What do readers think of the following idea?
I’ve been working on this blog for over two years, and written a lot of articles. Some are tosh, some are quite good (I’m told).
I could put a lot of time and effort into a book on the future of telecom and networks.
I could put a lot of time and effort into writing a book on the future of telephony/IM/personal communications/presence.
Or I could say “sod that”, get an editor, and re-cycle what I’ve got into a kind of smorgasbord of clippings from the event horizon of telecom and have it printed onto a load of Finnish wood pulp.
Obviously, there’s quite a bit of work to transcribe stuff into the paper medium, un-URLify some it all. Give more context and introduction to the material. Lessen the minimum necessary reader IQ to something below 130.
Thoughts? Do you think anyone would find such a tome useful? Know any editor or publisher who might be interested?
Or have I just wasted 60 seconds for about 3000 people…? (You might not pay for blog content with your money, but I’m damn well going to take your time instead!)
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Bookmarked (or should Martin bookify his blog) from Skype Journal
What do readers think of the following idea? I’ve been working on this blog [Telepocalypse] for over two years, and written a lot of articles. Some are tosh, some are quite good (I’m told). I could put a lot of...
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Recycle please. There is enough to interest another crowd through the book, and it would leave you with time to share with us the progress of your thinking online...(I would miss it).
Posted by: at February 17, 2006 06:44 AMI think that most people reading this blog will have an idea of "what's coming down the line" in theory. I guess what would be interesting would be some kind of scenario analysis whereby practitioners could make assessments as to which scenario was coming through and make more timely interventions. i.e.will MS/Yahoo/Google be the de-facto presence for 95% of all implementations, even corporate, or would a court ruling under some "hard to see in daily life corporate law" make this more a 50/50 thing (i.e. market dominance forces governement to make intervention etc.). I would seek to release this book chapter by chapter/ article by article and then I would charge for the "tool-kit" to make this actionable within ones own organisation (say 300 dollars). Just a thought. Why give the money to a publisher?
Posted by: at February 17, 2006 07:13 AMMartin, I cannot give you any advice here, but since I can imagine what you will write and I am sure I will enjoy it, I can only promise you one thing: If you will write a book, I will buy it.
Posted by: at February 17, 2006 08:36 PMMartin, same here, no advice I can give, but I would buy your book to read it and as a gift to more than one friend who would read it and love it, but that have no idea of what a blog is.
Posted by: at February 18, 2006 12:11 AMCount me in on the pre-order for any of the three. For some discussion of converting blogs into books, see
http://www.futureofthebook.org/blog/archives/2005/12/trapped_in_the.html
Books can work in a lot of different ways. You need to think carefully about your goals and the sort of work you enjoy doing.
Posted by: at February 19, 2006 09:02 PMI would like to second the request for scenario analysis.
Regardless of the content, however, I will buy whatever book you publish.
I think your first port of call should probably be to an agent. Go in with an idea of what you might want to achieve with the book, and thrash out whether it's marketable and who would be the best publisher to approach.
Then find a suitable editor to work with. You will know plenty of people that could do it, but you oculd consider me.
Posted by: at March 8, 2006 06:41 PMHere's a chapter idea
Expand the "end-to-end is a political statement" post, throw in the latest acerbic commentary on net neutrality etc.
I'm all about considering coordination costs and network effects these days and we could stand more jaundiced writings on this issue.
For the rest of the book, I'd throw in some studies from the trenches of telecom past, season with some Skype, and then some futurology...
You already have the Telepocalypse name so marketing shouldn't be a problem
Posted by: at April 10, 2006 10:21 PM