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A comment on Mark Pilgrim Ask Me Anything on Reddit. Parent comment

Re:Mark Pilgrim Ask Me Anything on Reddit by MarkPilgrim on Wednesday January 19, 2011 @02:40PM (#2120952)
This is essentially everything I would have said on the subject. Python 3 is technically very good, but no one is using it, hence no commercial interest in the book. The optimist would say it was just ahead of its time. The pessimist would say Python 3 is a dead end and I backed the wrong horse. I'd say the jury is still out.
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Re:Mark Pilgrim Ask Me Anything on Reddit by nuclear_eclipse on Wednesday January 19, 2011 @05:29PM (#2121528)
When you say a book "earned out", what exactly does that mean, to someone like me who has no clue about writing books and/or publishing deals?
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Re:Mark Pilgrim Ask Me Anything on Reddit by telemachos on Wednesday January 19, 2011 @05:34PM (#2121547)
He discusses "earning out" on a recent post from his blog[1]:

> The book went on sale in mid-August and earned out almost immediately. “Earning out” is a publishing term which means that the book has sold enough copies that my cut of the profits has paid back the advance payments that O’Reilly gave me during the writing process. Which means that I’m already receiving royalty checks for real money.

[1]: http://diveintomark.org/archives/2011/01/09/dive-into-2010

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Re:Mark Pilgrim Ask Me Anything on Reddit by kennymeyers on Wednesday January 19, 2011 @05:34PM (#2121545)
It means a book broke even with the advance given to an author, so they can start receiving royalties.
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Re:Mark Pilgrim Ask Me Anything on Reddit by sigzero on Wednesday January 19, 2011 @04:58PM (#2121434)
I think we'll get there eventually.
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