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Well, I'm getting very close to finishing off the book. I received final comments from the editor earlier this week..and forwarded the first half of the book to the type setter. I have some changes to make with the last part of the book (the implementation section, which I'm really hoping will be fleshed out with the wiki, needs work). At this stage, it looks like things will be wrapped up and ready for publishing within the next two weeks.
Any thoughts on the sample book cover?:
Now that I have the book in its final process (typesetting...which I hope will take less than two weeks), I need to start thinking about marketing. I'm not a marketer...so I would appreciate any thoughts on how I should move forward.
As I've stated before, I'm selling the book through lulu.com (eventually through Amazon and others once the global ISBN process finishes)...and will be making .pdfs available for free downloads. Additionally, I will have a wiki available for readers to "rewrite" the sections of the book that they feel they are able to strengthen.
I have had several people ask me why I am making it available for free download. I really haven't thought of it too much - it seems like the natural thing to do. I certainly hope people will purchase the book, but my first goal is to get conversation started. And starting a conversation is much easier when everyone has access to the conversation.
I don't know if authors generally make a decent return on writing a book. I suspect most don't. From my last five years of blogging at elearnspace, I have discovered that by reducing the access barriers to a conversation, the richer the experience (and I suspect, if people enjoy the .pdf version of the book, they'll be inclined to buy it. If they don't feel I did a good job, then it only makes sense that they don't pay me for work that they feel is mediocre...). So, in that spirit, a free version of the book appears to best serve my goals.
Time appears to move at a different pace when not under our control. I have submitted the final version of Knowing Knowledge for typesetting (I've been informed that it should be ready as of September 26. An editor will then take a final look at the document. Once approved (hopefully by September 28, I will upload the files into Lulu...and they will send out a sample book for review (making sure that typesetting translated appropriately for the text). This will apparently take about five days.
After I have the physical copy of the book, I'll do a quick scan to make sure it looks as it should, and will then release the .pdf's, wiki, and a link to Lulu for those who wish to purchase a paper copy. If things work according to this timeline, the book will be ready by October 5 - a few weeks delayed from my original target, but, I hope, worth the delay/wait.
