The Lexicographer's Rules

Since my book The Official Dictionary of Unofficial English is now available on the bootleg e-book sites ("pirate" is the wrong term, I think), I've decided to make it available for download at no cost. This is not a big deal. The book never sold more than a few thousand copies, the copyright is mine (even though the publisher, McGraw-Hill, incorrectly printed the copyright as theirs), the book is being remaindered, and all the rights are now reverting to me.

But the main point here is that I'd like to draw people to my site for the free download, not to some shady place on the Internet. So:

Download the The Official Dictionary of Unofficial English at no charge. (PDF 2.7MB)

No fees, registrations, logins, passwords, ad-clicking, or hoop-jumping required.

By the way, the way these books get out there is usually simple. Sometimes the files leak from publishers, sometimes from authors, sometimes they're scanned from paper to pixels, etc., etc., Sometimes people pretend to be blind and contact the publisher to ask for a digital copy of a book so they can use it with their screen readers that translate the digital pages into something they can understand. The publisher sends a digital copy and in a few days it's all over the Internet.

Make no mistake: I'm not angry. Just resigned. I knew it would happen.

Grant - many of us would be willing to pay for a bound hard copy of the book (it being more convenient than a PDF for reading at the beach, in the bathtub, etc., etc.).  Why don’t you offer it through a publishing-on-demand site like lulu, outskirts press or xlibris.  You could at least make some pocket change from it. 

I can guarantee at least one copy will be sold :-)

Can I suggest that you put up a PayPal link so that people can donate to you if they enjoy the book? I’d quite happily kick you a few bucks—I love having searchable copies of things. It probably won’t make you a ton of money, but it might give you beer money once in a while.

I second both of the prior comments. (If I second two comments, is that a fourth? I’m not much good at math.)

Thanks for the e-book, Grant!

I’ll third the two comments seconded, now fourthed, (which would probably add up to something like a twelvefold endorsement) and add that some message be placed into the PDF file to the effect of, if you enjoyed this book please donate, with the paypal link right there in the PDF…

Good luck!

Ima go order me a hard copy :)

Grant - many of us would be willing to pay for a bound hard copy of the book (it being more convenient than a PDF for reading at the beach, in the bathtub, etc., etc.).  Why don’t you offer it through a publishing-on-demand site like lulu, outskirts press or xlibris.  You could at least make some pocket change from it.

Name:

Email:

Location:

URL:

Remember my personal information

Notify me of follow-up comments?