The focus of InkIT Publishing blog is to do with writing, publishing and the technology to support. Follow us there to keep up with great insights on the technology used to support independent authors become successful!
Saturday 7 December 2013
Last Steve Shouts Out post on Blogger
With the launch of InkIT Publishing website and blog, Steve Shouts Out on Blogger will no longer be active. All posts have been moved to InkIT Publishing and all new posts will be there also.
The focus of InkIT Publishing blog is to do with writing, publishing and the technology to support. Follow us there to keep up with great insights on the technology used to support independent authors become successful!
The focus of InkIT Publishing blog is to do with writing, publishing and the technology to support. Follow us there to keep up with great insights on the technology used to support independent authors become successful!
Saturday 16 November 2013
Love Learning with Lynda.com - Part 2
In Part 1 of this two-part post on Lynda.com, I raved about how useful Lynda.com was and how quickly I have come up to speed on a number of topics, especially the Adobe Creative Cloud product suite. This post focuses on why I selected the Lynda.com subscription option I did, and also on the why and how I use Lynda.com effectively.
There are two main decisions you need to make when you sign up for Lynda.com. The first is if you want to sign up on a monthly basis or minimally for one year. The other is if you want to sign up for just the training videos or for the training videos plus exercise files that you can download. I decided to pay $37.50 monthly for the exercises in addition to the training videos (which would have cost $25 per month). The 50% for getting the training exercises is well worth the money! Not just for learning via the Lynda.com courses, but they also provide useful templates and starting points for work you may want to do personally.
The prices mentioned above are for a month-by-month subscription. This is the most flexible option if there is only one or two courses you want to take and have the time in a couple of months to complete them. But with approximately 2,250 training courses available and having to come up to speed on so many many different topics, I decided the sign up for a years subscription. By doing so, I get a 2-month break on price. Therefore, I paid $375 for the annual premium (ability to download the exercises) subscription instead of $450. I knew during the trial period that I would be taking many, many courses over the next several years, so signing up for the annual subscription was an easy choice for me.
The other great thing about the annual premium subscription is that you can download and watch courses on your iPad (and iPhone or Android tablets). This was great for me as I could watch courses during any free time I found as I always have my iPad with me. Additionally by downloading the courses, I can watch them if my wife is 'hogging' our Internet bandwidth without competing with her. When I am on my laptop, I use the video streaming mode for my courses without any problems. However, if my wife is uploading or downloading videos (which she does a lot as she has a YouTube channel for makeup videos), then I prefer to use my iPad with previously downloaded training videos and not need to consume any bandwidth. Therefore, I can continue training even as my wife is doing large movie uploads and downloads! I have about a dozen courses downloaded to my iPad and watch them every free minute I get. And all work completed on my iPad and laptop is synchronized, so I can switch between platforms with ease. (I tend to work more from the laptop if I am following the exercises closely.)
I also love the Lynda.com Playlists. These provide me the option to developed a structured training program and keep everything organized. I have about 50 courses tagged in various training playlists to lead me through my training. I do not need to search for what do I do next.
Lynda.com is an extremely high quality offering. I have looked at some of their competitors who charged $19 for a single, much shorter training course and the quality of the videos and screen capture is significantly inferior to Lynda.com. But what really blew me away is the great support Lynda.com has. Both during the trial and since, I have had several questions and initial issues with downloading extremely large exercise files successfully (it was a problem with dynamic IP assignment on my laptop) and whenever I asked a question, it was addressed in less than 24 hours with a great deal of attention to detail and the issue. Their support is amazing!
I continue to use Lynda.com for learning in the areas presented in my many playlists above. I am happy to be using this learning site for a long, long time. I am even hoping to become a trainer myself some day!
Steve Shipley
SAZ in the Cellar Facebook page
Twitter: @shipleyaust
My wine blog SAZ in the Cellar
Still Stupid at Sixty (published under my writing pseudonym Blake Stevens)
Steve Shipley Pinterest Boards
There are two main decisions you need to make when you sign up for Lynda.com. The first is if you want to sign up on a monthly basis or minimally for one year. The other is if you want to sign up for just the training videos or for the training videos plus exercise files that you can download. I decided to pay $37.50 monthly for the exercises in addition to the training videos (which would have cost $25 per month). The 50% for getting the training exercises is well worth the money! Not just for learning via the Lynda.com courses, but they also provide useful templates and starting points for work you may want to do personally.
The prices mentioned above are for a month-by-month subscription. This is the most flexible option if there is only one or two courses you want to take and have the time in a couple of months to complete them. But with approximately 2,250 training courses available and having to come up to speed on so many many different topics, I decided the sign up for a years subscription. By doing so, I get a 2-month break on price. Therefore, I paid $375 for the annual premium (ability to download the exercises) subscription instead of $450. I knew during the trial period that I would be taking many, many courses over the next several years, so signing up for the annual subscription was an easy choice for me.
 |
| Lynda.com training on my iPad |
The other great thing about the annual premium subscription is that you can download and watch courses on your iPad (and iPhone or Android tablets). This was great for me as I could watch courses during any free time I found as I always have my iPad with me. Additionally by downloading the courses, I can watch them if my wife is 'hogging' our Internet bandwidth without competing with her. When I am on my laptop, I use the video streaming mode for my courses without any problems. However, if my wife is uploading or downloading videos (which she does a lot as she has a YouTube channel for makeup videos), then I prefer to use my iPad with previously downloaded training videos and not need to consume any bandwidth. Therefore, I can continue training even as my wife is doing large movie uploads and downloads! I have about a dozen courses downloaded to my iPad and watch them every free minute I get. And all work completed on my iPad and laptop is synchronized, so I can switch between platforms with ease. (I tend to work more from the laptop if I am following the exercises closely.)
 |
| Lynda.com Playlists and status |
I also love the Lynda.com Playlists. These provide me the option to developed a structured training program and keep everything organized. I have about 50 courses tagged in various training playlists to lead me through my training. I do not need to search for what do I do next.
Lynda.com is an extremely high quality offering. I have looked at some of their competitors who charged $19 for a single, much shorter training course and the quality of the videos and screen capture is significantly inferior to Lynda.com. But what really blew me away is the great support Lynda.com has. Both during the trial and since, I have had several questions and initial issues with downloading extremely large exercise files successfully (it was a problem with dynamic IP assignment on my laptop) and whenever I asked a question, it was addressed in less than 24 hours with a great deal of attention to detail and the issue. Their support is amazing!
I continue to use Lynda.com for learning in the areas presented in my many playlists above. I am happy to be using this learning site for a long, long time. I am even hoping to become a trainer myself some day!
Steve Shipley
SAZ in the Cellar Facebook page
Twitter: @shipleyaust
My wine blog SAZ in the Cellar
Still Stupid at Sixty (published under my writing pseudonym Blake Stevens)
Steve Shipley Pinterest Boards
Saturday 9 November 2013
Love Learning with Lynda.com - Part 1
I continue to become more self-sufficient as a writer and publisher. I also am embracing more cloud-based subscription services as part of my street team. I am now using Adobe Creative Cloud, Evernote, Dropbox, Chicago Manual of Style Online, and Lynda.com for quickly building my skills.
Being an author can be a lonely job. If you sign on with a traditional publisher, they provide skills to help with editing, technical formatting, publishing and promotion. I self-published my first book, Still Stupid at Sixty without knowing much at all. Wrote it in Word, had a friend help edit using Track Changes and used Calibre to convert and upload in Kindle format to Amazon. My wife and one of her friends helped solve a few technical formatting issues.
But Wine Sense, my current work-in-progress has already taken ten times the effort, will be printed in both physical and electronic format and published in Amazon, Barnes & Nobel, iTunes, Smashwords and Blurb minimally. Still Stupid at Sixty was only published through Amazon. Wine Sense also has about 40 photographs, charts, diagrams and other images plus 'fun facts' inserted throughout. Still Stupid at Sixty had none. Wine Sense references work from 20 other books and publications requiring significant footnoting, end-noting and bibliography efforts to source other work properly.
I have had a massive learning curve converting to Scrivener as an writing management system, and learning HTML and CSS to provide more control over final output when ePublishing. I decided enough was enough and needed help with the complexities of laying out format design and typesetting. I asked someone whose work I had seen before and in total would have charged me about $3,000 to do everything - once! I was worried about how many changes I might have and how the cost could rise significantly before the project was complete.
During this time, I was exploring taking more control end-to-end over the writing, editing, and publishing process. No matter how much I researched and analyzed alternatives, I kept coming back to Adobe Creative Cloud as the platform that gave me everything I needed beyond using Scrivener for writing and editing. It also meant I did not need to spend as much time within Scrivener on structuring and defining the Compile function for final publication. I could use Scrivener for what it was intended and used InDesign to easily lay out final formatting.
But I knew the Adobe product suite has a major learning curve. These are very high-end apps that provide you ultimate control to do exactly what you need. The also require a great deal of training, practice and experience for any of the apps. I was going to learn InDesign, Illustrator, and Photoshop all at the same time. Plus I was still learning HTML, CSS and Javascript, and expanding my Wordpress skills! And to validate content for my new writing projects on writing processes and technology, I also was now working across both Windows and Mac platforms and learning Mac OS in addition to the new Windows 8 and 8.1.
I signed up for Adobe Creative Cloud and started playing around. I watched videos from the Adobe Learning channel and YouTube. I bought some books on using the apps. Over three weeks, I made virtually no progress at all. I looked to local technical schools to find some courses, but they cost around $700, where targeted to mass market appeal, and did not provide suitable times or locations for me as I work a full-time job. I tried finding a couple of tutors, but with little result. I needed to learn a lot and I needed to learn very quickly.
Then several people over the course of a week, suggested Lynda.com. I checked it out and was intrigued. You could sign up for as long as you like, terminate when you like, and take as much training as you can possibly fit in. They also offered a 7-day free trial to test it out. I signed up for the trial, but after two days, knew I would be subscribing permanently as the results were far greater than I could have possibly imagined. I could establish my own training program in a structured manner according to my needs, my level of expertise and in accordance to the time I could spend. It proved to be the most efficient us of of my time. Within 6 weeks, I have become proficient with InDesign, Photoshop and Illustrator. Plus I have taken several other courses to improve my overall writing and publishing processes. I was also able to learn some fundamentals for Windows 8 and converting to and using a Mac!
Lynda.com means you learn quickly and according to your needs, not the needs of a classroom of people, the schools needs or an instructor's needs. I love Lynda.com and I can tell Lynda.com loves me! Lynda.com has become a critical part of my writing team and support group!
In Part 2 to be published later this week, I will explain the various options available, and how and why Lynda.com helps you love learning!
Steve Shipley
SAZ in the Cellar Facebook page
Twitter: @shipleyaust
My wine blog SAZ in the Cellar
Still Stupid at Sixty (published under my writing pseudonym Blake Stevens)
Steve Shipley Pinterest Boards
Being an author can be a lonely job. If you sign on with a traditional publisher, they provide skills to help with editing, technical formatting, publishing and promotion. I self-published my first book, Still Stupid at Sixty without knowing much at all. Wrote it in Word, had a friend help edit using Track Changes and used Calibre to convert and upload in Kindle format to Amazon. My wife and one of her friends helped solve a few technical formatting issues.
But Wine Sense, my current work-in-progress has already taken ten times the effort, will be printed in both physical and electronic format and published in Amazon, Barnes & Nobel, iTunes, Smashwords and Blurb minimally. Still Stupid at Sixty was only published through Amazon. Wine Sense also has about 40 photographs, charts, diagrams and other images plus 'fun facts' inserted throughout. Still Stupid at Sixty had none. Wine Sense references work from 20 other books and publications requiring significant footnoting, end-noting and bibliography efforts to source other work properly.
I have had a massive learning curve converting to Scrivener as an writing management system, and learning HTML and CSS to provide more control over final output when ePublishing. I decided enough was enough and needed help with the complexities of laying out format design and typesetting. I asked someone whose work I had seen before and in total would have charged me about $3,000 to do everything - once! I was worried about how many changes I might have and how the cost could rise significantly before the project was complete.
During this time, I was exploring taking more control end-to-end over the writing, editing, and publishing process. No matter how much I researched and analyzed alternatives, I kept coming back to Adobe Creative Cloud as the platform that gave me everything I needed beyond using Scrivener for writing and editing. It also meant I did not need to spend as much time within Scrivener on structuring and defining the Compile function for final publication. I could use Scrivener for what it was intended and used InDesign to easily lay out final formatting.
But I knew the Adobe product suite has a major learning curve. These are very high-end apps that provide you ultimate control to do exactly what you need. The also require a great deal of training, practice and experience for any of the apps. I was going to learn InDesign, Illustrator, and Photoshop all at the same time. Plus I was still learning HTML, CSS and Javascript, and expanding my Wordpress skills! And to validate content for my new writing projects on writing processes and technology, I also was now working across both Windows and Mac platforms and learning Mac OS in addition to the new Windows 8 and 8.1.
I signed up for Adobe Creative Cloud and started playing around. I watched videos from the Adobe Learning channel and YouTube. I bought some books on using the apps. Over three weeks, I made virtually no progress at all. I looked to local technical schools to find some courses, but they cost around $700, where targeted to mass market appeal, and did not provide suitable times or locations for me as I work a full-time job. I tried finding a couple of tutors, but with little result. I needed to learn a lot and I needed to learn very quickly.
Then several people over the course of a week, suggested Lynda.com. I checked it out and was intrigued. You could sign up for as long as you like, terminate when you like, and take as much training as you can possibly fit in. They also offered a 7-day free trial to test it out. I signed up for the trial, but after two days, knew I would be subscribing permanently as the results were far greater than I could have possibly imagined. I could establish my own training program in a structured manner according to my needs, my level of expertise and in accordance to the time I could spend. It proved to be the most efficient us of of my time. Within 6 weeks, I have become proficient with InDesign, Photoshop and Illustrator. Plus I have taken several other courses to improve my overall writing and publishing processes. I was also able to learn some fundamentals for Windows 8 and converting to and using a Mac!
Lynda.com means you learn quickly and according to your needs, not the needs of a classroom of people, the schools needs or an instructor's needs. I love Lynda.com and I can tell Lynda.com loves me! Lynda.com has become a critical part of my writing team and support group!
In Part 2 to be published later this week, I will explain the various options available, and how and why Lynda.com helps you love learning!
Steve Shipley
SAZ in the Cellar Facebook page
Twitter: @shipleyaust
My wine blog SAZ in the Cellar
Still Stupid at Sixty (published under my writing pseudonym Blake Stevens)
Steve Shipley Pinterest Boards
Saturday 2 November 2013
Why I have two office work areas
Every writer has a place to call their own, where they get away to focus on writing without distraction. Many of us have two or three work places. And with continued improvements in technology, it is possible to create some pretty special places.
I have a primary work area. It is a bedroom converted to an office shared by my wife and myself. It is typical of many writers and other professionals. I have a desk and office chair, with several book cases nearby. My desk holds a Windows laptop, 23" monitor and speaker system. The phone, scanner and printer and NAS are located nearby, but I am connected to them via wifi. The rest of my desk can be used to write notes, set up my Mac when I need to do something with it, or be a spot to accumulate receipts, brochures and other things until I put them away. My primary book and blog writing occurs here.
I also have a secondary, portable work area. It is a comfortable IKEA chair and footstool, with a lap desk, and side table. I work on my iPad with keyboard and my Mac, and also use it for reading physical books. These items are easy to move inside and outside as the weather permits. I attached a small box to my lap desk to hold things such as a pen, yellow marker, Post-it stickies, earphones, small notepad, iPad stylus and glass cleaner.
This is a very relaxed position. I am more prone, leaning backwards, but perfectly situated for comfortably using the iPad, Mac and reading. By moving between the two locations, I can work for extended periods of time without cramping. Changing positions helps to relieve pressure on one set of muscles and joints. By switching between the two locations, I recover and rest one set of muscles while continuing to use the other.
Yesterday I put in 14 - 15 hours at my main desk, sitting straight up and continuously typing. The only time away from my desk was to go shopping, carrying heavy things and then putting them away. Today, I have spent 8 hours at my desk editing. I took a break to make breakfast, and then another one do some heavy lifting errands and prepare dinner. I spent a lot of time in the kitchen slicing and dicing food in a similar position to sitting at my desk, putting additional stress on my back.
I now want to work again and write a couple blogs, but was not physically willing to sit at my desk. This is where my secondary work area comes in. From my portable chair and lap desk, I usually read, mind map, do social media, research, and read physical books. I use my primary work area for writing, using Adobe applications, taking training (with exercise files which reside and are used by apps on my laptop), social media and coding. Initially my primary work area was for writing and data input, while my secondary work area was for reading and research. But I am currently physically challenged to use my primary work area, yet want to blog. So I have decided to write my first blog from my iPad and you are reading it now!
With the iPad keyboard, I can type significantly more quickly than when using its touch keyboard. Also via wifi and using cloud-based applications, I am less dependent on my laptop (and main desk) for access to critical apps and data.. I am doing far more writing, editing, note-taking and other things on my iPad and portable lap desk. I also do substantially more social media from my lap desk. After a few hours at my portable work area, I can go back to my desk and work with the Adobe apps again.
Over the last few months, I have been optimizing my writing workflows, and have significantly increased my productivity. I have also moved more and more to cloud-based systems which can be suitably utilized across many different platforms.
I started this on my iPad, but have now had to move back to my laptop to finish it off. I encountered an error with positioning the cursor at the bottom of my blog. Every time I try that on my iPad, I am positioned at the beginning of my blog post. Using Blogger on my iPad will not let me get to the bottom of a longer post. This is unfortunate as I was hoping to have a real success here. I use Evernote, Dropbox, Acrobat, Safari and Firefox across platforms relatively seamlessly, but there are still some differences and problems. However, they are reducing as all browsers, operating systems and most apps evolve. This is the first time I have used Blogger on the iPad for writing a post, so not sure if it is an issue with Blogger, IOS or Safari. (I am still on IOS 6 and the iPad 2.)
I am certain that I will be able to do more and more across any platform. But for now, I have favorite things to do based on if I am at my desk using my laptop or at my portable lap desk using my iPad. My desk is really now defined as what is inside my laptop and iPad, not by what is on my physical desk.
My next few blogs will continue to expand on how I work, what technology I use and how my productivity continues to soar. Just being able to have a secondary work place I can retreat to allows my to keep working while relaxing one set of muscles and joints! And the 30 minutes I spent there has recharged me for working at my primary work area again.
Steve Shipley
SAZ in the Cellar Facebook page
Twitter: @shipleyaust
My wine blog SAZ in the Cellar
Still Stupid at Sixty (published under my writing pseudonym Blake Stevens)
Steve Shipley Pinterest Boards
I have a primary work area. It is a bedroom converted to an office shared by my wife and myself. It is typical of many writers and other professionals. I have a desk and office chair, with several book cases nearby. My desk holds a Windows laptop, 23" monitor and speaker system. The phone, scanner and printer and NAS are located nearby, but I am connected to them via wifi. The rest of my desk can be used to write notes, set up my Mac when I need to do something with it, or be a spot to accumulate receipts, brochures and other things until I put them away. My primary book and blog writing occurs here.
 |
| Primary work area |
I also have a secondary, portable work area. It is a comfortable IKEA chair and footstool, with a lap desk, and side table. I work on my iPad with keyboard and my Mac, and also use it for reading physical books. These items are easy to move inside and outside as the weather permits. I attached a small box to my lap desk to hold things such as a pen, yellow marker, Post-it stickies, earphones, small notepad, iPad stylus and glass cleaner.
 |
| Portable chair and lap desk on balcony |
This is a very relaxed position. I am more prone, leaning backwards, but perfectly situated for comfortably using the iPad, Mac and reading. By moving between the two locations, I can work for extended periods of time without cramping. Changing positions helps to relieve pressure on one set of muscles and joints. By switching between the two locations, I recover and rest one set of muscles while continuing to use the other.
Yesterday I put in 14 - 15 hours at my main desk, sitting straight up and continuously typing. The only time away from my desk was to go shopping, carrying heavy things and then putting them away. Today, I have spent 8 hours at my desk editing. I took a break to make breakfast, and then another one do some heavy lifting errands and prepare dinner. I spent a lot of time in the kitchen slicing and dicing food in a similar position to sitting at my desk, putting additional stress on my back.
I now want to work again and write a couple blogs, but was not physically willing to sit at my desk. This is where my secondary work area comes in. From my portable chair and lap desk, I usually read, mind map, do social media, research, and read physical books. I use my primary work area for writing, using Adobe applications, taking training (with exercise files which reside and are used by apps on my laptop), social media and coding. Initially my primary work area was for writing and data input, while my secondary work area was for reading and research. But I am currently physically challenged to use my primary work area, yet want to blog. So I have decided to write my first blog from my iPad and you are reading it now!
With the iPad keyboard, I can type significantly more quickly than when using its touch keyboard. Also via wifi and using cloud-based applications, I am less dependent on my laptop (and main desk) for access to critical apps and data.. I am doing far more writing, editing, note-taking and other things on my iPad and portable lap desk. I also do substantially more social media from my lap desk. After a few hours at my portable work area, I can go back to my desk and work with the Adobe apps again.
Over the last few months, I have been optimizing my writing workflows, and have significantly increased my productivity. I have also moved more and more to cloud-based systems which can be suitably utilized across many different platforms.
I started this on my iPad, but have now had to move back to my laptop to finish it off. I encountered an error with positioning the cursor at the bottom of my blog. Every time I try that on my iPad, I am positioned at the beginning of my blog post. Using Blogger on my iPad will not let me get to the bottom of a longer post. This is unfortunate as I was hoping to have a real success here. I use Evernote, Dropbox, Acrobat, Safari and Firefox across platforms relatively seamlessly, but there are still some differences and problems. However, they are reducing as all browsers, operating systems and most apps evolve. This is the first time I have used Blogger on the iPad for writing a post, so not sure if it is an issue with Blogger, IOS or Safari. (I am still on IOS 6 and the iPad 2.)
I am certain that I will be able to do more and more across any platform. But for now, I have favorite things to do based on if I am at my desk using my laptop or at my portable lap desk using my iPad. My desk is really now defined as what is inside my laptop and iPad, not by what is on my physical desk.
My next few blogs will continue to expand on how I work, what technology I use and how my productivity continues to soar. Just being able to have a secondary work place I can retreat to allows my to keep working while relaxing one set of muscles and joints! And the 30 minutes I spent there has recharged me for working at my primary work area again.
Steve Shipley
SAZ in the Cellar Facebook page
Twitter: @shipleyaust
My wine blog SAZ in the Cellar
Still Stupid at Sixty (published under my writing pseudonym Blake Stevens)
Steve Shipley Pinterest Boards
Sunday 27 October 2013
Business Case for Chicago Manual of Style Online
I use the Chicago Manual of Style as my primary and de facto style guide when writing. I paid about $45 plus shipping for this book on Amazon. It costs $100 to pick up a copy here in Australia. The online version is $35 as an annual subscription.
As I continue to improve my authoring work flows, I am using more and more cloud-based systems and apps which are now licensed on a subscription basis. I made a major foray into subscribing to the Adobe Creative Cloud and have been very happy with the results. I get access to 20 major applications, including the big four in the Adobe line-up of Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign and Dreamweaver. These apps are being constantly updated and would have cost several thousand dollars to buy. Additonally, I would have to occasionally substantially pay for upgrades. I am paying $49 per month which was far easier than finding several thousand dollars and worrying about future upgrade costs.
But the Chicago Manual of Style only cost me $57 (including shipping) and seldom changes (even though it is constantly adding content, especially for sourcing and providing citation of online and alternative material) . My initial reaction was why would I pay $35 per year and $350 over ten years when I can get the same content for $57 over that period of time. I was not looking at the business case properly though. I was only looking at the buy versus lease costs and making the wrong decision.
I love serendipitously sitting down with my Chicago Manual of Style book to browse and learn and do that occasionally and with enjoyment. During the last month, I have been heavily copyediting my current writing project, a book on wine. This has been a serious effort. I have outlined at least a dozen mechanical copyediting phases, plus have frequent question on how to handling particular editing issues. Relying on my physical copy of the Chicago Manual of Style, I could usually find my answer within several minutes. But I needed to have a good idea where to look in the first place. And after doing this several hundred times, I recognized the many hours I was burning by researching from the physical book.
Since Chicago Manual of Style Online provides a 30-day free trial and I was into heavy copyediting, I signed up for the free trial. Within minutes, I knew I would subscribe annually and pay my $35 year after year. As an example, I used the online version to check the proper use of 'de facto' in the first sentence of this blog. Was it 'defacto,' 'de-facto,' or 'de facto?' Within seconds I had my answer. Similarly for 'copyediting' versus 'copy editing' or 'copy-editing.'
The online version provides a hyperlinked Table of Contents to immediately go to the section you want instead of flipping through pages in the physical book. It also has a search capability in which I can enter different phrases to find what I need if my first phrase does not yield results.
Overall, I expect I am saving several hours a month using the online version. If I price my time at $50 per hour, then I am saving at least $100 per month. Not a bad return for spending $3 per month. That is the proper way to build the business case. Subscribing to the online version is an obvious decision when reviewed properly. My authoring workflow has improved in that I now spend only seconds researching an editing issue and can correct it up-front while I write. Previously, I was parking these issues into a special Scrivener Binder or Evernote as dealing with them distracted from and slowed the writing process. Now my copyediting phases are much shorter in duration and my draft copies of higher quality which is important if you are sending drafts to potential agents or publishers.
Use the right approach to building your business case and, if you are a writer, use the Chicago Manual of Style Online - you will not regret it.
Steve Shipley
SAZ in the Cellar Facebook page
Twitter: @shipleyaust
My wine blog SAZ in the Cellar
Still Stupid at Sixty (published under my writing pseudonym Blake Stevens)
Steve Shipley Pinterest Boards
As I continue to improve my authoring work flows, I am using more and more cloud-based systems and apps which are now licensed on a subscription basis. I made a major foray into subscribing to the Adobe Creative Cloud and have been very happy with the results. I get access to 20 major applications, including the big four in the Adobe line-up of Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign and Dreamweaver. These apps are being constantly updated and would have cost several thousand dollars to buy. Additonally, I would have to occasionally substantially pay for upgrades. I am paying $49 per month which was far easier than finding several thousand dollars and worrying about future upgrade costs.
But the Chicago Manual of Style only cost me $57 (including shipping) and seldom changes (even though it is constantly adding content, especially for sourcing and providing citation of online and alternative material) . My initial reaction was why would I pay $35 per year and $350 over ten years when I can get the same content for $57 over that period of time. I was not looking at the business case properly though. I was only looking at the buy versus lease costs and making the wrong decision.
I love serendipitously sitting down with my Chicago Manual of Style book to browse and learn and do that occasionally and with enjoyment. During the last month, I have been heavily copyediting my current writing project, a book on wine. This has been a serious effort. I have outlined at least a dozen mechanical copyediting phases, plus have frequent question on how to handling particular editing issues. Relying on my physical copy of the Chicago Manual of Style, I could usually find my answer within several minutes. But I needed to have a good idea where to look in the first place. And after doing this several hundred times, I recognized the many hours I was burning by researching from the physical book.
Since Chicago Manual of Style Online provides a 30-day free trial and I was into heavy copyediting, I signed up for the free trial. Within minutes, I knew I would subscribe annually and pay my $35 year after year. As an example, I used the online version to check the proper use of 'de facto' in the first sentence of this blog. Was it 'defacto,' 'de-facto,' or 'de facto?' Within seconds I had my answer. Similarly for 'copyediting' versus 'copy editing' or 'copy-editing.'
The online version provides a hyperlinked Table of Contents to immediately go to the section you want instead of flipping through pages in the physical book. It also has a search capability in which I can enter different phrases to find what I need if my first phrase does not yield results.
Overall, I expect I am saving several hours a month using the online version. If I price my time at $50 per hour, then I am saving at least $100 per month. Not a bad return for spending $3 per month. That is the proper way to build the business case. Subscribing to the online version is an obvious decision when reviewed properly. My authoring workflow has improved in that I now spend only seconds researching an editing issue and can correct it up-front while I write. Previously, I was parking these issues into a special Scrivener Binder or Evernote as dealing with them distracted from and slowed the writing process. Now my copyediting phases are much shorter in duration and my draft copies of higher quality which is important if you are sending drafts to potential agents or publishers.
Use the right approach to building your business case and, if you are a writer, use the Chicago Manual of Style Online - you will not regret it.
Steve Shipley
SAZ in the Cellar Facebook page
Twitter: @shipleyaust
My wine blog SAZ in the Cellar
Still Stupid at Sixty (published under my writing pseudonym Blake Stevens)
Steve Shipley Pinterest Boards
Saturday 12 October 2013
My journey to the Adobe Creative Cloud for design and publishing
I have become fascinated by the technology to support writing and publishing. My first book Still Stupid at Sixty (published under the pseudonym Blake Stevens) was written in Microsoft Word and converted into Amazon Kindle format using Calibre. That is how easy it is to self-publish these days. Anyone who can type claims they are an author these days, including me!
But my current book Wine Sense is a different matter. It will be published electronically and as a physically printed book. It is almost twice the size at 125,000 words or the equivalent of roughly 350 pages based on format. It will contain almost forty photographs, multicolored tables, and a couple of QR Codes to link to videos. I researched over twenty other wine books and multiple research papers, therefore requiring numerous citations for the original source. The total effort involved is estimated to be ten times what was required for my first book.
I started to use a cloud-based approach in order to work more appropriately across multiple platforms. The apps used included Dropbox and Evernote on my laptop, iPad, and iPhone, along with some ongoing collaboration with my wife's desktop computer. It also included converting from using a word processor to using a real writing management system called Scrivener which tripled my productivity for addressing a more complex project such as Wine Sense. And I learned some basic HTML and CSS to have more direct control over the final formatting of the book in electronic format so it would work properly across multiple devices and eReaders..
It is still my intent to still involve a support team, especially a graphic designer. While I am somewhat innovative and creative when it comes to systems and technical problem solving, I lack creative visual design skills. However, the more and more I worked to develop and optimize an integrated writing and publishing workflow, the more I fell in love with computers and technology again. I wanted the ability to work collaboratively with my graphic designer and editor in an interactive and back-and-forth manner without having to pay designer for multiple changes in final layout. Nor did I want to pay heavily for small tweaks to a basic layout design when I could do that myself.
Therefore I started to study and become more intrigued with some of the freeware tools to manipulate photos and other images. My initial reaction is that the Adobe products were too high-end and too expensive. I felt I had neither the budget nor the capabilities or experience to utilize these products. But then I found out about Adobe Creative Cloud which includes Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign, Dreamweaver and about twenty other products for publishing and it was all for $49 per month if I signed up for one year. I took two months reviewing strategies, continuing to optimize my writing workflows, and thinking about the commitment of time required. Ultimately, I felt the $600 or so I would spend per year was well worth it in terms of what I would save by reducing the charges from graphic designers and much more in the time it was taking fiddling around with integrating and trying to get precisely what I wanted from the freeware apps available.
So I have committed to the Adobe Creative Cloud. Be aware that these products are extremely high end and have a very steep learning curve. The products have matured over 25 years and they have thousands of features and thousands of different ways for doing things. Some of the keyboard shortcuts require the use of three different keys and a mouse click! These apps require some serious investment in time to become proficient. I have read books, viewed online videos by Adobe, and tried to play around with the apps myself. What is really getting me up to speed though is the tutorials I am taking with Lynda.com. This is a great training site to provide training in many different areas including outstanding training courses and videos for the Adobe Creative Cloud product suite.
While the tools take some getting used to, they provide amazing capabilities to do exactly what you want. It takes years to become a professional in just one of them and I am trying to come up to speed on four of them quickly. But I am certain the savings in time and money for my current book and many books in the future is worth it. While this approach works for me, I understand it may not work for everyone. But if you need to have high-end design and want control over what you are doing, then the Adobe Creative Cloud is worth considering. And if you want to learn the Adobe apps as quickly as possible, I would recommend signing up for Lynda.com.
Steve Shipley
SAZ in the Cellar Facebook page
Twitter: @shipleyaust
My wine blog SAZ in the Cellar
Steve Shipley Pinterest Boards
But my current book Wine Sense is a different matter. It will be published electronically and as a physically printed book. It is almost twice the size at 125,000 words or the equivalent of roughly 350 pages based on format. It will contain almost forty photographs, multicolored tables, and a couple of QR Codes to link to videos. I researched over twenty other wine books and multiple research papers, therefore requiring numerous citations for the original source. The total effort involved is estimated to be ten times what was required for my first book.
I started to use a cloud-based approach in order to work more appropriately across multiple platforms. The apps used included Dropbox and Evernote on my laptop, iPad, and iPhone, along with some ongoing collaboration with my wife's desktop computer. It also included converting from using a word processor to using a real writing management system called Scrivener which tripled my productivity for addressing a more complex project such as Wine Sense. And I learned some basic HTML and CSS to have more direct control over the final formatting of the book in electronic format so it would work properly across multiple devices and eReaders..
It is still my intent to still involve a support team, especially a graphic designer. While I am somewhat innovative and creative when it comes to systems and technical problem solving, I lack creative visual design skills. However, the more and more I worked to develop and optimize an integrated writing and publishing workflow, the more I fell in love with computers and technology again. I wanted the ability to work collaboratively with my graphic designer and editor in an interactive and back-and-forth manner without having to pay designer for multiple changes in final layout. Nor did I want to pay heavily for small tweaks to a basic layout design when I could do that myself.
Therefore I started to study and become more intrigued with some of the freeware tools to manipulate photos and other images. My initial reaction is that the Adobe products were too high-end and too expensive. I felt I had neither the budget nor the capabilities or experience to utilize these products. But then I found out about Adobe Creative Cloud which includes Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign, Dreamweaver and about twenty other products for publishing and it was all for $49 per month if I signed up for one year. I took two months reviewing strategies, continuing to optimize my writing workflows, and thinking about the commitment of time required. Ultimately, I felt the $600 or so I would spend per year was well worth it in terms of what I would save by reducing the charges from graphic designers and much more in the time it was taking fiddling around with integrating and trying to get precisely what I wanted from the freeware apps available.
So I have committed to the Adobe Creative Cloud. Be aware that these products are extremely high end and have a very steep learning curve. The products have matured over 25 years and they have thousands of features and thousands of different ways for doing things. Some of the keyboard shortcuts require the use of three different keys and a mouse click! These apps require some serious investment in time to become proficient. I have read books, viewed online videos by Adobe, and tried to play around with the apps myself. What is really getting me up to speed though is the tutorials I am taking with Lynda.com. This is a great training site to provide training in many different areas including outstanding training courses and videos for the Adobe Creative Cloud product suite.
While the tools take some getting used to, they provide amazing capabilities to do exactly what you want. It takes years to become a professional in just one of them and I am trying to come up to speed on four of them quickly. But I am certain the savings in time and money for my current book and many books in the future is worth it. While this approach works for me, I understand it may not work for everyone. But if you need to have high-end design and want control over what you are doing, then the Adobe Creative Cloud is worth considering. And if you want to learn the Adobe apps as quickly as possible, I would recommend signing up for Lynda.com.
Steve Shipley
SAZ in the Cellar Facebook page
Twitter: @shipleyaust
My wine blog SAZ in the Cellar
Steve Shipley Pinterest Boards
Monday 7 October 2013
Scrivener and Evernote - a perfect pair
Several weeks ago, I wrote a post on how Scrivener has more than tripled my writing productivity. I continue to optimize my writing workflow daily as I become more comfortable with Scrivener. While most of my writing productivity gains are from Scrivener, they also come from the integration of several other tools, such as iThoughtsHD for mind mapping a new book outline (and key points / notes) on my iPad. I then export the mind map in OPML format to Dropbox to sync with my laptop for importation as OPML into Scrivener. It works beautifully!
I also use Scrivener Compile to ePub, then use an ePub editor Sigil to make final HTML formatting changes for a very few things the way I like it beyond what I been able to figure out in Scrivener.
But outside of Scrivener itself, it is Evernote used in conjunction with Scrivener that provides the biggest productivity improvement. For my current non-fiction book, Wine Sense, I researched over twenty different books on wine, including both physically printed books, and books in Kindle mobi format. I also used some PDF files in my research. Previously, I was tagging my physical books with Post-it stickers and highlighting my Kindle books and then reviewing my notes on the Amazon Cloud. My notes (and my thoughts) were all over the place. Plus I would have to put in significant effort to source and provide accurate citation for quotes and direct references to others work. This on its own was going to be a tremendous effort. I frankly was getting to the point of wondering if it would be possible to finish the book . And I still had about eight of my most complex books to research!
So I starting using Evernote and created a Note called 'Wine book to-dos' to capture everything I was doing outside of just writing in Scrivener. It also let me 'tag' and source immediately upon reading any note I thought I may reference later. Once synced with my laptop, I enter Evernote on the laptop and cut and paste all my notes into a work Binder in Scrivener.
These notes can have anything to do with my research or just be random thoughts (such as "Should I use the word 'mouthfeel' or two words 'mouth feel' in the book?") which may be added to my general editing to-do Binder. Therefore, whenever copying in my notes, I always first copy the notes into a Scrivener Binder entitled 'Evernote In-Box To-Dos.'
Once I copied the notes from Evernote into my Scrivener 'Evernote In-Box To-Dos' Binder, I then delete the notes from Evernote on laptop (which then syncs and deletes them from my 'Wine book to-do' note on the iPad also. Then I start the process again as needed.
One of the great things about Scrivener is the ability to establish non-manuscript Binders and I have a Folder of 'To-Dos' including To-Do Binders for a wide variety of things required to turn my writing into a finished work. Instead of accumulating (or worse, forgetting) these tasks, they are now integrated into my workflow in an organized manner. Therefore, I am managing my work and doing it in the most efficient manner possible. And one of these Binders is the one I created for Evernote as described above.
Then from my 'Evernote In-Box To-Dos' Binder, I copy out specific notes as required into the Chapters (represented as separate Binders in Scrivener), to be dealt with when I was either initially structuring, writing, or substantiating (by validating or reinforcing the content of my writing with specific points). In this case, the note encircled in red is copied into Chapter 7: Wine and Smell (as are most of the notes in this collection of Evernote notes are). I parse out the notes based on their intended use. Since I was reading about wine and smell, in this case most of the notes are being copied into my Notes associated with Chapter 7: Wine and Smell.
Therefore, from the very first time I research a topic, I am able to trace the concept into where it should reside in the book with proper sourcing and citation (to be able to easily build the Bibliography and Footnotes). Using this process, I was comfortable that I had researched and had the content I required to address the topic of my book and that I would be properly sourcing my material. This was done in one integrated workflow, instead of previously having multiple, non-linked workflows that I was always trying to keep consistent.
I had to cut and paste between Evernote and Scrivener, but this was very easy to do. My next step in optimizing this work flow will be to write a script using specific Evernote Note name ('Wine book to-dos' in this case) and Scrivener Binder name ('Evernote In-Box To-Dos' in this case) to export the Evernote note as a .rtf file and then open my Scrivener Project and import the .rtf file into the Binder defined. But this process is so easy to do manually, that I do not have a great deal of incentive to write the script!
I know a number of authors who love using Evernote and Scrivener together. You may have thought about using Evernote with Scrivener, but uncertain about how it would work. If that is the case, then hopefully this post has helped show you one method of using the two apps together for improving your writing work flow. The only think I love more than Scrivener is using Scrivener with Evernote!
Steve Shipley
SAZ in the Cellar Facebook page
Twitter: @shipleyaust
My wine blog SAZ in the Cellar
Steve Shipley Pinterest Boards
I also use Scrivener Compile to ePub, then use an ePub editor Sigil to make final HTML formatting changes for a very few things the way I like it beyond what I been able to figure out in Scrivener.
But outside of Scrivener itself, it is Evernote used in conjunction with Scrivener that provides the biggest productivity improvement. For my current non-fiction book, Wine Sense, I researched over twenty different books on wine, including both physically printed books, and books in Kindle mobi format. I also used some PDF files in my research. Previously, I was tagging my physical books with Post-it stickers and highlighting my Kindle books and then reviewing my notes on the Amazon Cloud. My notes (and my thoughts) were all over the place. Plus I would have to put in significant effort to source and provide accurate citation for quotes and direct references to others work. This on its own was going to be a tremendous effort. I frankly was getting to the point of wondering if it would be possible to finish the book . And I still had about eight of my most complex books to research!
 |
| Taking notes in Evernote on iPad |
So I starting using Evernote and created a Note called 'Wine book to-dos' to capture everything I was doing outside of just writing in Scrivener. It also let me 'tag' and source immediately upon reading any note I thought I may reference later. Once synced with my laptop, I enter Evernote on the laptop and cut and paste all my notes into a work Binder in Scrivener.
 |
| Notes on iPad Evernote now sync'ed to laptop Evernote |
These notes can have anything to do with my research or just be random thoughts (such as "Should I use the word 'mouthfeel' or two words 'mouth feel' in the book?") which may be added to my general editing to-do Binder. Therefore, whenever copying in my notes, I always first copy the notes into a Scrivener Binder entitled 'Evernote In-Box To-Dos.'
 |
| Notes from Evernote copied into 'Evernote In-Box To-Dos' Binder in Scrivener |
One of the great things about Scrivener is the ability to establish non-manuscript Binders and I have a Folder of 'To-Dos' including To-Do Binders for a wide variety of things required to turn my writing into a finished work. Instead of accumulating (or worse, forgetting) these tasks, they are now integrated into my workflow in an organized manner. Therefore, I am managing my work and doing it in the most efficient manner possible. And one of these Binders is the one I created for Evernote as described above.
Then from my 'Evernote In-Box To-Dos' Binder, I copy out specific notes as required into the Chapters (represented as separate Binders in Scrivener), to be dealt with when I was either initially structuring, writing, or substantiating (by validating or reinforcing the content of my writing with specific points). In this case, the note encircled in red is copied into Chapter 7: Wine and Smell (as are most of the notes in this collection of Evernote notes are). I parse out the notes based on their intended use. Since I was reading about wine and smell, in this case most of the notes are being copied into my Notes associated with Chapter 7: Wine and Smell.
 |
| Original Notes on Wine and Smell now in Notes for Chapter 7 to be dealt with when rewriting later |
Therefore, from the very first time I research a topic, I am able to trace the concept into where it should reside in the book with proper sourcing and citation (to be able to easily build the Bibliography and Footnotes). Using this process, I was comfortable that I had researched and had the content I required to address the topic of my book and that I would be properly sourcing my material. This was done in one integrated workflow, instead of previously having multiple, non-linked workflows that I was always trying to keep consistent.
I had to cut and paste between Evernote and Scrivener, but this was very easy to do. My next step in optimizing this work flow will be to write a script using specific Evernote Note name ('Wine book to-dos' in this case) and Scrivener Binder name ('Evernote In-Box To-Dos' in this case) to export the Evernote note as a .rtf file and then open my Scrivener Project and import the .rtf file into the Binder defined. But this process is so easy to do manually, that I do not have a great deal of incentive to write the script!
I know a number of authors who love using Evernote and Scrivener together. You may have thought about using Evernote with Scrivener, but uncertain about how it would work. If that is the case, then hopefully this post has helped show you one method of using the two apps together for improving your writing work flow. The only think I love more than Scrivener is using Scrivener with Evernote!
Steve Shipley
SAZ in the Cellar Facebook page
Twitter: @shipleyaust
My wine blog SAZ in the Cellar
Steve Shipley Pinterest Boards
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