The Secret of Chess

[Henk]

Playing chess on a stable medium or low level cost you time and money and you get no fee. Bad business.

[Rebel]

there simply seems not to be interest.
for example, there are 30 SF active developers, not a single one is interested in buying; I will certainly give free copies to a dozen persons on the framework in a while, but if no one from SF is interested in the book, what to expect from others?

Considering the incredible amount of nonsense you habitually dump on this forum, it can be called a miracle that anyone reading here would be willing to pay for anything written by you.

Considering his first publications years ago and considering the contents (chapters) of the book I think that every programmer will find something useful. If I were still competing I would buy it without hesitation.

[Rebel]

Lyudmil, how many copies did you end up selling?

I hope it did well for you.

looking at my first dozen, but still not there...

I even published on amazon for lower prices, but it is just a trickle.

porn, on the other hand, seems to sell very well.

but then, obviously, no one is interested..., it is a pity because this book will be a reference in 20 years.

anyway, Nimzovich also died in poverty...

I think some of your ideas warrant a bigger audience - whether right or wrong haha.

If you'd like my help with marketing - that is - to relaunch the book (and perhaps your other book "pawns" as well) and use good marketing, professional book covers, revamped website, social media promotion, email promotions, etc... just let me know.

We'll work out a deal that satisfies both of us, and hopefully brings a ton more sales.

thanks.

I will leave things like that for another month, till the middle of September, to get a clearer picture, and then probably I will have to change my strategy.

I don't believe anything could be changed by social media, professional covers, etc.

this is a book for persons who like to read and engross themselves, and not stay on the surface.

if such person reads the book, he will like it, if not, I guess no covers will help.

what I need is probably someone to 'spot' the book, and expert in the field, preferably a GM, and spread word.
a couple of positive reviews might also help, but I am afraid my reviews will still be 0 in couple of months' time.

there simply seems not to be interest.
for example, there are 30 SF active developers, not a single one is interested in buying; I will certainly give free copies to a dozen persons on the framework in a while, but if no one from SF is interested in the book, what to expect from others?

also, from the existing 10 or so commercial chess engine programmers, only Komodo has bought a copy. what to expect after that?

I also sent some copies to solid chess publishers like quality chess, etc., they will have to read it, but I am very much afraid they will either find it stupid, or not understand it, which is basically the same.

Sure man, no problem.

That's okay, I'm pretty busy anyway - was just trying to help.

I'll make a few notes on what you said anyway, it's like an itch I can't help but scratch lol.

Firstly, people DO judge a book by its cover.

No offense, but the current covers of your books look like they were made in MS Paint by super-imposing some text over a stock image.

If a prospective buyer sees that, they'll assume (incorrectly) that the contents of the book is of the same quality.

Your books titles also aren't descriptive and tell prospective buyers nothing about how the book will help them.

"Secret of Chess" and "Pawns"? - with MS Paint covers?

You aren't giving your books a chance like this, man.

Don't you think that with an improved title - something like "Secrets of Chess: How ANY Programmer Can Create a 3800 Elo Engine" and a nice, appropriate cover, plus nice sales copy written in the description you'd get at least 10x sales?

Have you defined exactly the market you're trying to sell to?

I mean...if the market is people interested in a FREE chess engine (SF programmers), I wouldn't say that's a good market.

They haven't proven a habit of spending money on this stuff.

Could you not aim it at the average, working, adult chessplayer?

Something like "800 Points Higher Than Magnus: Crushing Chess Secrets Even Stockfish Doesn't Know"

My point is, it is well known in business that creating a product and then searching for someone to buy it is the fastest way to go out of business.

Its far better to choose your market, and then create a product they'd love.

Sending it to quality chess (a mass market chess publisher) as well as engine programmers, makes me think that you havent decided who it is EXACTLY the book is for.

I'd say that the computer chess community is too small for real economic success of a eBook.

But on the other hand, chess players who have an INTEREST in chess engines is a HUGE market of which I myself have a decent sized mailing list.

About having an expert or GM "spot" the book - I don't agree.

If this happens, I'd guess the prospective customer will get convinced, will see the cover and lose trust.

You simply can't assume that "if they read it they'll love it".

Why do you think booksellers trying to sell certain books, place them cover out on the shelf?

They don't leave them hidden and say "well, if they read it they'll love it" - that's naive man.

I know a guy who used to think like this, who used to change hourly for his services and say "ahhh just pay me whatever you think it was worth" - the guy is still struggling years later.

You have to be realistic in business.

Anyway Lyudmil, good luck with your ventures.

yeah, I used MS paint.

I am simply like that.

it would be better to stop discussing technical details here, as Harm gets angered.

I think that Brendan gave you a couple of good business advices.

[Ras]

Playing chess on a stable medium or low level cost you time and money and you get no fee. Bad business.

Every hobby is bad business.

[Lyudmil Tsvetkov]

Currently, the option for purchasing 'The Secret of Chess' from my site via Paypal is disabled, and I will update the site in a while.

So that the only option now is Amazon(paperbacks and ebooks):
https://www.amazon.com/Secret-Chess-Lyu ... 8&qid=&sr=


I must say, that I am more or less happy with Amazon, in general they are doing what they say.
On the other hand, PayPal proved to be simply crooks.


3 months on, I have to ascertain there is not much feedback/interest in my book. I see 3 possible causes for this:

1.) The book is bad
2.) People can't understand it
3.) The book is written in high style/high knowledge style, different from traditional conceptions, and most people prefer low knowledge/routine instead of high knowledge

For myself, I am not entirely clear what the main cause is.

What do you think?

[BrendanJNorman]

3 months on, I have to ascertain there is not much feedback/interest in my book. I see 3 possible causes for this:

1.) The book is bad
2.) People can't understand it
3.) The book is written in high style/high knowledge style, different from traditional conceptions, and most people prefer low knowledge/routine instead of high knowledge

For myself, I am not entirely clear what the main cause is.

What do you think?

As mentioned upon release:

1. Unspecified market targeted (Targeting everyone equals targeting noone. You need to be specific: Is it for programmers? Chess learners? Who?)

2. Ambiguous title (Secrets of Chess means nothing and can mislead readers, like this guy who bought it:

"It's a book that has nothing to do with learning chess as it's author claims.It has some interesting ideas that unfortunately are only useful for software developers and quite useless for chess students.Those of you interested to learn chess , stay away!"

A book title serves the same purpose as the headline of an ad - that is to call out your target market and make them an offer, so something like "How any Chess Programmer Can Make a 3000 Elo Engine in 90 Days" makes more sense and would sell more - although this market is, in my opinion, tiny.)

3. Market too small to only target programmers, Content too advanced/technical for the learning novice chessplayers - too much assumed knowledge.

Therefore, for the current iteration of the product - there is no market.

Choose a bigger market, and adjust the product accordingly (change title, improve cover, simplify terms, explain concepts etc, as if you are explaining to a primary school kid - increase the complexity only gradually) - Explain how this applies to (and can be used by) the new, larger market and how it can help them.

[BrendanJNorman]

Playing chess on a stable medium or low level cost you time and money and you get no fee. Bad business.

Every hobby is bad business.

Not true.

I know people who make 100,000-400,000 USD from their hobbies, using only the internet and digital products/websites.

It's not uncommon.

[MikeB]

Currently, the option for purchasing 'The Secret of Chess' from my site via Paypal is disabled, and I will update the site in a while.

So that the only option now is Amazon(paperbacks and ebooks):
https://www.amazon.com/Secret-Chess-Lyu ... 8&qid=&sr=


I must say, that I am more or less happy with Amazon, in general they are doing what they say.
On the other hand, PayPal proved to be simply crooks.


3 months on, I have to ascertain there is not much feedback/interest in my book. I see 3 possible causes for this:

1.) The book is bad
2.) People can't understand it
3.) The book is written in high style/high knowledge style, different from traditional conceptions, and most people prefer low knowledge/routine instead of high knowledge

For myself, I am not entirely clear what the main cause is.

What do you think?

I like your book Lyudmil , anyone just getting into chess programming should buy it, the SF development team probably think they are too far advanced to get anything out of it, but I agree with Ed, any chess programmer should take a look, and should be able get a nugget or two or more. It's little bit over the top for anyone getting into chess - it's more like a school text book, and most people do not like to work that hard to get better at something. The only problem is that the universe of people that want to program chess for fun in the universe is very small. Even the general chess book world is niche market with authors dominated by well known GM's and the like. For me personally , I appreciate the larger print - but then I'm in my 60's. It would a be nice to have epd file of all the diagrams in your book if available.

I'm thinking about buying your other book as well at some point in the future.

Later,
Michael

[Lyudmil Tsvetkov]

3 months on, I have to ascertain there is not much feedback/interest in my book. I see 3 possible causes for this:

1.) The book is bad
2.) People can't understand it
3.) The book is written in high style/high knowledge style, different from traditional conceptions, and most people prefer low knowledge/routine instead of high knowledge

For myself, I am not entirely clear what the main cause is.

What do you think?

As mentioned upon release:

1. Unspecified market targeted (Targeting everyone equals targeting noone. You need to be specific: Is it for programmers? Chess learners? Who?)

2. Ambiguous title (Secrets of Chess means nothing and can mislead readers, like this guy who bought it:

"It's a book that has nothing to do with learning chess as it's author claims.It has some interesting ideas that unfortunately are only useful for software developers and quite useless for chess students.Those of you interested to learn chess , stay away!"

A book title serves the same purpose as the headline of an ad - that is to call out your target market and make them an offer, so something like "How any Chess Programmer Can Make a 3000 Elo Engine in 90 Days" makes more sense and would sell more - although this market is, in my opinion, tiny.)

3. Market too small to only target programmers, Content too advanced/technical for the learning novice chessplayers - too much assumed knowledge.

Therefore, for the current iteration of the product - there is no market.

Choose a bigger market, and adjust the product accordingly (change title, improve cover, simplify terms, explain concepts etc, as if you are explaining to a primary school kid - increase the complexity only gradually) - Explain how this applies to (and can be used by) the new, larger market and how it can help them.

I guess you are completely right, but only on number 3: one should be writing beginner to intermediate level books, as those players seem to be 5 times more numerous.

On the other hand, it is a bit regrettable to me, that nowadays:
- new things don't matter
- knowledge does not matter, and instead routine is preferred
- one does not have the right to give his book a normal title, and instead should write some couple-of-sentences-long title, only for Amazon search algorithms to include more words pertaining to the title into their routines(pity, is not it, quality does not matter, outward appearance does?)
- etc., etc.

I don't share your experience about covers, in my case it did not matter at all, seemingly covers play a very secondary role, at least what concerns chess.

Also, chess on Amazon is a very particular market, and you will achieve the things you might achieve with other genres, for example, free downloads/giveaways seem not to work, as the audience is too small, people simply read the book and that is it.

[Lyudmil Tsvetkov]

I guess that review is a spite one, the person obviously did not read the book, but still submitted the review...

I am happy that Bronstein and Grisham also get a lot of non-optimal reviews, but still write quality books.
The best reviews get tactics books, with mate in 1 or 2, and the reviewers themselves make 5 or 6 grammatical mistakes in the review 2 sentences long...
Good thing to aspire too, right? Nice following.

Yes, I need some more reviews on the book, on Amazon and elsewhere, unfortunately still not available.