Our jQuery Digital Book is Free for 12 Hours

By | July 12, 2010 | Web Tech

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As you may have heard, “that Cup” is now over.

The vuvuzelas are quiet … finally!

And Spain is victorious.

Many of the countries that staff followed were knocked out early — so while the world continued to celebrate “that Cup,” we here at SitePoint needed a new way to stay involved.

Luckily one of the guys in accounting came up with a super-cool plan to do just that, while a group of us hatched the idea of a huge digital book sale with a unique “freebie” twist.

Check out the result of our combined effort here:

http://sale.sitepoint.com

It’s rare for us to give away one of our most popular books, but that’s exactly what is happening right now.

For the next few hours only, you can grab your own digital copy of jQuery: Novice to Ninja completely free. But you’d better be quick. Grab your pack (containing EPUB, MOBI, and PDF) now!

http://sale.sitepoint.com

Written By:

Jennifer Sheahan

Jennifer Sheahan spends the vast majority of her days happily immersed in Facebook Advertising PPC campaigns. She also loves looking after the Product Marketing & Promotions here at SitePoint.

 

Tagged as: jQuery Tutorials & Articles

{ 33 comments }

CaptainStarbuck July 16, 2010 at 4:28 am

@highlyevolved: Re: “All I’m stating is that it was a very unfair way to market this promotion…”

A lot of people understood the game. We played and everyone is a winner, whether we got free or discounted material from SitePoint. Some people “got it” and others didn’t. Some people “get” coding, others don’t. It’s not “unfair” if someone doesn’t understand something when apparently others do. Just take your fabulous book, provided at a fabulous price, and consider it your contribution to give SitePoint an opportunity to stay in business to do another promotion another day – perhaps one that you’ll understand next time. I’m not throwing any darts here, just suggesting you take your prize and be happy … they didn’t need to do this at all ya know.

And I’m not religious in the least but for any of you who are, I remember a parable in the bible about accepting the deal you made rather than complaining about someone else’s better deal. Sometimes there’s something to those stories.

Anonymous July 16, 2010 at 8:04 pm

<<<< is cursing himself for missing the fabulously free Jquery book 'Novice to Ninja'

starydynamo@yahoo.com

robyn July 15, 2010 at 10:55 pm

Wow – how totally cool.
Many thanks for this fabulous freebie!!
You guys totally rock!
:-)

can not access the free pdf jquery book July 14, 2010 at 1:43 pm

I was told from the jquery instructor to download the free pdf jquery copy. After putting in the email address and I did received the email from sitepoint but then when I click on the link they sent, it said the link is broken. Is this a email fising or scam??? Can someone tell me what is going on?

David July 14, 2010 at 7:07 am

arrrgghhh!!! I found out about this promotion 2 days after I bought the book!

I really can’t get mad though, I still only spent $5 and it’s way worth it.

Neat promotion, now that I know about it. (always late to the party…sigh)

VC. David July 14, 2010 at 5:31 am

I’ve received a download link, and in the middle of downloading, it quit. When I tried to resume the download, It gave me a 404 error, and another 404 when I tried from the email link.

TheWix July 14, 2010 at 4:42 am

Thank you so much. I was going to buy this book, I guess I will buy Create Stunning HTML Email

CodeGirl July 14, 2010 at 1:26 am

Thanks for this promotion! It was fun to see who would ‘win’ and end up being free (I was actually hoping for the jQuery books, so yay)! This is my first experience with the SitePoint books, so we will see how they turn out :)

Sothy July 13, 2010 at 12:24 pm

I cannot download the book, it said
“The requested URL /claimpdf.php was not found on this server.”

LargoLobo July 13, 2010 at 10:07 am

Never fear. With the very clever World Cup book discount tree, you’ve really shown what a fine bunch of code-heads you are. I’m so impressed by the quality of the writing in your tomes, I will surely buy all that apply to my little corner of the design world. Thanks again for being great sports.

McPace July 13, 2010 at 8:35 am

Thanks, can’t wait to check it out

Don July 13, 2010 at 7:43 am

I requested the download over 8 hours ago an I do not yet have an email from Sitepoint with the download link!

Jen Sheahan July 13, 2010 at 8:46 am

Hello Don – Please email me with details and I will sort this out for you. books@sitepoint.com Thanks! Jennifer

elgumbo July 15, 2010 at 12:49 am

Hi Jen

I had a similar problem. Just emailed you.

Cheers

screamwork July 13, 2010 at 6:47 am

Thanks a lot, thats great

CaptainStarbuck July 13, 2010 at 6:10 am

@highlyevolved, I have to say that your purchase was a gamble that any of us could have taken. SitePoint didn’t know which books would be free or discounted. You took a chance at purchasing a book at 83% discount when the next day the price might have gone up to $23 or down to free. You weren’t ripped, you got a good deal no matter how you slice it.

I was going to plunk down $10 for both of those books too. The only thing that stopped me is that I didn’t have enough info on the books to make that purchase. Were they going to be too basic for me? Was there a 7 day return policy? This is the advantage we have when we can pull a book from a shelf in a bookstore and check it out before buying. I can’t propose a technical solution to this business problem for SitePoint. All I can do is say this is the only issue that stopped me from making the purchase … and paying for a book that I’m getting today for free. ;)

AndyDH July 14, 2010 at 3:52 am

I don’t work for Sitepoint, but Sitepoint does offer a sample download of each of its books (a link is at the bottom of each book’s page).

I think this is pretty fair and allows potential buyers the ability to “pull a book from a shelf in a bookstore and check it out before buying.” Unfortunately for Sitepoint they don’t make this link bigger (especially on the jQuery page), they would have earned a little extra money. Fortunately for you, you didn’t find the sample links.

alastairchisholm July 13, 2010 at 5:47 am

I thought this was an excellent promotion. In fact I bought the jquery book at the ‘quarters’ stage (too much faith in Germany, not enough in Spain, sigh) but I don’t feel ripped off – I took a gamble and I still got a good discount.

To Highlyevolved – I’m not sure how you were misled. Did the promotion not take you to the ‘world cup’ page? I thought the page was pretty well designed.

blamb2320 July 13, 2010 at 3:18 am

I just wanted to say how much I have enjoyed this promotion! What a unique idea to have the books “play” each other in the World Cup! Just one more way that SitePoint makes learning fun – Thanks for some extra fun in my work day!

McBenny July 13, 2010 at 2:01 am

@highlyevolved : the deal was clear : finalist’s books were 83% and the winner would be free, the loser would return to 29.95, you chose to spend 10$ to get both, today it would be 30 to get both items… why are you complaining ?

reformed66 July 13, 2010 at 1:49 am

Note to self: don’t buy Sitepoint books anymore because they will be given away for free or for $5 a few months later.

CaptainStarbuck July 13, 2010 at 11:43 am

@reformed66: I hope you don’t wait to buy stale bread or milk at a discount. :)

Seriously, technical books do have a “shelf-life”. These days that time period is very short for many technologies. It depends on the book and the technology. There is no general principal someone can follow for all books. That said, IMO most tech books are stale after 6 months, though fundamentals books that don’t need to keep up with recent updates are probably good for a year. I might download older material for free but I won’t buy it. If you can’t find a book more recent than 6 months on some tech topic, you need to re-think your choice of technology.

Proposal to SitePoint: For every month past the publication date of a book, take $2 off the price. Let people decide when they’re going to buy and therefore for how much. At least your still earning some money rather than a big fat nothing for some of that stock. Only do that with more advanced books, not longer-life fundamentals, and maybe only go down to some rock-bottom price like $10. HTH

reformed66 July 27, 2010 at 9:24 am

@captainstarbuck

I watch expiration dates religiously so I will definitely not wait to buy stale bread.

Yes, i grant you that technology has a “shelf life”, I was just frustrated at the time because I spent $30 or so on it and 2 months later it’s free. I rethought my statement and I came to the conclusion that I got my moneys worth… I therefore recant my comment. :)

highlyevolved July 13, 2010 at 12:58 am

I’ve been a fan of your books for a number of years now and after the promotional email I received this weekend advertising your ‘rare’ offer… see excerpt ( Hi,

It’s pretty rare that you’ll ever see a SitePoint product for 83% off, but right now, our JavaScript and jQuery books are yours for just $4.95 each (normally $29.95).

The clock is ticking, so don’t miss your chance to grab a bargain. )

I purchased both items.

But now I feel like I’ve been robbed! Yes it was a bargain, but to promote this when you knew you would be giving the same thing away for free a day later is criminal.

This is not a great way to treat your loyal customers… and at least Dick Turpin wore a mask when he robbed his victims!

Unimpressed to say the least!

Jacob Olson July 13, 2010 at 6:22 am

It’s not SitePoint’s fault you didn’t realize it was part of their “This Cup” promotion, as specifically indicated at the bottom of the email you quote from:
“PS: This is all part of our “This Cup” promotion which
you can learn about here:
http://www.sitepoint.com/launch/thiscup“

highlyevolved July 14, 2010 at 8:51 pm

Yes looking back the link was there, at the bottom.

Very clever wording in the email in the top paragraph to instigate a reactionary purchase from the customer, I’m guessing there were more people than me fooled by this marketing ploy.

Banking on the loyalty of their customers and the medium of the delivery they will have received a fair few ‘impulse’ purchases, delivered at a time when most people in the US will be at work and won’t have the time to read through the full promotion, a lot will have taken the first paragraphs at face value as, like me they trust Sitepoint, unlike a random spam mail offer with ‘catches’ in the small print.

All I’m stating is that it was a very unfair way to market this promotion as I’m pretty sure they were banking on a number of impulse purchases to maximise their revenue during the promotion. They knew what they were doing in a carefully thought out email to trick people, this is what (as a loyal customer) disappoints me.

So to answer your question… If Sitepoint were promoting the Cup offer why wasn’t it in the email subject (which was simply “jQuery or JavaScript? $4.95 Ends Soon”) or in the first paragraph which is the most important in any email. It was at the bottom AFTER the main body of content. A cynical marketing strategy used on their loyal followers.

FormerGenius July 13, 2010 at 12:46 am

Many thanks to Sitpoint for another fantastic freebie. The mapping of World Cup teams to Sitepoint books was a brilliant marketing idea. You rock!

DS July 13, 2010 at 12:23 am

It’s all great that this pdf is free but after I get the confirmation message, I am unable to log in to download the said pdf.

Can you please advise?

Jen Sheahan July 13, 2010 at 8:49 am

Hi DS – When you say “log in” to download, I am not sure what you are referring to.
When you click on the link in the email, the download begins automatically. If you are still having trouble, please send me details of your order to books@sitepoint.com and I will help get it sorted out. Thanks! Jen

Archetype July 13, 2010 at 12:18 am

Thank you very much for the book!

Wolf_22 July 12, 2010 at 10:53 pm

Excellent!

Dan July 12, 2010 at 10:11 pm

Wow, an awesome giveaway and a book I will truly value (never enough jQuery goodness for me!). Thank you SitePoint.

AHHP July 12, 2010 at 10:00 pm

Viva Spain!

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