

I ask as I have only ever bought the book once due to the prohibitive carriage costs to destinations outside the US.

To purchase in UK is more expensive than buying directly from US.

[RonB]

An e-book is much cheaper to produce/publish than a physical book. I am positive that an e-book would sell more than double the number of copies that a physical book will sell. I agree with Vyger, Bruce apparently has a very low opinion of his customers if one of his major concerns is that people will purchase an e-book and then distribute copies to friends and family.

Ron Bernier
Woonsocket, RI

[Jack]

The only folks I know who use Roots Magic are in this forum. I rarely share my physical location with them, much less my books.

[Vyger]

The only folks I know who use Roots Magic are in this forum. I rarely share my physical location with them, much less my books.

Well said Jack, and probably very true of most of us

[Candy]

While I may offer step-by-step location of various things in a book if asked, I do not lend out my books either. If the person is a newbie to the product, I strongly recommend the purchase of the book so they can make notes, etc in the margins or highlight various things they find helpful.