GPA - GP Answers - Group Policy

Late in 2007, the band Radiohead had a bold experiment: they'd give away their music for free on the Internet. Actually "free" isn't the right word, rather "Pay what you want." Some people would pay \$2 for the album, others \$20, and still others \$0 (which, by the way, still cost the band 50¢ in credit card processing charges).

However, the band also charged for the media edition (CD and vinyl record) with a nice printed box and other assorted goodies. This was available in record stores and from the web site.

The idea is that if they gave away the music for free, they would make up the lost revenue in tour dates. It worked. All dates on their tour were basically immediately sold out.

It gave me an idea. And that idea was to make some new material available as downloadable chapters, but also have the printed editions available for purchase as well. That way, you can have access to new material in a unique new format with some bonus features and also have the printed edition available with all the material and all the convenience a printed edition offers.

Sure, you will find the new e-chapters in the new printed books. But you won't find updated original material available in the e-chapters. If you want updated original content (i.e., Stuff that was originally found in the first through fourth editions of the books) you must get a copy of the printed books.

In short, I'm not Radiohead. I can't afford to take the risk of having freely downloadable chapters available in the hopes my "touring" (my training classes and speaking engagements) will offset the losses.

Some eBooks are sold as entire books, but my strategy isn't to work like that.

You can get each chapter on an "e-chapter by e-chapter" basis. Together with my team, I think we've struck a good balance between price per chapter (since we're selling it that way) and not forcing you to buy an entire eBook which may have content you may not want.

In short, no.

I thought there might be a way for me to provide a "sample download experience" for us to try out. But, alas, I cannot.

So, here's the official policy: go ahead and pay for and download one chapter. If you have ANY TROUBLE AT ALL, or you're unsatisfied in any way, I'll PayPal you \$6.00 (that's even more than the chapter COSTS) for your trouble. Of course, I can only do this for ONE chapter, not ALL chapters.

Again, this policy is to cover the 1% of the people who encounter download and display difficulties. (You might want to try another computer first before you email for a refund, but that's at your option.)

We've had lots of reports of 100% successful downloads, and no issues (as of this writing). But hopefully this guarantee will help you see that I'm backing the technology used here for purchase.

Possibly. If you buy every available chapter, you could pay more for e-chapters than the actual printed books (especially if you find a deep discount store selling the books). Again, our philosophy is that there are advantages to having the e-chapters in conjunction to having the actual printed edition of the book.

The actual purchase transaction takes place at Powell's because they sell eBooks/downloadable chapters better than I do. That's their business and I'm outsourcing this particular part of the sale to them. Note that all other items, classes, printed books, etc. are still sold directly from GPanswers.com.

The downloadable chapters are simply new material which will be also found in the printed edition of the books. The downloadable chapters have some advantages and the printed book has some advantages. Here's the breakdown:

The downloadable chapters have:

• Color screenshots
• Fully searchable text
• Available now (before the books are printed, and also after the books are printed)

The printed editions have:

• All the material; so when I suggest, for instance that you "Refer to Chapter 2" you can just do that. That particular chapter may not be available for download, but it will obviously be in the printed edition.
• Updated material in every originally-published chapter. The material that's updated from the printed edition isn't necessarily in the downloadable chapters. That is, there's plenty of "printed edition only" goodies not available in the downloadable chapters.

So IMHO, there's merit in getting both the downloadable chapters and the printed edition.

That's up to you. Here are some common scenarios for how I feel people will use the material.

Case I: People who own the 4th edition (big book, white cover, green lettering.)

Yes, there's a lot of new material in the new chapters, and that's reflected in the downloadable chapters and also in the printed editions. However, it's true that this book is an "upgrade" from the 4th edition. Maybe you just need a "boost" to learn some new stuff, and that boost can be a low-cost upgrade by simply downloading a new chapter or two or three.

Case II: People who own the 3rd edition (says Third Edition on the cover) or older

If you own the 3rd edition or older, you'll likely want to just bite the bullet and get the printed editions of the new books. There's just a TON of new material since Vista came out, and none of that is in the 3rd edition. So, perhaps you get the new printed editions and also download a new chapter or two for the searchability of those chapters.

Case III: People who are just getting started

People who are just getting started with Group Policy would be well served to get the printed editions.

Case III: People who want to have it all

I have a favorite band (no, it's not Radiohead) and I get absolutely everything they produce. That's just me. I love having the CD-singles along with the album. The CD-singles might have some rare tracks that the album doesn't actually have on it - even if there's some overlap. But I'm happy to have that.

There's definitely an advantage to having both the printed editions and all the e-chapters. Again, the original chapters in the book will not be available for download (so you can't search those if you needed to). Only the new chapters are downloadable and searchable.

Acrobat Reader 6+ or Adobe Ebook Reader is supported. You can also use Adobe Reader on your Microsoft or Palm device.

Honestly, writing books is how I feed my family. If I don't protect the material, then it could get circulated for free, and then I'd have to eat government cheese.

I tried my best to find a not-too-heavy-handed solution. In short, everything works via industry-standard Adobe DRM Activator, found here: https://aractivate.adobe.com/eden/EdenUI.asp

You'll need a .NET Passport account (free) to be able to read the first chapter.

I've had LOTS of people download the chapters at this point, and not one person has complained about the DRM.

Sorry, this isn't available. But the text is fully searchable.

There are lots of questions answered by the company we use for e-chapter distribution. Their support page is found here: http://www.helpebook.com/

There are lots of questions answered by the company we use for e-chapter distribution. Their support page is found here: http://www.helpebook.com/

There are lots of questions answered by the company we use for e-chapter distribution. Their support page is found here: http://www.helpebook.com/

Yes. Click here.

I asked out first eBook downloader some questions. His name is Steve. Questions #16 - 18 were my questions. And inside those questions are his exact responses.

The buying experience went very well. It was a little confusing on Powells.com, as it asked for a shipping method, and didn't include the option of "no shipping, will download file". Yet it didn't add any shipping charges or anything to the order.

Once I placed the order, I clicked on the eBook link. Popup window opened up asking for approval. Once I clicked to allow, eBook immediately opened up in Adobe Digital Editions after it authorized the eBook. If Adobe Digital Editions is not installed, it provides the link to download and install it. It is a very small download, and installs quickly. When it completes, the eBook is opened up and available.

Looks great! Very nice and clean interface, streamlined for the single purpose of reading eBooks, with no additional unnecessary things clogging the screen.

Windows Live OneCare, OR other comparable internet security program, may be running a firewall and had blocked your computer from connecting to the licensing server.  This would be evident if you are prompted by a dialog box whether to Allow or Block going out to the internet upon attempting to open the eBook from your online digital library--and hopefully you choose "Allow" didn't you? else you may have to go into your security program and unblock access to the online eBook digital library's licensing server and you are not going to like having to do that.  

When this happens eBooks may no longer be able to be added to your computer's Adobe Digital Expressions local digital library.  To fix this:

1)  Delete the eBook download you had just attempted.
2)  Close down the Adobe Digital Expressions program.
3)  Go back to your online digital library and run the download again.

You may find the eBook installed twice after receiving another dialog box that a copy process is already running.  If you get such a message click OK and let it do its job.  If you do get a duplicate eBook because the last eBook download got stuck as described above then you can go ahead and click the dropdown arrow on the image of the duplicate eBook and choose Delete.