Book takes off - QuirksBlog

For a short time, Amazon reported the book to be In Stock, although right now it isn't any more—apparently this copy has been picked up. My Amazon Sales Ranking is developing quite nicely, staying above 7,500 most of the time, and generally keeping up with Jeremy's book (which is my standard of excellence for first books by newbie JavaScript authors).

Finally David Flanagan, whose "JavaScript: the Definitive Guide" is now available in 5th edition, was kind enough to post about Chris Heilmann's book and mine. The reason my publisher sent him a copy of my book, by the way, was that he graciously agreed to tech-edit my Core chapter when I was in a very tight spot. (Conversely, I took a look at a few chapters from the 5th edition a few months back.)

All in all, not a bad score for a book that has been truly available for less than a week.

Meanwhile I still haven't seen a single comment that says "I own your book", and I sorely miss them. If you do own a copy of the book, please leave a comment, just to humour me. Thanks.

Comments

1 Posted by pauldwaite on 8 October 2006 | Permalink

I hadn't noticed the 5th edition of the rhino had come out. Marvellous. On my Safari bookshelf now.

Argh. God bless 'em for bringing it up-to-date, but "Web 2.0 technologies"? Right there in the second paragraph of the preface? Sigh.

Sorry, off-topic.

2 Posted by AlastairC on 8 October 2006 | Permalink

Um, I *will* own your book, as I pre-ordered it, but amazon(.co.uk) is saying "Delivery estimate: 1 Nov 2006 - 16 Nov 2006".

3 Posted by Nick on 8 October 2006 | Permalink

I pre-ordered your book from amazon.co.uk too. The delivery estimate is 28 Oct 2006 - 14 Nov 2006. What's up?

4 Posted by ppk on 8 October 2006 | Permalink

That's normal: the book is only available in the US right now. Europeans will have to have two to three more weeks patience.

5 Posted by Ian W. on 8 October 2006 | Permalink

I'm in the US, and am expecting to receive the book any day now. In fact, the Post Office already tried to deliver it once, but it was Saturday (yesterday) and there was no one at my office. :( In any case, I'm really looking forward to reading it.

6 Posted by Rob Larsen on 9 October 2006 | Permalink

I JUST got my copy on Friday after ordering it a few weeks ago. I also got the 5th edition recently, so I'm in Javascript overload right now (not that I'm complaining)

7 Posted by Chris Heilmann on 9 October 2006 | Permalink

I have your book, you sent it to me. :-)
I will also write a review soon, but so far I put it on flickr as soon as I got it:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/codepo8/262092402/in/photostream/

8 Posted by Michal Stankoviansky on 9 October 2006 | Permalink

We will own your book as soon as it's available in Europe. I recommended it as a beginner JavaScript book for our company's HTML coders and it will be ordered from amazon.co.uk as soon as we have reports that it's available :-) I'll also buy the 5th edition of David Flannagan's book for sure.

9 Posted by Peter van Veen on 9 October 2006 | Permalink

" Your Amazon.com order has shipped" (received the message from Amazon US this morning in my inbox).
It will be delivered in the Hague (the Netherlands) so you can lend it from me soon :).

10 Posted by Mark McDonnell on 9 October 2006 | Permalink

I ordered your book from Amazon what feels like a lifetime ago and I'm still waiting for it to arrive. I want this book so badly!

Once I have the book I will tell the world about it!

11 Posted by Zanbowser on 9 October 2006 | Permalink

I ordered it before it went out of stock, PPK. Just looked on the tracker, and it says it'll be here sometime this afternoon (MD-US).

Can't wait. ^_^

12 Posted by Scott Cadillac on 9 October 2006 | Permalink

I pre-ordered on Jun 2nd, and I just got a shipping notice from Amazon.ca on the weekend, so maybe tomorrow.

I'll blog then :-)

13 Posted by Adrian B on 9 October 2006 | Permalink

My copy just shipped from a Swedish online bookstore (Adlibris) to me (here in Umeå, Sweden), I should have it within 2 days.

14 Posted by ppk on 9 October 2006 | Permalink

Yesterday evening I assumed that there's a worldwide conspiracy by the CIA, terrorist Muslims, Communists, and Templars, aimed squarely against my book. Fortunately, it now turns out that it's reaching its readers, although more slowly than I hoped. The conspiracy has failed, and the book is coming!

15 Posted by Roger Johansson on 9 October 2006 | Permalink

I got my copy today. Started reading and forgot about the outside world ;-).

16 Posted by Ian W. on 10 October 2006 | Permalink

http://www.flickr.com/photos/iandavid/266080977/

17 Posted by Barney on 11 October 2006 | Permalink

I'm still waiting for the UK book launch. I have never been as excited about JavaScript in my life - practical working knowledge for the purposes of an html and css designer.

50% of it is the presentation of your site - it's fantastic. Nice one.

18 Posted by Daniel Vandersluis on 11 October 2006 | Permalink

I finally got the book yesterday! So far, I'm quite enjoying it.

19 Posted by Erwin Heiser on 12 October 2006 | Permalink

Nice redesign, glad you finally lost the frames :)
The book is on order from Amazon UK and should be in soon. looking forward to reading it!
All the best,

Erwin

20 Posted by Rasesh on 12 October 2006 | Permalink

How i wish i was in the US so i could have pre-ordered the book.. :(

Oh, and also hope you have the conspiracy part covered :D

21 Posted by Sean on 13 October 2006 | Permalink

Got the book from amazon today!

22 Posted by ppk on 13 October 2006 | Permalink

Thanks, all, for the heads-up. The book is now indeed on the loose, and even a few Europeans already own it.

Good to know!

23 Posted by Adrian B on 13 October 2006 | Permalink

Yes, we do! The waiting (that I mentioned earlier) is over, I got my copy yesterday, so now I got some nice weekend reading ahead of me :)

24 Posted by Mark McDonnell on 13 October 2006 | Permalink

I posted originally that I was still waiting for my PPK book to arrive and it has finally landed on my desk!

I can't wait to get home to read it!

25 Posted by Chung on 13 October 2006 | Permalink

I am in Hong Kong, I got my copy from a local bookstore today. I can't wait to read it!

26 Posted by Philip Searle on 13 October 2006 | Permalink

I received my copy of your book yesterday, and I'm really enjoying it so far. I did notice one mistake that isn't listed on your errata page: figure 8.1 on page 352 (DOM treeview) has two 'head' nodes; I believe the second one should be a 'p'. Otherwise, it's great!

27 Posted by ppk on 14 October 2006 | Permalink

Thanks Philip; definitely an erratum. Added to page.

28 Posted by Haris Skiadas on 14 October 2006 | Permalink

I just received my copy of the book. Haven't had time to glance at it yet, but will be doing so very soon.

29 Posted by Juan Pablo on 16 October 2006 | Permalink

I received my copy of the book last week through amazon.ca.
I've read the first chapters and so far I'm very pleased with it. I find it very clear, well structured and organized.
I'll post more once I finish reading it.

30 Posted by Will Rickards on 16 October 2006 | Permalink

Got mine friday, though I expected it much later. Amazon was telling me late november since I pre-ordered it. Then last week I get an e-mail letting me know it shipped.

I read the first 3 chapters this weekend. I really like the look of the book on the inside, fonts and all that. The layout is great. So far the content seems great too. Seems like you spent a good amount of time figuring out how to present that information. The only thing that is slightly annoying is all the semi-apology or wishy washy that goes on in those early chapters. Don't be afraid, ppk, state your mind.

I can't wait to get to stuff I don't already know.

Now about your website....

31 Posted by Brian Kramp on 18 October 2006 | Permalink

Got my preorder from Barnes and Noble today.

32 Posted by 4rn0 on 18 October 2006 | Permalink

My Amazon preorder came in yesterday: I'm about halfway through the book right now and I really like it so far!

33 Posted by Brian LePore on 19 October 2006 | Permalink

Got mine from Amazon today, making it the highlight of my day. :)

34 Posted by Jordan West on 21 October 2006 | Permalink

Book is ordered and on its way.

35 Posted by Daniel Lemire on 21 October 2006 | Permalink

I got your book today, ordered it on Tuesday morning, with the free shipping on Amazon. Considering that puts you at the end of the ship-out list, it seems your book is now readily available. So far so good. Very enjoyable and well written. Great Work ppk.

36 Posted by Oli on 25 October 2006 | Permalink

I just received my copy in London. It's a surprisingly heavy book for the size... the kind of thing you could smack bad developers with. I haven't read much of it just yet, but the finish and quality are good.

37 Posted by Andreas Næsager on 6 November 2006 | Permalink

I own your book now!

38 Posted by Michal Stankoviansky on 6 November 2006 | Permalink

We own your book! The package from amazon.co.uk has arrived today. Now there's at least 1 copy of your book in Bratislava, Slovakia ;-) We've also got the 5th edition of David Flanagan's Definitive Guide today. I'm so excited we have these two books I can hardly concentrate on work ;-)