Third, I think that students are already under a great deal of financial stress. The temptation to save a few dollars by grabbing a free copy of the textbook is very understandable to me. I just wish people would look at text book authors as the good guys because I think we provide much more information per dollar than the universities. Alas, I don't think I'm going to change people's ideas on that very soon.
If you're so aware of these things, why aren't you self published? If you were able to sell your book for $10, with $7 of that being pure profit, I bet you'd make more money. The best counter argument I've heard to that is that you have access to an editor if you go through the publishers, but the fact is you could get that without doing so. My experience is that most authors also want the prestige.
Fourth, at some point the search engines and the web sites need to take some responsibility for what they display. I do blog about my book and I do use clean URLs to help the search engines do the right thing.
Are you even aware of the irony of using the Internet to make such a statement? How much better would your book sales be if only a handful of people had ever even heard of you??? How interested would people be if they never got to see what you had to say?
I concur. I sell images off my website. In arbitrary units, in the last 10 years I've been selling between 3 and 10 a month. Since last summer I've sold only two. Maybe the rise of flickr is for something in the wild availability of quality images, but I'd bet on the crisis and everybody holding out for better times
The days when you could do that are coming to a close. An amateur with a cheap SLR can now produce decent pictures knowing very little technically. An amateur with knowledge will not be as consistent as a professional, especially since pro gear is still more reliable for focusing etc. A dedicated advanced amateur can easily out-peform a professional on individual shots.
What the amateur will not do is take the time or gain the experience to build a beautiful portfolio. Most also won't specialise. If you've shot a couple of hundred weddings you're going to be much, much more prepared for the next one. If you've spent a couple of years trying to shoot the perfect sunset you're bound to get better results compared with someone who only does it 5 or 6 weekends a year. If it's your business to be an aerial photographer you're going to spend more time doing it and can justify specialised equipment to stabilise the image.
However, there are a hell of a lot more amateurs with access to decent cameras than there are Pros.
I say this as an advanced amateur that considered going pro or semi-pro a few years ago. By the way, if you want to see "professional" photographers cling on like a record company to a dying business model, go to the Pro forum on DPreview. The way some of them try to discourage beginners borders on amusing.
I didn't say sleep. Just a swinging, eyes closed, relaxed, free association, mind wandering thinking session. I definitely agree people work better when well rested, relaxed and happy, but your brain often also works better when you let the reigns go a little loose. I don't mean you get the ideas and the answer when you come back to work, I mean they come before you go back to work.
Nothing wrong with what you're describing, but it's not daydreaming. Free association, mind wandering, thinking sessions are a fantastic tool. You don't have to be at your desk to be working. What you are describing is definitely work.
Daydreaming refers to thinking about completely unrelated things - that girl you like, that beach you visited last year, that bit of food you had that makes your mouth water thinking of it...and I have trouble believing that sort of free thinking is going to help you come up with ideas, regardless of how menial or esoteric your job is.
Perhaps yours doesn't. Or perhaps you just need to daydream about the right things.
I can just picture the boss yelling "I hope you're daydreaming about company business!"
Watson says he figured out the shape of DNA in a dream. When I'm stuck on a hard problem I take a little spell in my hammock and it usually helps.
As someone that has a sleep disorder, I don't doubt it helps. Sleep helps me too. Getting AWAY from the problem and getting a rest are VERY useful. It doesn't mean you're solving problems in your sleep. It means your mind works more effectively after a rest.
All books should be available from the library FOR FREE. You go to the library, you borrow the book, and you return it in two weeks. You can re-check it out again for another 2 weeks if you want.
This flagging ability COULD allow this to be done without driving to the library. You COULD use this to NEVER buy a book. You simply "check it out" for 2 weeks and then it vanishes.
The only reason you have to return a book to the library at all is that unless you do so no one else can borrow it. With a digital copy there is no need for time restrictions. (Unless you're suggesting the library delete their copy while you have it out). What you're suggesting in practice is no different to peer to peer distribution which people are already doing. It is however illegal because it means the author (and more to the point the publisher) doesn't get a cut.
Labour spends like there's no tomorrow. Libs hoard money and sell off assets like there's no tomorrow. Neither seem able to deliver decent transport, education and health care.
Describing the Telstra sale as a "Slightly Bungled Privatisation" is not unlike calling the sale of the family farm for can of beans a slight mismanagement of the farm mortgage.
....I'd have solved all the problems of the world by now.
I'm sorry but while I accept that getting your mind off the problem and "zoning out" can be good to get you focused when you do return to work, I do not accept that somehow my subconscious magically solves problems while I dream of warm days and blue seas.
If your book is worthwhile, you can consider looking for opportunities to give lectures on the material to those interested. In some cases you may be able to use the opportunity to sell copies (perhaps signed) after the lecture. Is there an opportunity to sell it as a textbook?
If your book is garbage, or not particularly useful, nothing's going improve your sales. In that case do go find another job, or write a better book if you can.
You say: "The free copies aren't boosting sales for my books". How on earth could you possibly know that? Purchasers of your book aren't exactly going to walk up to you and tell you they pirated it first then worked out it was so invaluable that they bought a copy.
You're asking some pretty basic questions. Ones that I would not expect a seasoned author to be asking. If you thought you were going to get rich writing one book, you were very foolish. Learn and move on.
I don't know about you, but if you're going to vaccinate me, it sure would be nice if I was protected too. It might even provide an incentive for the not so altruistic.
Now THAT is a nerd's nerd. At the age of eleven, names a planet after a Roman god. I can just picture it now. "Grandfather, I rather think that naming it aaaafter the god Pluto might be the most appropriate course." Maybe I've seen too many Fruit Newton commercials, though.
These days the kid would never be allowed to read classic Greek Mythology at age 11 lest it damage their precious innocent psyche, or prompt them to go postal at school.
What I find baffling is that Goofy is a dog, and Pluto is a dog. But Goofy wears clothes, drives, and talks - and Pluto just runs around, barks and wags his tail.
What I find baffling is how this gets modded insightful? Just what was the insight here? That cartoon characters can be imagined differently?
She outlived the classification of the body she named as a planet. You do realize that if the IAU called Pluto a Turnip (which sadly makes about as much sense as their definition of Planet) it would make no difference whatsoever to the body itself. The odds are pretty good that Pluto will outlive the human race.
I, for one, am not a pussy. I wield the ultimate power over my employer: the right to walk away if I am dissatisfied in any way, at any time. And I see nothing in the summary that would make a reasonable person exercise that righ
So you're saying you don't have to give notice??? Didn't know jobs like that still existed. What do you do? Clean porta-loos?
I'm not talking about being greedy, but accessories like kids, spouse and house come in handy in winter:-)
Be honest! You mean treating wife like accessory in winter leads to kids. kids are useful accessories for taking the trash out at all times of year. Unfortunately like many good accessories they need to be trained/customized. This involves changing nappies for 2-3 years, then toilet training, so I'd like to suggest that as an accessory they are more trouble than they are worth;-)
And people think admitting that installing "Jaunty Jackalope" is embarrasing. Cupcake.
Not to mention possible confusion with implants. Although sex sells so admit an attractive girl telling us she likes her cupcake might actually work marketing wise. Certainly works better than 'Gimp'.
Windows 7, bigger screens, built-in 3G, touch integration
So his vision for the Netbook is that they get bigger, heavier, clunkier but more capable yet somehow cheaper. I think he's a couple of decades late in inventing the full blown Notebook/Laptop. The reason Netbooks have become so popular is that they're small, light, cheap and good enough for the tasks that people want to buy them for - mostly word processing, email and web browsing.
Personally, because I like the flexibility of being able to do more, I've always preferred a full featured laptop with a decent GPU and a 17" screen. I'm not about to start calling it a Netbook, though.
If you simplify the laws, you'll get nothing but an army of assholes abusing them
So your argument is that we should make laws as complex/detailed as possible so that no one can even tell you if they're abiding by them let alone try to comply??? Did you pass that thought through a sanity check before posting it?
...is the ultimate cone of silence. Everyone can hear you but no one can understand you, and you can always claim you've been misinterpreted. Best of all it doesn't require any technology and it doesn't ever break down.
...as a terrorist organisation? Membership punishable by vacation in Gitmo. Time to accuse them of possession of weapons of mass (ISP) destruction. Think about it. They're organised. They use sophisticated methods. They've proven they operate using terror tactics. They target grandmothers and children.
Or perhaps just charge RIAA officials with good old fashioned treason against the U.S.
Same with MPAA.
Come on, turn some of that new draconian legislation back on them.
Slashdot Mirror
Third, I think that students are already under a great deal of financial stress. The temptation to save a few dollars by grabbing a free copy of the textbook is very understandable to me. I just wish people would look at text book authors as the good guys because I think we provide much more information per dollar than the universities. Alas, I don't think I'm going to change people's ideas on that very soon.
If you're so aware of these things, why aren't you self published? If you were able to sell your book for $10, with $7 of that being pure profit, I bet you'd make more money. The best counter argument I've heard to that is that you have access to an editor if you go through the publishers, but the fact is you could get that without doing so. My experience is that most authors also want the prestige.
Fourth, at some point the search engines and the web sites need to take some responsibility for what they display. I do blog about my book and I do use clean URLs to help the search engines do the right thing.
Are you even aware of the irony of using the Internet to make such a statement? How much better would your book sales be if only a handful of people had ever even heard of you??? How interested would people be if they never got to see what you had to say?
I concur. I sell images off my website. In arbitrary units, in the last 10 years I've been selling between 3 and 10 a month. Since last summer I've sold only two. Maybe the rise of flickr is for something in the wild availability of quality images, but I'd bet on the crisis and everybody holding out for better times
The days when you could do that are coming to a close. An amateur with a cheap SLR can now produce decent pictures knowing very little technically. An amateur with knowledge will not be as consistent as a professional, especially since pro gear is still more reliable for focusing etc. A dedicated advanced amateur can easily out-peform a professional on individual shots.
What the amateur will not do is take the time or gain the experience to build a beautiful portfolio. Most also won't specialise. If you've shot a couple of hundred weddings you're going to be much, much more prepared for the next one. If you've spent a couple of years trying to shoot the perfect sunset you're bound to get better results compared with someone who only does it 5 or 6 weekends a year. If it's your business to be an aerial photographer you're going to spend more time doing it and can justify specialised equipment to stabilise the image.
However, there are a hell of a lot more amateurs with access to decent cameras than there are Pros.
I say this as an advanced amateur that considered going pro or semi-pro a few years ago. By the way, if you want to see "professional" photographers cling on like a record company to a dying business model, go to the Pro forum on DPreview. The way some of them try to discourage beginners borders on amusing.
I didn't say sleep. Just a swinging, eyes closed, relaxed, free association, mind wandering thinking session. I definitely agree people work better when well rested, relaxed and happy, but your brain often also works better when you let the reigns go a little loose. I don't mean you get the ideas and the answer when you come back to work, I mean they come before you go back to work.
Nothing wrong with what you're describing, but it's not daydreaming. Free association, mind wandering, thinking sessions are a fantastic tool. You don't have to be at your desk to be working. What you are describing is definitely work.
Daydreaming refers to thinking about completely unrelated things - that girl you like, that beach you visited last year, that bit of food you had that makes your mouth water thinking of it...and I have trouble believing that sort of free thinking is going to help you come up with ideas, regardless of how menial or esoteric your job is.
Perhaps yours doesn't. Or perhaps you just need to daydream about the right things.
I can just picture the boss yelling "I hope you're daydreaming about company business!"
Watson says he figured out the shape of DNA in a dream. When I'm stuck on a hard problem I take a little spell in my hammock and it usually helps.
As someone that has a sleep disorder, I don't doubt it helps. Sleep helps me too. Getting AWAY from the problem and getting a rest are VERY useful. It doesn't mean you're solving problems in your sleep. It means your mind works more effectively after a rest.
You know there's two things I've learned in my nearly 30 years on this earth.
GET OFF MY LAWN!!!
Unfortunately that's 3 words, and you say you've only learnt 2 things. Damn slow kids!
In fact your pretty much saying that state secrets, NDAs, sworn oaths and trade secrets don't exist. Yet reality shows that they clearly do.
Never trust reality shows!!!
You don't think that having functionality removed from something you've bought, after the fact, is a problem?
Removing a feature after the fact is just a classic bait and switch with a time delay via digital delivery. I don't even know how this is legal.
This is why I don't trust any device or software product if I can't switch of it's phone home feature.
All books should be available from the library FOR FREE. You go to the library, you borrow the book, and you return it in two weeks. You can re-check it out again for another 2 weeks if you want.
This flagging ability COULD allow this to be done without driving to the library. You COULD use this to NEVER buy a book. You simply "check it out" for 2 weeks and then it vanishes.
The only reason you have to return a book to the library at all is that unless you do so no one else can borrow it. With a digital copy there is no need for time restrictions. (Unless you're suggesting the library delete their copy while you have it out). What you're suggesting in practice is no different to peer to peer distribution which people are already doing. It is however illegal because it means the author (and more to the point the publisher) doesn't get a cut.
Right now I think both major parties are dirt.
Labour spends like there's no tomorrow. Libs hoard money and sell off assets like there's no tomorrow. Neither seem able to deliver decent transport, education and health care.
Describing the Telstra sale as a "Slightly Bungled Privatisation" is not unlike calling the sale of the family farm for can of beans a slight mismanagement of the farm mortgage.
Whiskey. Tango. Foxtrot.
Alcohol detected! Go directly to jail. Do not pass go.
(Actually I liked your post, just couldn't resist going for the cheap joke)
....I'd have solved all the problems of the world by now.
I'm sorry but while I accept that getting your mind off the problem and "zoning out" can be good to get you focused when you do return to work, I do not accept that somehow my subconscious magically solves problems while I dream of warm days and blue seas.
If your book is worthwhile, you can consider looking for opportunities to give lectures on the material to those interested. In some cases you may be able to use the opportunity to sell copies (perhaps signed) after the lecture. Is there an opportunity to sell it as a textbook?
If your book is garbage, or not particularly useful, nothing's going improve your sales. In that case do go find another job, or write a better book if you can.
You say: "The free copies aren't boosting sales for my books". How on earth could you possibly know that? Purchasers of your book aren't exactly going to walk up to you and tell you they pirated it first then worked out it was so invaluable that they bought a copy.
You're asking some pretty basic questions. Ones that I would not expect a seasoned author to be asking. If you thought you were going to get rich writing one book, you were very foolish. Learn and move on.
I don't know about you, but if you're going to vaccinate me, it sure would be nice if I was protected too. It might even provide an incentive for the not so altruistic.
I am reaching for my pop can while we travel at over 1 million miles per hour. SUCCESS! POP CAN LINKUP COMPLETE!
Ohhh POP, not Poop!!! I thought you just liked playing spaceships on the can.
Now THAT is a nerd's nerd. At the age of eleven, names a planet after a Roman god. I can just picture it now. "Grandfather, I rather think that naming it aaaafter the god Pluto might be the most appropriate course." Maybe I've seen too many Fruit Newton commercials, though.
These days the kid would never be allowed to read classic Greek Mythology at age 11 lest it damage their precious innocent psyche, or prompt them to go postal at school.
What I find baffling is that Goofy is a dog, and Pluto is a dog. But Goofy wears clothes, drives, and talks - and Pluto just runs around, barks and wags his tail.
What I find baffling is how this gets modded insightful? Just what was the insight here? That cartoon characters can be imagined differently?
She outlived her planet.
She outlived the classification of the body she named as a planet. You do realize that if the IAU called Pluto a Turnip (which sadly makes about as much sense as their definition of Planet) it would make no difference whatsoever to the body itself. The odds are pretty good that Pluto will outlive the human race.
I, for one, am not a pussy. I wield the ultimate power over my employer: the right to walk away if I am dissatisfied in any way, at any time. And I see nothing in the summary that would make a reasonable person exercise that righ
So you're saying you don't have to give notice??? Didn't know jobs like that still existed. What do you do? Clean porta-loos?
I'm not talking about being greedy, but accessories like kids, spouse and house come in handy in winter :-)
Be honest! You mean treating wife like accessory in winter leads to kids. kids are useful accessories for taking the trash out at all times of year. Unfortunately like many good accessories they need to be trained/customized. This involves changing nappies for 2-3 years, then toilet training, so I'd like to suggest that as an accessory they are more trouble than they are worth ;-)
I wouldn't trade mine for the world by the way.
And people think admitting that installing "Jaunty Jackalope" is embarrasing. Cupcake.
Not to mention possible confusion with implants. Although sex sells so admit an attractive girl telling us she likes her cupcake might actually work marketing wise. Certainly works better than 'Gimp'.
Windows 7, bigger screens, built-in 3G, touch integration
So his vision for the Netbook is that they get bigger, heavier, clunkier but more capable yet somehow cheaper. I think he's a couple of decades late in inventing the full blown Notebook/Laptop. The reason Netbooks have become so popular is that they're small, light, cheap and good enough for the tasks that people want to buy them for - mostly word processing, email and web browsing.
Personally, because I like the flexibility of being able to do more, I've always preferred a full featured laptop with a decent GPU and a 17" screen. I'm not about to start calling it a Netbook, though.
If you simplify the laws, you'll get nothing but an army of assholes abusing them
So your argument is that we should make laws as complex/detailed as possible so that no one can even tell you if they're abiding by them let alone try to comply??? Did you pass that thought through a sanity check before posting it?
...is the ultimate cone of silence. Everyone can hear you but no one can understand you, and you can always claim you've been misinterpreted. Best of all it doesn't require any technology and it doesn't ever break down.
How is this open source ? You can already read what goes into a book
You obviously haven't tried to read a textbook lately, have you? ;-) It's all nonsense to me.
...as a terrorist organisation? Membership punishable by vacation in Gitmo. Time to accuse them of possession of weapons of mass (ISP) destruction. Think about it. They're organised. They use sophisticated methods. They've proven they operate using terror tactics. They target grandmothers and children.
Or perhaps just charge RIAA officials with good old fashioned treason against the U.S.
Same with MPAA.
Come on, turn some of that new draconian legislation back on them.