I decided that the only thing worse than a writing project is a writing project without a deadline…so here’s me self-imposing a deadline via public announcement. For the last month, I’ve been working on revising my Library Technology Report from April of 2010, Gadgets & Gizmos: Personal Electronics and the Library.
In April of this year, publication rights for the text reverted to me. Rather than just re-releasing it as is, I wanted to update it with more information about each of the Gizmos discussed in the original text. In addition, I’m adding a chapter related to to the iPad and tablet computing…believe it or not, when I delivered the text to TechSource for publication, the iPad hadn’t been released. So it’s pretty clear that any text about personal electronics has to take the new tablet space into account.
Here’s the interesting bit…whatever this becomes, it’s not going to be published by a “traditional” publisher. I’m still working on the specific details, but you can bet that it will be available as widely as I can possibly make it. As long as I can get the look/feel right for every eBook store, I will be making sure that it’s on the Amazon eBook store, the Apple iBook store, the B&N store, etc. I’m also going to be searching for a print on demand option for libraries that wish to have a print copy. I will also be making it available for free, under a Creative Commons license, through my website…although I’m also going to try to find an interesting way to make that happen.
To be fair to TechSource, I’m already under contract for a Gadgets & Gizmos 2.0, to be delivered and printed in 2012…so this is going to be Gadgets & Gizmos 1.5, in a sense. So in 2012, there will be an updated version from ALA, but in Summer 2011, there will be an update from me, directly. I get to test the waters of electronic self-publishing and hopefully learn a lot along the way. Stay tuned for more information, coming soon.
2 replies on “Next writing project”
This sounds really good. Will ALA be ok with the Creative Commons avenue for G&G 1.5 if you are going to deliver them G&G 2.0 in a year??
I know you are writing about personal gizmos from a library point of view, but want to remind you that neither libraries nor individuals necessarily have the knowledge or money to proceed very fast into Gadgetworld.
I had a friend visit this weekend who is about ready to have some kind of computer she can carry around with her when she travels. I thought she would be interested to try out my iPad, but in fairly short order she rejected it and fell in love with my eeePC netbook. She lives so deep in the boonies she had actually never seen a netbook. Right away she knew it was what she needed: a tiny PC. She’s an online book dealer, needs to be able to comfortably work in ABE etc.
And she is by FAR more sophisticated about tech than either her village library (Cedarville, California) or the one in the town over the pass (Alturas).
If you use Lulu for print on demand (and yes, you can offer a hardcover book, although it’s expensive), you can use them to give away the PDF as well–if you set the retail price at $0, Lulu waives its usual $0.99 base charge for PDFs. The CC license should work fine there as well.