July 13, 2024 — I am writing a book in a private git repo that you can buy lifetime access to for $50.

That repo is where the source code for the book lives before it gets published to the public domain.

The public gets a new carefully crafted book with source code, just delayed. If you pay, you get early access.

This business model I'm calling "Early Source".

Early Source is a new business model for public domain, open source software. You publish your software to the public domain, but with a delay of N years. Professionals that most benefit from faster updates pay you for access to the private, cutting edge version.

Early Source is a win-win-win-win:

• It's a win for your most loyal customers who can pay you a simple fee for a simple deal and get early features fast
• It's a win for your business model as you can benefit from the lower costs of open source while still keeping something scarce to sell
• It's a win for casual users around the world who now can benefit from your older software and will know who to buy from if they later become professionals
• It's a win for your ideas because you can now make them as good as possible, something you can only do if they are public domain

What are the downsides? Let me hear it in the comments.

So far, I would have to say early source is a pain in the ass.

Keeping 2 repos going, one private and one public, is just a lot of cognitive overhead. Far more than I thought.

Instead of trying to connect revenue to digital access, I think I'll publish the ebook free, and sell a paper version, as well as additional stuff around this, like a course with real human interaction.