We are pleased to announce David W. Boles' RelationShaping is now online!
This new blog deals with the way our human form is conditioned by technology and our new logo describes that relationship in raw text:
Established mainstream authors like John Updike are furious with Google for scanning books into the public domain and they're angry with publishers that choose to sell electronic editions of books -- any book.
We argue authors like Updike are angry because their specialness in publication is being ravaged by the equanimity and the equality of the digital publishing, print-on-demand, business model creeping into the book world.
Where once these "Big Name" authors were King Makers with power and influence -- everyone can now play on the same ground as them as the playing field is leveled and leavened in favor of the everyday and the accessible.
You create power and wield it when you can narrow access to minds and to the control of thoughts.
If everyone in the room with you -- and even those out in the world at large -- can go toe-to-toe with you to compete for the hearts and ideas of an ever-widening readership, your star shines less, your book advances dwindle, and your awards and certificates are diminished as the power is equalized.
Be wary of anyone claiming electronic publishing is bad for reading -- and when you see that sort of strange protest -- look for the threat to the backend profit the protestor is making behind your back.
Our sister site, Urban Semiotic, is in the middle of a campaign to reach ONE MILLION READERS by the end of the year.
We ask you to join that effort.
Currently Urban Semiotic has 863,000 readers and to reach the million mark they need around 3,000 readers a day.
Please be one of the 3,000 to help them make their own history.
With the advent of online publication, does Copyright matter any longer?
With RSS feeds spewing new content into the world directly every day can a person claim Copyright to their original material if they are unable to enforce their right and prosecute infringement?
If you give your work away for free, can you still own it if others take your work, revitalize it, repackage it, and use it to create profit?
How can we begin to protect our Copyrighted work if there are no longer firewalls and safety implements to shield the work from thieves?
It is a great honor and pleasure to announce we are writing the following four books for Thomson/Cengage Learning:
Picture Yourself Learning Mac OS X 10.5 LeopardThe writing schedule is hectic but we will get it done.
Picture Yourself Learning Office for Mac 2008
Picture Yourself Learning American Sign Language, Level 1 (includes Bonus DVD!)
Google Apps Administrator Guide
If you write a book that deals with computers or the Internet you will likely have an important cog in your editorial process in the form of a Technical Editor.
Your Tech Editor watches your back and checks your steps, facts and work process.
A Tech Editor is your guarantee of excellence -- but if that editor drops the ball in the review process and begins missing deadlines -- the entire book project is plunged into jeopardy.
Delays of even a few days in replacing a misbegotten Tech Editor quickly translates into thousands of lost dollars because the book is late to the marketplace.
The lesson is this: Pick your Tech Editors wisely and those you know may not be any better than those you have yet to meet.
Money, deadlines and responsibility can wound even the best informal relationship so choose wisely and carry a big blue pencil.
Writing is hard work. Hurtful work. Deadly work.
Putting together a book is a long and painful process of recognition, writing and ongoing negotiation.
Binding a book on deadline kills the weak and weakens the strong because the book waits for no one and when crunch time hits you better be prepared to give and take some harsh strikes.
Because the publishing process is so brutal, few companies or people are able to do it on a regular basis. You're dealing with geographic constraints, human aesthetic, and a changing target audience.
Bringing a book to readers is the process of a miracle realized.
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