Would you buy a book titled "Introduction to Lazarus/FPC" from lulu.com?

[Ñuño_Martínez]

Nice.

A suggestion: It would be great if you add also an explanation about how to install it in Linux and/or MacOS X. I can explain how to do it in the Ubuntu family (and debian).

Also about distributing. Unfortunately I have no much experience about distributing programs on Linux. 

[Troodon]

Okay, initially I had planned a separate chapter for Linux Ubuntu and SuSE (BTW, I know how to easily create deb and rpm packages, with dependency list etc.) but I decided that it's better to rewrite all chapters for Linux in the next release (e.g.: Part A: Windows. Part B: Linux). The book will have a release/version number (like software) and, to expedite matters, this first release will be Windows only.

[Wodzu]

Hi I can translate book to Polish

However, if I may suggest something:

Chapter about installation on other OS then Windows is a MUST. Let me explain why:
A lot of users are using Lazarus \ FPC for the crossplatform reasons. Actually, I am the one of them. I am not using Delphi any more at home just because of this.
I think that installation of Lazaurs is the crucial part, it is the first experience which user has with the new software. And I am pretty sure that the most Windows guys are often disencouraged by some problems with installation under Linux.

I would not leave this for later because this might be the first and last chance for you as a writer to attract people to your book. I guarantee you that a lot of useres here are \ will be the previous useres of Delphi which need to shipt their products under new platform. They want to do as fast as they can and as easly as they can. They will be looking how to do this and they will buy your book casue 25$ will be nothing compared to the time which they probably could waste with installation under Linux without any previous experience.

But that is only my point of view:)

Good luck!

[typo]

I agree with Wodzu and also can translate to Portuguese.

[Troodon]

This news changes things:

http://www.lazarus.freepascal.org/index.php/topic,8907.30.html

There would be no point in attempting to duplicate chapters in a book written by the Lazarus/FPC developers that will be soon translated into English. As I see it now, the "Introduction to Lazarus/FPC" book will be a very hands-on guide, with many screenshots, and it will begin with the assumption that the user is already familiar with FreePascal, the Lazarus IDE in general, and event-based programming.

[idog]

This news changes things:

http://www.lazarus.freepascal.org/index.php/topic,8907.30.html

There would be no point in attempting to duplicate chapters in a book written by the Lazarus/FPC developers that will be soon translated into English. As I see it now, the "Introduction to Lazarus/FPC" book will be a very hands-on guide, with many screenshots, and it will begin with the assumption that the user is already familiar with FreePascal, the Lazarus IDE in general, and event-based programming.

For what it's worth, I agree with what you say - except for the assumption that the user is familiar with FreePascal. The IDE features in general and event-based programming are commonplace, and many programmers may know them from NetBeans, VS etc. In contrast, far less people know Pascal today, and there's no reason to give up on them from the start - they could be a substantial audience.

This puts you in a tight spot between general Pascal programming books like "Essential Pascal" and this new Lazarus/FPC official guide. So - again, this is just my opinion - a friendly, hands-on introduction of "pascal for [beginner?] programmers, using Lazarus/FPC" could be the best solution. It'll be more "real life" than "Essential Pascal", but probably more lively and beginner-friendly (and cheaper?) than the official tome - no offense to its authors, of course!   

[Troodon]

Just to keep you updated on this one... or on what I think of it, mostly. I once took a course in business startup and there is one important thing that I learned then: you can come up with the best product or service in the world but if there is no market (or audience) for it then it doesn't exist. Sounds obvious, doesn't it? Well, the problem is to estimate the size of your market. Many forum postings make me wonder if I made the right choice... I mean, it has become clear that there will be an English translation of what I call "the German book" and that it will cover the most important aspects of Lazarus, FPC, and some programming. The issue as I see it is, many beginers fret over obscure things, such as changing non-public/published widget set properties or manually allocating memory, instead of learning programming. Also, I get more and more the feeling that "multiplatform" equals the lowest common denominator on all platforms. What I would like to do now is, focus on a niche, for example, Lazarus on Linux Ubuntu 10. I fell that I would have more fun doing that, even if only 1% of the forum users were interested in it.

[Trenatos]

I have only one suggestion, based on having run my own business: Do something.

If you want to write this book, you should.
Ok, there is a book being translated for Lazarus for the English programmers, so what? Really. If you have the experience and you touch on things not in the other book, I am sure there would be an audience.

Me, I am a beginner in Freepascal/Lazarus and would buy both books.

BUT

You have to actually write it, have it proof-read, edit it and then publish it.

Trust me, I know the amount of work that goes into writing a book but you will not know until it is done if it was a good thing or not.

And thinking about the lack of books on this subject, I am certain you will get sales, assuming you get the book WRITTEN, get the advertising down, get word of mouth going and so on and so forth.

Step 1: Don't talk about it.
Write it.