前言：照片中这个花白头发却面带笑容的人就是Troy Mott，我们的合作伙伴Bleeding Edge Press的CEO。Bleeding Edge指那些前沿的却又不太成熟的、具有一定风险的事物，与cutting edge意思相近，多了一层风险的含义。在IT出版领域，很多图书还没来得及出版面市，书中提到的技术就已经过时了。BEP这个团队厌烦了传统图书出版冗长的流程和无穷无尽的等待时间，他们另辟蹊径，以多人协作的形式和流畅的步骤，快速地将新鲜出炉的火热技术通过电子书的形式出版，让我们听听这位曾与Tim O'Reilly共事过的先锋出版人对于Bleeding Edge Press的理念是如何阐释的，他对于当前移动互联网大环境下的出版业有何看法？他对于中国的IT出版人又有何建议？
1. 是什么原因驱使你创建Bleeding Edge Press（后面简称BEP）？
之前的20年里我在技术出版领域担任过各种各样的职位，但总是作为编辑的角色去跟那些专家程序员作者协作。这么多年我在美国多家顶尖技术出版商工作过，但是出版一本书总是花费太长时间，这其中又有很多冗长的流程。所以我决定成立我自己的出版公司，致力于更快捷的出版流程。
2. 你的公司名为“bleeding edge”，并且你愿意承担为加速出版高质量的前沿有争议的技术话题而带来的风险，能否详细说明一下你面临的风险以及打算如何应对？
我们下的是有根据的赌注，只在那些让我们很兴奋的话题，以及那些对优秀开发者级别的指导有需求的技术领域。比如我们出版了第一本React.js的书，比其他出版社打算出版都要早一年的时间。另外我们正准备出版一本针对开发者阅读的无人机图书。我们将继续承担其他出版商可能不愿承担的风险。
3. 你说过BEP的出版哲学是，通过协同、流畅的方法来出版图书，可以给我们讲讲吗？
我们叫“图书百米冲刺”法，意思是，我们会把很多作者召集起来（不是一本书的一两个作者），而且我们的流程很流畅，我们的动作迅速。所以在我们这出书的作者也必须能够高效率工作，做到从初步形成大纲到写作到代码示例的无缝衔接。
4. 你认为移动互联网给出版行业，尤其是IT图书带来了什么样的影响？
我理解这个问题意思是，电子书能在任何设备上阅读给技术出版带来了什么样的影响。对于我们来说，这让我们的工作有了开始的可能，因为我们首先考虑的是电子书，整个流程也专注于电子书的出版，到最后时我们总是可以有纸质版。很多出版商的做法正好相反——他们先做纸质版图书，到最后才转换成电子版。看上去好像只有很细微的区别，但是却给我们的工作方式带来非常大的影响。
5. 如果世界上只有一家互联网公司可以存活下来，你觉得是哪家？为什么？
嗯…这个问题有点难，因为有好几家大型互联网公司都做得非常好，他们互相竞争却又使得产品以前所未有的超快速度而形成。但是如果我非要选一个的话，我选择Google。因为他们所重视的理念最贴合BEP：那里的员工精力充沛，企业文化开放，由开发者驱动。因此在某种程度上，赌Google会赢也就是赌我们自己会赢。
6. 根据你自己的经验，你有什么建议给中国的IT图书出版商们？（例如盗版，抢鲜，数字出版或者任何你想说的话题）
我们绝对倾向于保持开放，不实用任何形式的数字版权管理（DRM）。实际上，这也回答了你下一个问题，鉴于Tim O’Reilly说过，“对于大多数作者而言，默默无闻远比盗版更可怕。”这个说法也适用于出版商们，如果人们没有在盗版你的书，说明你本身也没那么重要。
7. 与Tim O'Reilly共事是一种怎样的体验？
TimO'Reilly是我的导师。是他指导我开始了我的技术出版生涯，教给我许多与写作、编辑和出版有关的经验。他认为努力工作非常重要，我也一直想努力做得更好让自己达到他为我设定的目标。
采访原文：
1. What are the reasons that triggered the establishment of Bleeding Edge Press?
For the past 20 years I have worked in various positions in technical publishing, but I always worked as an editor collaborating with authors that are expert coders. During that time I worked with many of the top technical publishers inthe US, but I was never satisfied with how long it took to publish a book andthe many lengthy processes that happen along the way. So, I decided to start myown publishing company, focusing on a speedier process.
2. You named it "bleeding edge", and you truly believe intaking risks to accelerate the process of publishing high quality bleeding edgetechnical topics. Could you elaborate the risks you have faced or will befacing and how you manage them?
We take educated bets on topics that excite us and those technologies that have a need for good developer level instruction. As an example, wepublished the first React.js book about a year before traditional publisherswere willing to do so. Another current example would be our Drone book fordevelopers. We will continue to take risks that other publishers may not be willing to take.
3. Your publishing philosophy describes that you approach book writingin collaborative, fluid ways. Could you tell us more about it?
Well, we use book sprints, which basically means we get a team of authors together (not just one or two authors on a book) and our process is fluid and we move quickly. So, the authors writing our books must be able to work quickly, going from say developing an outline to writing and coding examples in a seamless way.
4. What do you think about the influence of mobile Internet to the publishing industry, especially for the IT books?
I believe here you mean in what ways have ebooks that can be read onany type of device changed technical publishing. For us, it allowed us to getour start because we think first about ebooks and our entire process is focusedon the ebook and then at the very end we can always go to a printed version.Many publishers do the opposite--they still create a printed book and thentranslate at the end to an ebook. It may seem like a small difference, but it has a big impact on the ways that we do things.
5. If only one big internet company shall survive in this world, whichone do you pick? Why?
Hmm, this is a difficult question because there are several bigInternet companies that are extremely well and competing and helping to shapeproducts that are created at an ever faster pace. But, if I have to pick one, Iwould say Google. This is because they most closely match what is important forBleeding Edge Press: the people working there are so full of energy, and theculture there is open and developer driven. So, in a way, by betting on them,we are betting on ourselves.
6. What advice can you give to Chinese technical book publishers based on your own experience? (Such as piracy, topic scooping, digital publishing or anything you like)
Well, we are definitely in favor of being open and not using any type of Digital Rights Management (DRM). Actually, this sort of helps to answeryour next question, since Tim O'Reilly has said, "For a typical author,obscurity is a far greater threat than piracy." And this applies topublishers, in that if people aren't out there pirating your books in somefashion then you probably aren't that relevant in the first place.
7. How was it to work with Tim O'Reilly?
Tim O'Reilly is a mentor of mine. He gave me my start in technical publishing and taught me a whole lot about writing, editing and publishing in general. He values hard work and I always wanted to push myself further toreach the high bar that he set for me.
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