mjh’s blog

Eye of the Storm

Yesterday (Monday, 12/29), I sent Wiley the last quarter of my latest book, Digital Photography for Seniors for Dummies (really). I just finished my second book in 6 months; my third book in 2 years. (I finished Windows Vista Solutions just before going to a New Year’s Eve party.)

Given that I completed Digital Cameras & Photography for Dummies in less than 6 weeks, this latest book, on a related topic, was an easier task. In fact, 3 weeks ago, I imagined I might finish a week ahead of schedule – which was already moved up a week. But, a 3 week cold wrecked my sleep, and I had a class to teach, so, I had to be content with finishing on the deadline, not before.

But finish isn’t the word. Hurricane watchers know that the eerie calm isn’t the end of the storm, but the eye. Indeed, the trailing edge of a hurricane is fiercer than the leading edge, albeit shorter. (Anyone over 30 knows the second half of anything is shorter than the first half.) The part of the storm yet to come is Author Review, in which I reread every word I’ve written along with all the questions, corrections, and comments inserted by the copy editor, the technical editor, and the development editor. (It is a rainbow of Word revision marks.) It is a time to suppress ego and to avoid argument, to seek a better way to explain things. Reviewing a chapter might take one hour or four. I’m expecting to spend 40 hours on the task, which will include recreating every single figure because I was slow to understand the original figure requirements. (Seems the previous project taught me bad habits.)

As I await the first wave of Author Review, I’ve rearranged some furniture (singularly pleasing), vacuumed, and, even written a blog entry. It may be another week or two before the next. In the meantime, Happy New Calendar! peace, mjh

www.mjhinton.com/author/

MJH in the News

I was interviewed about Vista for a website. The ‘theme’ of this website is ‘dealing with change,’ so the focus of the interview is on what’s changed in Vista and how to survive the change.

In this ‘edition’ of the website, I join Steve Wozniak (Apple) and George Foreman. Movin’ up! mjh

Mark Justice Hinton on Windows Vista | First30Days

How Does a Bestseller Happen?

Tim Ferriss: How Does a Bestseller Happen? A Case Study in Hitting #1 on The New York Times - Media on The Huffington Post

The odds seem impossible: there are more than 200,000 books published each year in the U.S., and less than five percent ever sell more than 5,000 copies.

Rank

It turns out I’m not alone in my obsession with the Amazon Rank of my book. It’s a “known problem,” which sounds like something Rumsfeld would say — wasn’t it great to see him on Capitol Hill the other day, as uncooperative and unclear as ever? — but is actually a technical phrase. Anyway, I check “my” rank far too often. (I also try hard to think of it as “my book’s rank,” not my own personal rank.)

Recently, Amazon added several sub-ranks, or ranks within categories as opposed to the original rank among all books. While this gives me more to obsess over, it also may be fairer to compare my book to other computer books than to Harry Potter and Kurt Vonnegut. This new sub-ranking also reveals the problem of automated categorization. My book is doing well in the NT category, which is a surprise since it has nothing to do with NT. Of course, neither do books on CSS, which often show up in the same categories as my book. Oh, well, all numbers are equal. mjh

http://www.mjhinton.com/vista/

The Highs and the Lows of Rankings on Amazon - New York Times, By LYNDON STAMBLER

Forget writer’s block — many authors put their manuscripts aside because they cannot stop checking their rankings.

“There really should be a 12-step program,” said Harry Kirchner, a senior national accounts manager with Ingram Publisher Services, a book distributor that counts Amazon as a customer.

In the News

Almost 20 years ago, I was accused by the then-Dean of UNM’s Division of Continuing Education of “biting the hand that feeds me.” It wasn’t the first or last time I was thus accused — I take it as a compliment. At the time, an article had appeared in the paper in which a UNMCE instructor — vital to the program and long since gone — raved about the value of classroom training for computer users. I wrote a letter to the editor (this was years before blogs) saying classroom training isn’t for everyone. Heresy, albeit true. (I’ve found no perfect means for learning or teaching.)

I dredge this up as I think about UNM as a community. UNMCE has really made me a professional computer trainer. Foremost, my students deserve the credit for enduring and improving me, but UNMCE gave me many opportunities. I certainly could not have enjoyed self-employment (or, in truth, long-term semi-retirement) without the continued support of my friends, colleagues and students at UNMCE.

Even though Wiley Publishing has given me new opportunities, UNM continues to make what I do possible. Already, UNM has been much more generous about spreading the word about the book than Wiley has. (Does Wiley feel a nibble on its fingers?) UNMCE’s blog was the first “press” (beyond advertising) the book received. Now Benson Hendrix on main campus has written a very generous story for UNM Today: UNM Continuing Education Instructor Pens First Book [emphasis added]. (I am half-amused and half-embarrassed to be compared to Sisyphus, who is still toiling, if you believe such stuff.) mjh

PS: It occurred to me today that people will soon be asking, “what have you done lately?” Then my 15MB of fame will be full. (I’m tech-editing someone else’s book.)

Following the Masters

The Writer’s Almanac from American Public Media

Leaves of Grass came out on July 4th 1855. Whitman paid for its publication himself and arranged for it to be sold in different formats, at different prices, to reach as wide an audience as possible. He anonymously wrote wildly enthusiastic reviews of the book himself. He said: “The public is a thick-skinned beast and you have to keep whacking away at its hide to let it know you’re there.” But despite all of his efforts, he sold only 10 copies of the first edition, and gave away the rest.”

http://writersalmanac.publicradio.org/programs/2007/05/28/#thursday

Who am I to argue with Whitman. Gotta go check my Amazon rank and write myself a wildly enthusiastic review. mjh

Cue David Bowie’s Fame

I returned from two days in Chaco (that’s another story) to find myself on the cover of the Albuquerque Journal’s Business Outlook. Cool! I knew Andrew Webb’s article was coming, but I never expected the big color photos by Greg Sorber (taken during an Advanced HTML class).

I am thrilled and honored, as one should be to see one’s name in the same sentence as wit sans nit. I’m humbled to be identified as a photographer, poet and prolific blogger — even if that is just a quote of mine. (For what it’s worth, it is much easier to be a photographer than a poet, and blogging is easier still. However, they all pay the same.)

I enjoyed my lively conversation with Andrew and I appreciate the generous article he has written well. Though I strive to be profoundly memorable and he took notes, I don’t expect any two people to recall a conversation exactly the same way. I’ve had students say to me the exact opposite of what I thought I just said — communication is a sloppy process, even between professional communicators like Andrew and me. Nothing that follows should be construed as criticism of Andrew’s article. Consider this compulsive tidying-up.

Originally, I was to be THE technical editor of the book, not one of several. The original author didn’t exactly back out — he failed to deliver on schedule. (I do not mean to rub his face in that.)

Although I had about five days to think about taking the job, that period was a bit more interesting. As TE, I wrote the DE (Development Editor) to inquire when I would begin to receive chapters. He told me there was a problem and if the author missed a critical deadline, Wiley would offer the book to “… wait for it — you” (quoting him quoting Barney). The five days — miserable days of doubt — were between that teaser and the actual offer. It was during that time I passed through the stages of grief/death, from elation to certainty that they had found someone else. When the EE (Executive Editor), Chris Webb (no relation to Andrew Webb), offered me the job, I waited overnight to accept. (My friend, Leah Kier, at UNM Continuing Education, once observed that when asked to do the extraordinary, I always say no and then come around to yes.)

Now, it is absolutely accurate that I wrote the first draft in barely 8 weeks — I inherited the original author’s deadline and none of his lead-time. Those were demanding, exhilarating days. In early October, 2006, I delivered the last chapter. Almost immediately, I began to receive edited chapters in return. The DE, John Sleeva, did a great job of coaxing more out of me. In fact, over the next month, I added 50% more material, including one or two new chapters. And that wasn’t the end (though I wish it had been, in some sense). Next came the PE, CE and proofreader — all striving to make this a better book.

I finished the last round of review on New Year’s Eve. Merri and I walked out the door on Valentine’s Day to find two cases of books waiting on the porch. At last, it was real.

At the moment, the book ranks #12,732 #9,885 on Amazon Books (rank has to be below 2,000 to penetrate the Best Selling Computer Books). Still no review. mjh

PS: If you want more, I blogged during the process. See the first entry (http://www.edgewiseblog.com/mjh/book/the-book/) and follow links to “next in this category” at the bottom of each entry. There are 14 other entries. Or see http://www.edgewiseblog.com/mjh/category/book/ for the same material organized newest to oldest, as is the blog-way. That’s not the best way to tell a story.

PPS: I’m wearing Marj Mullany. That’s to say, she created my beautiful tie, which Merri bought as a gift for me. The tie-clip was a gift from a stranger, but that, too, is another story.

Woo-Hoo!

My book hit #56 in the top 100 computer books on Amazon today. A few weeks ago it hit #88 and then dropped from the list. Currently it is about #5000 in all books; best has been about 1800 or 1500. Cool! mjh

PC Magazine Windows Vista Solutions, by Mark Justice Hinton

I’ve written about my adventure writing a book on Windows Vista. Now I’m announcing the book itself, which goes to the printer tomorrow. I’ve been waiting for Amazon to update its listing (they had the wrong author). mjh

Amazon.com: PC Magazine Windows Vista Solutions by Mark Justice Hinton

Wiley::PC Magazine Windows Vista Solutions
Mark Justice Hinton

Year End

I finished proofing PDFs for my Vista book at 5:47pm on New Year’s Eve. In one of the final chapters, a figure had been dropped and I hadn’t noticed until someone put it back with this caption, “Add caption and location.” I spent 20 minutes figuring out where the original citation was, the caption and whether I really wanted the figure back. It was not an important figure, but leaving it out would have required renumbering all the rest.

In the last chapter, a table had been “corrupted” (jargon for screwed up); hopefully, we’ll get that squared away. The whole book is off to the printer this week.

At the New Year’s Eve party, our hostess expressed surprise that I was content with a beer to celebrate the end of the task. It’s still sinking in and I won’t really celebrate until I have the book in my hands.

I’ll leave you with the last samples of my encounter with the most diligent proofreader. I don’t think he is wrong in all of these but may have exceeded his assignment with some. mjh

I wrote:
The blue text under the major headings in Figure 7-1 ….

Proofer wrote:
will text be printed blue in book?

[mjh: How about: "The text under the major headings in Figure 7-1, which will be blue on your screen though black on this page..."?]

I wrote:
The problem will be separating the wheat from the chaff.

Proofer wrote:
to separate

I titled a chapter:
Setup Programs

Proofer wrote:
title OK? sounds like it deals with programs named Setup … “Setting Up Programs” better?

[mjh: maybe so. Of course, setting up programs -- setting programs up? -- often involves a program named Setup. Moreover, the DE, TE, PE and CE didn't suggest changing the title -- or, as far as the proofer knows, each one of them did and that was rejected 4 times already.]

I wrote:
RSS support may bring millions of new users to that method of digesting Web content.

Proofer wrote:
correct word? “consuming” better?

[mjh: see Reader's Consumption for more fun with words.]

I wrote:
Many of the Security settings offer a choice among Enable (less safe?), Disable (more strict) and Prompt.

Proofer wrote:
between

I wrote:
Click the red circular button.

Proofer wrote:
better: circular red

[mjh: what, no comma?]

I wrote:
The Now Playing screen can be used to display the album cover for the current tune, or various visualizations (this is your CPU on acid.).

Proofer wrote:
drug ref OK?

I wrote:
presently … prior

Proofer wrote:
currently … previous

The next morning, Mer awoke to say the proofer’s choice of “circular red” was more poetic. Maybe so, but is that really the reason for that suggestion — poetry?

We had an interesting time researching the subtleties of between/among. Even though between may actually have application with more than two, I think among is the right choice in this context.

Mind you, I had no quarrel with the majority of the proofer’s suggested changes, though he is an obsessive comma-inserter. I would work with this proofer again — he was relentless. As for the copy editor, her name is no longer in the credits; perhaps she washed her hands of me. mjh

Proof

As you may know, I’m writing a book on Microsoft Windows Vista, the next version of the operating system. You may also recall that I wrote about my encounters with a very aggressive Copy Editor who can’t believe English is my first language (or read about that, if you don’t recall).

This week, I saw a draft of the book cover. I am now going through Adobe Acrobat PDF files, looking at the text and figures as they are laid out for printing. It finally looks like a book and seems more real than ever.

These files contain comments from a proof reader (could be one word or hyphenated — I’m not the guy to tell you). Many of the proofreader’s comments have been spot on, to the point of catching extra or missing spaces and more.

One thing that frustrates me is the proof-reader “correcting” something that has been “corrected” several times already. For example, I prefer to write “websites.” However, from the beginning in this book, I have written “Web sites” and that has stood the scrutiny of the DE, TE, PE and CE. Now, the proofReader suggests “websites.” So, I have to argue against a change I approve of because it would have to be made 1000 times (insert comma, if you like — I don’t like a comma in 1000). Sure, search and replace (capitalized? italics? quotes?) makes that easy, but why are we discussing this at the bitter end?

Having been through the wringer with the CE, I thought I might be too calloused to care any more, but I do note a few of the PR’s comments here:

I wrote: The joke at the turn of the century is “The whole world is in beta.”

He notes: Are we still at “the turn of the century”?

Later, he notes: Is there maybe too much complaining in this procedure? move remarks into a sidebar?

I wrote: pronounce it like a Klingon

He notes: really sounds like that?

I wrote: Have your notary click the OK button and initial here (X ____) and here (X ____).

He notes: humor here OK?

I think that centuries turn slowly, like ocean liners. Maybe that’s because I am more than half a century old, myself, or that when I studied the turn of the 1900s it seemed to last more than a few years. As for the Klingon remark, the real joke is that the text referred to would not be pronounced at all, but spelled out (like FBI, not AWOL). Finally, I do not advertise myself as a comedian, or even a humorist; I do think a bit of levity lightens dull topics.

At this point, I would pay to see the ProofReader and the Copy Editor fight to the death. Humor here OK? mjh

Another Milestone

I am happy — oh, so, happy — to announce I have completed the second round of Author Review of my book (”my book”!), PC Magazine Windows Vista Solutions (Wiley Publishing). The first draft took about 8 weeks. The two rounds of Author Review took another 6 weeks and increased the book from 100,000 words to 160,000, if that is a measure of anything.

We’re not quite done yet, though I hope there is a small I in We. There is still some layout to be done. Then, I have to review PDFs, which will be my first opportunity to see the many screen captures in place within the text. Then a long pause before the book hits the shelves around the end of January, when Windows Vista is officially available in retail. mjh

Author Review, Parts 1 and 2

Part 1

As I’ve mentioned, I’m writing–and re-writing–a book on Windows Vista, Microsoft’s next operating system. It has been an interesting challenge on many levels, not the least of which is that Vista was just released in its final form, three or four days after I completed round one of Author Review.

Said review involved re-reading my text which was riddled with questions and comments from editors designed to coax me to a higher-level. I believe they succeeded, if adding 100 pages in 3 weeks can be considered any measure of that. It was grueling, but only once did I despair, when I simply could not install a feature that had worked a month earlier.

During this round of author review, my grudging acceptance of editors became admiration. Merri had modified a church slogan by adding three words (itself an artful act of editing): god leaves you better than he found you–like an editor. She was right in her addition.

And so, almost a month after I prematurely announced “Mission Accomplished” for what was merely phase 1 (the rough draft), I finished phase 2, Author Review (AR), with a real sense of accomplishment and satisfaction. Which brings us to …

AR Part 2

After a couple of days of rearranging the furniture, I was very close to formatting my hard drive, which is the virtual equivalent and a task I perform to rearrange my thoughts. Just before the worst possible moment, I heard from my next editor.

Wiley is probably not unusual in its layers of editorial staff. I was hired by one person but my day-to-day contact had been my Development Editor (DE). His editing, along with the contributions of the Technical Editor (TE–a role I have played several times), won my respect for editors.

But my most recent contact was from the Production Editor (PE). Suddenly, I felt like someone in a medical examination room, where professionals come and go, determining your fate without an introduction. My new PE was sending me the first five chapters recently returned by the Copy Editor (CE) and informed me this was the beginning of AR. AR? Shouldn’t there be unique terms of art for the AR before and the AR after–they are two distinct processes. Nonetheless, I’m not one to force such thoughts on strangers (assuming you are no longer a stranger). My approach to new systems, which is what I regard the Publishing Industry as, is to observe and learn its tricks and idiosyncrasies. That’s what I do.

So, I began reading my chapters for the umpteenth time. It was a pleasure to see all those colorful revision marks gone, save for a few comments or questions from the CE. Though her tone was a little more insistent and less collegial than the DE’s, there weren’t a lot of comments to respond to. Still, I felt the need to read every word I’d written.

And so, I noticed I could not find every word I’d written. Understand, I have written, oh, let’s say 250,000 words in the last 3 months. I’ve rewritten whole sections and I’ve read the questions and suggestions of at least three editors, so I don’t expect to remember all the words. It may be a measure of the paucity of standouts that I could actually notice any missing. But I did. Gone, without a single revision mark. Ouch. Whose book is this?

The first time I noticed this, I did what I would have done had the deletion been marked–I rejected it, which in this case means, I put my words back in my mouth and on the page. Still, I felt it warranted an inquiry to the PE, if not the CE, DE or TE.

So my new PE wrote back that the CE had a technical glitch which prevented some changes from being marked. She is very sorry that numerous chapters suffered this glitch. A crueler nerd would speak of IO errors–Incompetent Operator–but I am not cruel.

However, a technical glitch does not explain changing my use of the word “entwined” into “interrelated.” That’s the work of an automated thesaurus, not a person who respects a writer’s emotional attachment to words. That’s a condescending change that says “you chose the wrong word, here’s the right one.” That was my worst nightmare about the arbitrary power of an editor. That it was hidden by a “glitch” so that I might well not have seen this until it was in final print makes it worse; it doesn’t explain it away.

So, now, what was already clearly a pretty close reading on my part has become an ordeal in which I question every other sentence. In some cases, it is obvious that I would not write like that, good or bad. However, imagine wondering “what’s missing?” Which of my words have been stolen? mjh

PS: Like Sideshow Bob, I have to comment on the inevitable irony that this piece contains errors I still haven’t seen after re-reading it a dozen times. (I can imagine the argument that the final verb before my signature should be singular.) It’s my fate and I accept it wearily. We’re human: we see each other’s mistakes immediately. And everyone needs a good editor now and then.

I Wrote A Book!

I have just turned in the last chapters of my book on Windows Vista. I’m not elated or even relieved, but I am reasonably happy and proud of the intense concentration I put into this project over the past two months, which seem to have flown by. I wrote over 100,000 words and took over 200 screen captures. In the process, I installed at least 4 Builds (versions) more than a dozen times.

Which is not to say I’m done, just at the end of a big phase. Now, I begin “author review,” in which I’ll graciously accept the comments of two or more editors. Of course, I’ve already worked with the best editor — Mer has read every word and contributed considerably to the book.

In this final phase, I also have to compare my text and figures to the latest build, Release Candidate 2. I want to be as current as possible, though the final version — the RTM (Release to Manufacture) — comes right around my deadline.

Three weeks from now, I can return to the blogosphere and ignoring the clock and calendar a little bit. mjh