Internet Books

I bought my copy 2 weeks ago and it is already marked up and highlighted.
Jeremy's message is clear: The best marketing plan in the world won't make up for a shlocky book! Write the best book you possibly can. Get a PRO to edit it and design your cover. And, be HONEST.

To me this is a "why to" book more than a "how to"

Definitely got my money's worth.

Good companion books are How Not To Write A Novel and Publicize Your Book.

Author, Jeremy Robinson has proven that you can be successful at using print-on-demand to launch your book publishing career. In his book POD People, he covers the stigmas of print-on-demand publishing and gives you some tips on how to avoid or rise above them.

The number one mistake that would-be successful authors make is publishing their books before they are ready. Robinson stresses the importance of quality throughout his book. Hire an editor to help you polish your story before it is published. Hire a designer for your cover if you don't have design background. He provides links to free photo editing software for those who simply can't afford to hire a designer.

In the marketing section of POD People, he talks about how he garnered author blurbs for The Didymus Contingency and suggests that you hold off publishing your book until you can get these blurbs. He suggests the same thing for reviews. The more reviews and blurbs you can get for your book, the higher your credibility will rise. This is solid advice that I plan to use for my upcoming novel.

The section on how to use Amazon and Barnes&Noble to market and sell your book is very useful, as is his book signing tips. These techniques not only earned him more sales, but helped him land an agent for his other books, Raising the Past and Antarktos Rising.

His conversational, get-to-the-point style makes this book an enjoyable and fast read. I started reading this book yesterday afternoon and finished it this morning. Don't even think about self-publishing until you read this book. Once you finish reading this, read other books on self-publishing and book marketing.

Jeremy Robinson is the success story every POD author longs for! Now, he's written a book offering his advice to other struggling POD People telling you how he did it. The information he provides here, based on his own POD experience with [..], is a tool every self-publishing author should invest in!

Jeremy offers advice on formatting your manuscript, getting author blurbs for your cover, creating a cover that stands out and doesn't look amateur, setting up a blog and website, email etiquette, getting book reviews, book signings, and even Amazon Marketing 101. It's all here.

Jeremy approaches his advice in an easy and comical manner. But this is not a complete "how-to" book from start to finish. He constantly reminds the reader to do their own research, but he touches on these subjects and lets you know what did and did not work for him. He also provides numerous websites for you to seek out for help.

I read this book in one setting and kept a highlighter handy, constantly marking things I wanted to come back to later. His advice and personal success story makes this a much needed reference for anyone considering POD today.

Thank you, Jeremy!

In the past five years, I have read 15+ books on self publishing (SP) and Jeremy Robinson's "POD People" is certainly unique and informative. Along with Dan Poynter's "Self Publishing Manual," "POD People" can help SP newbies figure out if SP is a viable option.

"POD People" frequently addresses the concerns of starving writers. Robinson found a back door into POD and you can benefit from his advice.

Believe me, SP is not for everyone, but these two titles will help you understand enough to make an informed decision.

"POD People" lives up to its title's promise, by isolating the elements that contribute to the ever-growing stigma of print on demand. If you take nothing else away from these books, just know that editing, page layout, and cover design must be outsouced to professionals. Moreover, an aggressive marketing campaign is a must, but you can do all that yourself. Otherwise, your book will join a zillion other titles in that massive black hole of publishing failures.

Finally, each SP book offers unique elements but also overlaps with other SP books. Interestingly, the overlaps are just as important because they drive home the essentials. Do yourself a favor and read more books than these, if you are dead serious about SP. If you choose wisely, 10 titles ought to do it.

Yes! Another book that describes the POD business model as something other than a technical advancement to the traditional publishing model. Publishing POD requires different tactics and a different understanding of the publishing business. Copying what one knows or understands about the traditional publishing industry and then trying to shove that knowledge into the POD world is like shoving a round peg into a square hole. It just doesn't fit. Jeremy Robinson understands that well and POD People does a good job of explaining the advantages of POD to those who are open to understanding its differences. Those differences make for unique marketing opportunities (which this book also covers) and lucrative results if one is open to letting-go of pre-conceived notions. Kudos, Jeremy! - Brent Sampson, author of Self-publishing Simplified: Experience Your Publishing Dreams With Outskirts Press

Jack Herrington's "Podcasting Hacks" (O'Reilly) is an excellent collection of tips, tricks, and explanations about making, publishing, and enjoying podcasts.

Although the book is primarily aimed at people who are creating podcasts, it also contains some info on the tools and techniques for finding and listening to them.

The O'Reilly "Hacks" books are structured as a series of specific projects, "hacks", that you can implement, but most every hack also includes a valuable explanation of the technology or expertise it uses.

The hacks in this book fall into both technical and non-tech categories. There's plenty on microphones, mixers and mp3 files. But also a lot on interviewing, blogging and getting publicity for your 'cast.

The book's first Chapter is the only one specifically for podcast listeners. It talks about sites and directories for finding the podcasts that are of interest to you. It also describes systems for downloading them, and the software for listening. Although the chapter contains much good info, it seems a bit out of place to me, in a book which is mostly of interest to people already looking to produce podcasts.

Chapters 2, 3 and 4 are "Starting Out", "Quality Sound", and "Formats". They dive into the gear and technology of recording and producing your podcasts.

Chapter 5 "Interviewing", and 7 "Publicity", tell about how to collect valuable and useful content, and how to get the word out to your potential audience.

Chapter 6 "Blogging" covers how to use a blog to publicize and distribute your podcast. It covers the most popular blogging systems like Movable Type, WordPress, Drupal and others. It covers using an existing blog, or setting up a new one. Also creating and managing the all-important RSS feed for your podcast. It also talks about internet hosting services which specialize in providing online storage and bandwidth for podcasts, which, because they are larger-sized files, can be a burden on traditional hosting arrangements.

Chapters 8 & 9, "Basic Editing" and "Advanced Audio", expand upon the post-production and audio tech material already covered. And Chapter 10 "On the Go" talks about recording podcasts out in the field.

"Podcasting Hacks" was first published in 2005, before the boom in video on the net, so it is short on info for video-podcasters. Though much of the discussion on interviewing, distribution, publicity, and hosting are directly applicable to video 'casts. Chapter 10 "Videoblogging" touches briefly on what was then an infant medium.

All in all, "Podcasting Hacks" a very useful and informative book, for both new and experienced podcasters.

Introduction
From the title, my impression was that this book would provide several specific technically-advanced strategies to maximize efficiency and enjoyment of podcasts. The strategies covered wouldn't necessarily be comprehensive, but rather serve as additional specialized tools one could add to the toolkit. Contrary to my impression, I was pleasantly surprised at the range of topics covered. I assumed from the term "hacks" in the title that the book's focus was going to be on adapting software and hardware for easier podcasting creation and consumption. However, there was plenty of focus on soft-skills as well, like methods of hacking your voice to sound better in a recorded format, or how to hack an experience you've had into a well-told and interesting story for a podcast.

Things I Liked

The book's foreward, believe it or not, contains the most succinct and accurate description of what podcasting is -- and isn't -- that I've read anywhere. I am mistrustful when a technology is advertised as "the hot new thing that everyone is doing!" because it usually seems to be a solution in search of a problem. That the foreward took a realistic tone made me favorably anticipate what would come in the rest of the book. The other thing that set this book apart was its range of contributors. There are hacks supplied by professional newscasters, popular podcasters, technologists of all stripes, and developers of podcasting tools and applications. These wide-ranging perspectives allowed the author to cover everything from writing Perl scripts to understanding basic copyright law to setting up a home studio to marketing your podcast - all in all, having this book is like getting to pick the brains of the top people doing podcasting, and having concise written documentation upon which to refer.

Things I Liked Not So Much

A minor point, but as someone who does not use Macs, PCs AND Linux boxes on a daily basis, I really only care about stuff available for the platform I work on. But the format of the book didn't allow me to easily locate the information relevant to me. When the book discussed software and hardware options, it wasn't clear which platform a hack was for until late into the description. A small addition to the hack title, like "Mac Only", would have remedied this.

In addition, the organization of the hacks was surprising and a little frustrating at times. For example,
Hack #2 is writing a perl script to re-assemble feeds of your choosing from other sites as a customized rebroadcast. As I was reading the hack, I thought about several questions one might be expected to have, such as "What is perl?", "What do I need to utilize this script?", and "How can I tell if this script will work with my web server"? These issues weren't covered until Hack #7. In another example, chapter 3 explores how to get quality sound; , the author uses terms like "condenser microphones" and "phantom power" early on, which he doesn't really explain until later on in the chapter when he discusses the various types of microphones.

Do you know how to listen to a podcast and produce one of your own? If you don't, this outstanding book is for you! Author Jack Herrington, has written a great book about how to find great podcasts and subscribe to them without filling your hard disk.

Herrington begins by showing you how to listen to podcasts through your browser and on a variety of different devices. Next, the author takes you through the basic hardware and software setup required to make high-quality podcasts. Then, he covers in depth how to pick the right audio hardware for your podcast; as well as, how to reduce noise to get that elusive clean sound. The author continues by covering the formats of various shows, and provides examples of formats; as well as, case studies of many popular podcasts. In addition, you'll also learn how to interview people, and how to edit the interviews. The author also concentrates on the mechanics of posting your podcasts to the Internet. Next, the author shows you how to market your podcast, make some money off it, and work with the podcasting community. Then, you will learn the basics of audio editing, what applications are available, and how to understand and use audio effects and filters. The author continues by taking things a step further and shows you how to build your own home studio, integrate audio feedback, add sound effects, and more. In addition, the author shows you how to take your show on the road with the hacks. Finally, he covers the basics of videoblogging and shows you how to create a teleprompter to give your videoblogs a professional feel.

So, if you want to get the best sound with the lowest noise, read this most excellent book. Herrington, has gone in great detail in this book, to help you produce a podcast that people will want to listen to, because of what you say and do.

As usual, Oreilly's combination of technical tips and tricks with straightforward implementation is excellent. I hadn't tried any of the Hacks series yet, and found that I'm thoroughly enjoying it. They are an excellent way to quickly get important pieces of information, while still comprehensively covering the topic.

The only downside is that it may not be a great book for those without some computer skills. But, if you know computers and don't know Podcasting, this is an excellent find.

Disclosure: my podcast is mentioned in his book. I find myself reaching for this book nearly every episode I create. I thought I was doing fine with my little show before Jack came out with this book. When it was published, I was shocked at how much he had gathered, and how much I had to learn! Jack has covered a very broad area, and yet kept a balance so that you feel like every page can be applied to your podcast. I find the guidance he gives on everything from equipment to environmental noise, to show format, to legal music use to be relevant to each episode I create. I continue to go back and find new tips to improve my show. I highly recommend it.

The thing I like about this book is that it ranges from basics to advanced development strategizing. It seems to have been developed for use by individuals as well as in a (relaxed, hip?) classroom situation. I read it on my own, but can imagine it's structure making the teacher's job easy. As an "international reader," I think this book offers good insights into the workings of the U.S. corporate web economy... valuable when thinking about new directions for developing websites in one's own country.

I'm working on a re=design of a non-profit site and had expected this book (based on the title) to give me some real-world design advice. Instead, the book focuses on the design PROCESS itself. Things like knowing who your users / customers are and what they need from your site, getting buy-in from the site owners, prototyping, testing, etc. And even then the amount of real "take-away" information is scant (in my opinion). I had used another book (The Design of Sites - highly recommend) and must have bookmarked (the old fashioned way) 100 or more pages. On Ms. Phyo's book I found only 6 pages to be valuable (to me). If you're in the market to set up a web design team or business, this is a good book. If you're looking for decent web design help, look elsewhere. My 2-cents.

I'm no expert on Web design. However, I do spend a great deal of time fiddling with badly desined web sites. Certainly everyone has encountered a web site that made them want to scream.

I do understand what is involved in building a web site, we build them regularly. Ani Phyo is very intuitive and approaches her subject matter with great finessse. I have interacted with sites that she and her partner have designed and clearly, they get it. Not only are the sites intuitive and smart but they take it to the next level. They have an organic nature that transcends what you'd expect on the web. Their sites are breathing, living organisms. To encounter them is to be a part of a community. Yes, a community! Isn't that what the Internet is all about?

I highly recommend this book mostly for the client. The client needs to define their needs and comprehend what is possible. The designer can take it to the next level.

Finally, someone has written the book that describes the best way to think about designing interactive media. As a professional web designer/architect, I've found Ani really nails it in terms of process, and will help me cover my bases better. I recommend this book for beginners, who can now start out right the first time. And for veteran web people, this is a comprehensive, clear document of the methodology you might have been using for years, but may have cut corners on. My copy is going to have lots of dog-ears...

If you ever wanted a 7-step recipe for designing applications for Web delivery, this is the book for you. I appreciate the time and money I am saving on my current Web project by following a tested process that really works.
Regardless if you are responsible for site management, defining system requirements, Web content development, visual design, back-end programming, or usability testing of Web-delivered applications, following this process is both cost effective and fun. Return on Design is a gourmet meal consisting of step-by-step procedures, supportive examples, visuals, resources, and a consistent information design approach, which all serve to differentiate this Web design book from the others.
The bottom line is: do you want your site to be revenue generating? Your chances for success are better if you follow a user-centered design "recipe" for success.

Well written comprehensive guide to getting started on E-bay. You do have to actually put the effort and creativity into any business to make it work. But, if you follow the outline of this book you will have a better chance of making it work. This book also contained unique information by the author. It dovetailed with the other books I bought by the same author.

Was getting started on ebay and looking for some guidance. This book combined with ebay's on-line tutorial is loaded with enough information to get a new ebay seller headed in the right direction. Would recommend to anyone contemplating selling on ebay.

Skip Mc Grath takes you step by step from a beginner, to a seller in a very short time if you read and put into practise his instructions.
He also tells you what to sell on eBay giving you a lot of ideas where to find what is easy to sell and how to promote it.
I would recommend this and other books published by this author to anyone who wants to make money on eBay, because he really know what he is talking about. And for my understanding he is a born teacher because he has the pacience to explain in detail what to do and how to do it.

I'am new to selling on ebay and was looking for some helpful books.
This is one I purchased, and it has helped me alot. I would recommend this
book to anyone selling on ebay, it has alot of helpful information.

I don't review books unless I genuinely like them, and I liked this book. The concrete, clear steps are excellent. I decided to use this book in teaching college students how to use the Internet more effectively.

I am new as an ebay seller and I plan to open a store soon I hope. I bought this book in order to get good, helpful tips and advices. I got them! This book goes in depth in every aspect. Very detailed oriented and this is what I wanted. Definitely a great buy and a must have.

A Gotta Have book if you are planning on Marketing an eBay business. Great reference for the experienced eBayer.

I have been selling on Ebay for over 2 years. But after reading this book I realize how little I knew about marketing my product. This little gem contains very valuable information about making the most out of Ebay's competitive marketplace. This book is interesting to read and gives clear step by step instructions for changes you can make to Market your Ebay items. Like I said, I thought I knew a lot about Ebay but I was surprised by how much I learned from this book!

I've been selling on ebay since July 2005. Part time. I've read 8 books on ebay. This is one of the Best. I have not had time to use the info in it. But have tried to impliment some of the tips. It is full of great ideas and sources of the kind of information one needs to be successful on ebay. I highly recommed it.

This book is hardcore. Give a lot of info and can save painfull hours of try-and-faild. You need to read it.

Good book for beginner, if you are just learning get this book.There are things in this book that took me years to learn by trial and error unfortunaely for me I only learned a couple of new things, but it did give me some certainty in what I did know. However Im now looking for a intermediate book which is what I really needed.

The book lives up to its reputation as being a beginners guide. Good resource for those now getting into computers. And, it also has some good steps for Vista too.

Like most people,i avoided the 21st century technology by continuly saying to myself it was not something i needed.I finally took the plunge,a friend set up my Toshiba A2125 and found the"Absolute beginners guide on your web page.It,s format coinsides with my 73 year old mindset.Congradulations Michael Miller

This a great book for aquainting yourself with your computer. If you are new to the computer world as I was you will find this book very helpful in taking control of your computer instead of it controlling you. It covers both versions of Windows: XP & Vista. I would recommend it to anyone just starting out. I think it would be safe to say it could save you a lot of time in the longrun and maybe keep you from pulling your hair out!

I have been using a computer for many years and still did not understand all the task/programs I could have been using. This book has been extremely helpful working as a primer explaining everything very clearly and is still up to date with the Windows Vista. I would highly recommend this book.

This book provides a great foundation for the classes I am teaching in e-commerce. It's chapters on site server also are excellent! I found the fundamentals section to be outstanding for handling the task of getting new students up to speed.

This book is really useful from the standpoint of providing an overview of what ESD is doing today, and how e-commerce tools from Microsoft are making it possible for organizations of any size to buyild their own sites. I found the chapters on managing a new site useful with some good suggestions for getting everyone on the same page from a development standpoint. Good reference book and teaching tool for new administrators.

I have been studying up on e-business and found this book to have a personable tone and many insights into how I could get up to speed quickly with terms and concpets to manage the outsourcing of our company's website quicker. I liked the chapters on building a framework for organizing solutions and found the chapter on electronic software ditribution very enlightening. An easy book to read.

This book has interesting information about Microsoft's Site Server applications, and shows the plans for electronic software distribution Microsoft authored with key industry leaders. it is decidely pro e-commerce and provides an interesting approach to managing web development through cross-functional project teams.

I found this book to provide a level-set for my staff, who is working on the definition of our websites, and what we could reasonably expect with the resources onhand. This book gave us hands-on guidelines and advice from experience we could use for getting our site completed in the minimum amount of time with the least disconnects between what we wanted and what we ended up creating. E-Commerce is constantly changing, and this book brings all the change into perspective. Good teaching tool.

This book is amazing. I have some experience with Flash video and video production techniques, but I felt like I had a lot of gaps in my knowledge. This book covers everything I need to know, and the included code is priceless. If you want a robust Flash player, with auto-detect, auto-update, etc., but don't care to learn the ins and outs of Actionscript, just use what's provided. You'll have Player up and running in minutes.

I ended up sharing the book with our Video Production team, too. They used a lot of the instruction about good compression, proper aspect ratios, and creating alpha channels for FLVs.

Rob Reinhardt is the master of Video deployed in Flash. I was so happy to see he finally has written a book that captures his knowledge, experience, and excellent teaching skills. Rob is clear, concise and you can be guaranteed that he has tested, used and deployed all the techniques he demonstrates.
Bravo!!!!!

There's nobody more prolific and comprehensive in the world of Flash video delivery than Reinhardt. Considering the enormity of topics and goals addressed in this book, he's really outdone himself this time. Essential for anyone interested in serious deployment of Flash video.

this book is a decent hands-on approach to creating video players using AS3 & AS2. Two of the missing things that I think are necessary are creating custom volume controls and handling full-screen mode.

My company bought other Flash Video books, but this book had the ActionScript 3.0 code I was looking for. The DVD included with the book rocks--I've always wanted to test HD footage in Flash, but didn't want to spend too much time looking for huge files on the Internet. The DVD has lots of HD content to use as sample content.

I love this book. It should be required reading for all undergraduate and graduate business students. I'll be looking for Windham's next book.

I must congratulate Ms. Windham on her excellent book "Dead Ahead". I think I must have read it more than three times by now. I am a consultant and my company is involved in web design and development. On many of my assignments, I relied on this book as a guide and many of her ideas have worked very well with my clients.

Our company provides e-commerce and web presence solutions. We use "Dead Ahead: The Web Dilemma and the New Rules of Business" by Laurie Windham extensively to help us provide effective solutions for our clients.

Dead Ahead covers the 'new rules' of web-based commerce, from using existing businesses and strategies to succeed to establishing recognition and associations via the internet. Important chapters on investing in the right technology and conducting e-business make for important insights on the rules and atmosphere of the web.

This was used as a text book in my e-business MBA class and would recommend it to others outside of class. It covered a lot of issues relevant to the topic. I enjoy reading books like this that are up-to-date in a dynamic industry.

If you're looking for a guide on writing e-mails in a business setting, look no further. This book covers every aspect of writing e-mails and even some tips on how to organize your e-mail as well. The chapters take you through different topics regarding e-mail and at the end of each chapter are some activities that you can do to help build your awareness of your e-mail writing skills and how examining the messages you receive from others can help improve your awareness of writing skills. This book is perfectly designed for training courses, since each chapter could be completed in one training session. I recommend this if you are looking to write e-mails as professionally as you can.

Like it or not, we live in a world of electronic communication. E-Mail: A Write It Well Guide is a practical and helpful guide for those who aren't totally familiar or comfortable with the medium as well as for those who use it routinely, but perhaps not always effectively or appropriately. Most important, it urges people to take their e-mail communication as seriously as their other written communication - and tells them how.

This book is exactly what every e-mail should be (and so few are): clear, sensible and pointed. Compare the advice here to the emails you receive daily and you will agree that it is filled with uncommon good sense. You'll find yourself trying to figure out how to secretly get copies to your colleagues! Jim Knutsen, President, Boatz Knutsen Communications

Like it or not, all of us are up to our eyeballs in emails everyday. We feel pressed for time yet need to write coherent emails that effectively communicate important information. This guide is an excellent resource on how to write readable emails that come to the point quickly without leaving any of the important stuff out. After going through the material, I recognized a lot of mistakes that our company frequently commits in our frequent volleys of emails with clients. I wish I would have had this book sooner! Thanks for cutting through the jungle for us, Write it Well!
Thanks,
Mike O'Quin
PowerPointPartners.Com

As the author of an English reference guide/workbook, I think this book is exceptionally helpful to everyone needing to send out professional e-mails. E-mail has just about replaced informal memos and even reports. Therefore, we all need to learn how to convey the right tone, present a professional image, get our messages across clearly, learn the etiquette of e-mail, and avoid the pitfalls and hazards that e-mail technology poses. The author provides excellent, relevant examples and lays the material out in a logical, easy-to-understand fashion. I highly recommend it to individuals, HR departments, and training professionals.
Jane Straus
Author of The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation
and
Enough Is Enough! Stop Enduring and Start Living Your Extraordinary Life