What happened to the Affinity workbooks?

[MoonKnight2]

Have the Affinity workbooks been discontinued? The workbooks haven't been available since Black Friday of 2021. I was hoping to purchase the workbooks and learn the software. I prefer using textbooks versus videos when learning a suite of software, especially if the internet can be a source of frustration. If anyone has information regarding workbook availability, I would greatly appreciate it.

[StevenS]

Hi @MoonKnight2, welcome to the Affinity forum.

Unfortunately the Black Friday sale depleted the stock of our workbooks. At this present time we do not know when the books may be back in stock.
 

[JoesB]

This answer if from a year ago. How long does it take to publish a book? Problems with the design maybe?

 

[Catshill]

56 minutes ago, JoesB said:

This answer if from a year ago. How long does it take to publish a book? Problems with the design maybe?

 

Or a commercial decision possibly based on the increased cost of paper.

[walt.farrell]

2 hours ago, JoesB said:

This answer if from a year ago. How long does it take to publish a book? Problems with the design maybe?

 

The books are no longer offered. Serif has not said whether anything will replace them, as far as I've seen.

[JoesB]

Well, that's what I call aftersales.
There are very many that prefer reading and learning from a book. Lost chance.
There  certainly will be books available. From others.

[Catshill]

There is also the issue that they were written for version 1. 

[JoesB]

That would not be a problem. Not at all. Maybe not everything will be covered correctly, but the main idea will be  easier to understand.
And... everyone is free to decide  to buy or not.
One other problem is that there are no links to he explaining video's of version 1. Or they are well hidden. So, how to study if one has decided not -yet- to go for version 2. Or, that's an old one now, for version 2.1.
I hate that continuous changing of icons, menu's, etc. That costs me so much energy, that I prefer to put into creating fine work. 
Reasons enough to not publish a book. Reasons enough to do publish a book. Or keep the video's of the different versions available. Because someone at Serif decides that a book is an oldfashioned way of helping customers.
This discussion is enough for me. I have my ideas about this way of treating costumers. I sure do.

Thank you. Have fun with the Affinity programs.

[v_kyr]

26 minutes ago, JoesB said:

One other problem is that there are no links to he explaining video's of version 1. Or they are well hidden.

Well if you would have searched the forum, or done a Google search instead after them, you should have already found them. Here's the result of a 20 seconds Google search after Affinity v1 video tutorials  ...

• Official Affinity Photo V1 (Desktop) Tutorials
• Official Affinity Designer V1 (Desktop) Tutorials
• Official Affinity Publisher V1 (Desktop) Tutorials

Other APh v1 and ADe v1 vimeo video references (...still among the best) ...

• Affinity Photo Video Tutorials
• Affinity Designer Video Tutorials

[walt.farrell]

1 hour ago, JoesB said:

One other problem is that there are no links to he explaining video's of version 1.

The Help menu in each of the applications has a link to the Serif tutorials for that application.

[PaulEC]

On 5/30/2023 at 9:17 PM, JoesB said:

This answer if from a year ago. How long does it take to publish a book? Problems with the design maybe?

There is a big difference between selling something like software downloads and selling hardcopy books. The main reason for not having books reprinted, when the initial print run has sold out, is the costs involved. The workbooks are obviously quite expensive, quality books, so the printing costs are going to be high. The more copies you have printed at one time, the cheaper they are. Conversely, if you have a comparatively small number printed, each copy will be even more expensive pro rata. However, the more you have printed, the higher initial cost, and the longer to see a return on your investment. (It may be a long time before you sell enough just to cover the printing costs, let alone make a profit!) With the workbooks there are three different ones (one for each app). Three times the cost! Once you have them printed, they then have to be stored somewhere, and distributed. (More costs involved!) All this is well and good with something you expect to sell well, however, it’s reasonable to think that there will be a comparatively small market for books which are acknowledged to be slightly out of date and possibly now inaccurate with the latest version of the software they cover. Of course, it would be possible to rewrite and update the books, but again the costs would not be insignificant. At the end of the day, if you are considering either a second (updated) edition of a book, or simply printing more copies of an existing book, the initial investment will be high, and the returns may be very slow to come in. Many potential customers will already have bought copies. A lot of people will not want to buy an expensive book with out of date information. Others may not be happy not having the book in their own language (more costs, if you print them in more than one language!)  While it would be possible to save money by reducing the quality of the books, or, maybe, using print on demand, this may also impact on the potential number of sales. 

Putting it simply, there is a lot more to it than just saying: “Let’s have another print run, for the small number of people wanting to buy an expensive, out of date, workbook!” Very few company’s are going to be willing to invest a large amount of money having books printed that, at best, take a long time to sell and make a profit, and, at worst, they have them left on their hands and lose money! (Of course, there may well be other reasons why Serif decided not to have more copies of the workbooks printed. Maybe they will at some point. I'm just pointing out, from experience, some of the considerations involved in publishing/printing books generally: It’s not as simple as you may think!)

I’m sure decisions regarding reprinting the workbooks have nothing to do with books being “old fashioned” (which they definitely are not!), neither is it a case of “badly treating” customers!

[JoesB]

At v_kyr and walt.farrel: thank you for this info. I did several searches a while ago, but only got v2 info. Using the help menu is a great idea which I haven't used. Only F1. Not the tutorials.
Glad there will be enough info to continue. That said, still agree with MoonKnight2 that it is a pity there are no books anymore. So be it.

Thanks everyone for helping me/us out.

Discussion may be closed.

[v_kyr]

14 minutes ago, JoesB said:

That said, still agree with MoonKnight2 that it is a pity there are no books anymore.

Not from Serif/Affinity, but there are still some V1 and V2 books available from other third party publishers, do just an Amazon search after "Affinity Photo/Designer/Publisher". - Some of them are even better than the orig Affinity Workbooks.