You left out of your list what I am beginning to think is one of the biggest impediments to writing and publishing technical books, although it is tangentially related to one of your points, lack of remuneration. I think theft of Intellectual Property is a big and growing threat to publishing technical books. There are pirate sites out there (and you don't have to search long to find them), offering downloadable PDF's of most good technical books. Case in point is my little book on Access (no boos, please, that's not really the point). It was never a big seller, maybe 3,000 copies in six years, but even that little book is available now, as a pirated download on at least two sites I've found. I mean, why would the thieves even bother with something that obscure? But there it is. And no, I won't tell you where to go to get it. 😀

If the publishing industry can't get it's arms around this problem, it's hard to see why anyone would invest hundreds of hours of time to create any technical manual, knowing that within months, or even weeks, it's going to be stolen and given away to anyone who wants to make the effort to find it.

I wish I were wrong, but my gut tells me otherwise.

George Hepworth