I Can't Believe It: Apparently This Guy Prints And Sells Wikipedia Articles

[6Foot2]

Link: Jesse Russell - Barnes & Noble

 

http://i.snag.gy/7igRz.jpg

 

My point: Why would anyone want to buy a Wikipedia article in book form that they could see at any time [or print for themselves] for free, or considerably reduced cost? An article that could be edited [updated] at any time [the update reducing any value the book might have had to nothing at all]

[andyturpie]

I do a great range of tartan paint and bowler hats with sleeves....any takers?

[aerospacemango]

I thought I would take a look, and..........

 

I am astounded! How on earth can you spin out 88 pages on "All I Want For Christmas Is You" by Mariah Carey??? How is this possible?

 

And at $19.99 a pop, don't look like there's many buyers.....Shame!

[Domino]

But, most educational establishments won't allow Wikipedia as a source.

 

Now you could just put the book title/author with the same content :-)

[FN-GM]

But, most educational establishments won't allow Wikipedia as a source.

 

Now you could just put the book title/author with the same content :-)

 

They wont, but on wikipedia the fast majority of content is sourced, so you just use those sources. You can see the sources by using those little numbers in the text.

[Domino]

NOTE: comments on a thread may actually be jokes. and closer than they appear in this mirror.

[aerospacemango]

NOTE: comments on a thread may actually be jokes. and closer than they appear in this mirror.

 

They may also be a lot quicker than you realise, instead of bigger!

[Ric_]

They may also be a lot quicker than you realise, instead of bigger!

 

Depends upon who edited the Wikipedia page last.

[aerospacemango]

They wont, but on wikipedia the fast majority of content is sourced, so you just use those sources

 

I'm thinking that someone has missed my joke on this post!

 

A simple typo, but so easy to miss!

[Arthur]

@DaveP. You might find the following article interesting...

 

He Wrote 200,000 Books (but Computers Did Some of the Work) « New York Times

 

Mr. Parker has generated more than 200,000 books, as an advanced search on Amazon.com under his publishing company shows, making him, in his own words, “the most published author in the history of the planet.” And he makes money doing it.

 

Among the books published under his name are “The Official Patient’s Sourcebook on Acne Rosacea” ($24.95 and 168 pages long); “Stickler Syndrome: A Bibliography and Dictionary for Physicians, Patients and Genome Researchers” ($28.95 for 126 pages); and “The 2007-2012 Outlook for Tufted Washable Scatter Rugs, Bathmats and Sets That Measure 6-Feet by 9-Feet or Smaller in India” ($495 for 144 pages).

 

But these are not conventional books, and it is perhaps more accurate to call Mr. Parker a compiler than an author. Mr. Parker, who is also the chaired professor of management science at Insead (a business school with campuses in Fontainebleau, France, and Singapore), has developed computer algorithms that collect publicly available information on a subject — broad or obscure — and, aided by his 60 to 70 computers and six or seven programmers, he turns the results into books in a range of genres, many of them in the range of 150 pages and printed only when a customer buys one.

 

See also

VDM Publishing (and Print-On-Demand Publisher VDM Infects Amazon)

The odd tale of Alphascript Publishing and Betascript Publishing

 

 

Why would anyone want to buy a Wikipedia article in book form that they could see at any time [or print for themselves] for free

Someone must be buying them, otherwise they wouldn't bother. If you do a search for "High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles" on Amazon's website you will find at least 8.4 million books made from Wikipedia articles.

[6Foot2]

...Someone must be buying them, otherwise they wouldn't bother...

 

Quite so. However I can't imagine buying any of them myself.

 

It's amazing how some people make their money.

[Rawns]

You can actually download or print whole articles out, or combine articles and create your own "book" on Wikipedia for free. Just created a 37 page 'book' on Kentucky!

 

It will even suggest articles to add to your "book" based on what pages you have already included in it!

 

EDIT: Playing around with it more, it;s actually very cool. You can even export your completed book in epub format and send it to your e-reader of choice.

Edited January 7, 2013 by Rawns

[tech_guy]

Hmmm, interesting. If he's compiling from Wikipedia, then I wonder if he's ever used some of the edits I've made to various pages over the years?

 

For instance; that I'm the love child of J. F. Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe, that Tony Blair was a member of the Moonies (whilst in office), Sir Isaac Newton invented Candy Floss, and that the Twilight novels won the Nobel Peace Prize for literature in 2011.....

[Arthur]

You can actually download or print whole articles out

Imagine what printing the whole of Wikipedia would be like.

 

http://i.imgur.com/a9K1x.jpg

 

http://i.imgur.com/HSVJw.png

[JJonas]

You can actually download or print whole articles out, or combine articles and create your own "book" on Wikipedia for free. Just created a 37 page 'book' on Kentucky!

 

It will even suggest articles to add to your "book" based on what pages you have already included in it!

 

EDIT: Playing around with it more, it;s actually very cool. You can even export your completed book in epub format and send it to your e-reader of choice.

@Rawns People should buy my book on Kentucky its got 38 pages!

[JJonas]

I also have an 18 page book on Kentucky Fried Chicken

[edutech4schools]

I met a teacher once who had created some VERY VERY basic power point slide shows to go with some of his primary school lessons. He had just handed in his notice as he was making more money selling these crappy looking slideshows to other teachers than he made being a teacher.

[AMLinington]

People have got some brass neck! I couldn't bring myself morally to make money like this... Guess this is why the rich are rich and the poor stay poor...