From Kottke:
37signals has published their latest book, Getting Real, as a PDF download that they are distributing themselves. After more than a day, they’ve sold over 1750 copies at $19 apiece:
If you do the math, that’s ~$33,000 in sales in one day. I don’t know what the advance would be on a book like that, but they’ve got to be approaching it, and if/when they reach that figure, the profit margin on subsequent sales will be much higher than the royalties paid by a publishing company. Interesting experiment.
37signals is the geektop responsible for Basecamp, Backpack, Writeboard, Campfire and Ta-Da List–web-based applications, all.
One might be tempted to mix 37signals up with 43 Folders. 43 Folders is “Merlin Mann’s site about personal productivity, life hacks, and simple ways to make your life a little better.” Common goals, common brand names, but different.
