You may be wondering why CogZest chose to market our first Cognitive Productivity book on Leanpub.

In the traditional approach to developing books, the author works in isolation from readers. A single contact person at the publishing house interfaces with the traditional author. A small number of colleagues may provide input. If the traditional book is scholarly, then there is a peer review phase. But this peer review consists of a very small number of peers who happen to be available. The publication process is very long. During this time, knowledge may become stale because science and technology move very fast! When the traditional book is published, that’s it, it’s done. It’s very unlikely ever to be revised. Revisions to traditional books are normally few and minor.

The lean approach, which is the way great modern software is developed, involves customer feedback at an early stage. Instead of only receiving feedback from arbitrarily chosen people, the entire market is invited to contribute. Thousands of people who are unknown to the product developer can contribute to the development of products. They find and report errors. They notice and communicate opportunities for improvement. As a result the product can improve dramatically!

This is good for Leanpub readers:

• Leanpub readers gain early access to new ideas before they hit Amazon and iBookstore.
• Leanpub readers have access to book updates, just as they do with modern software. The information in the products remains valid for longer because it is updated!
• Leanpub readers, themselves, have the opportunity to affect the development of a book. They can contribute to knowledge and gain credit for it!
• Leanpub books are not encrypted. They are available in PDF format and in other formats. This means that users can use their favourite software for reading the book (PDF reader, Apple® iBook®, Kindle®, etc.). DRM’d books (Amazon® and Kindle® books) interfere with your ability to read and _learn_ from them! The book, Cognitive Productivity, explains why this issue is extremely important to readers.

All of this gives Leanpub readers an advantage over their competitors. And let’s face it, the knowledge economy is competitive. As explained in the book, Cognitive Productivity, the old adage “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know” does not hold any more. They both matter. The most well-connected person will not (normally) last in a job unless he or she can meet its performance requirements. And that calls for knowledge.

To learn more about the lean approach to project management, check out the Leanpub book Startup Lessons Learned by Eric Ries. Luc’s book discusses how the Cognitive Productivity approach applies to learning Lean Startup concepts.

To learn more about the benefits of Leanpub, check out Peter Armstrong’s presentation.

This CogZest post  describes advantages of Leanpub from an author’s perspective.