[OT] Packtpub?
Packtpub, apparently an India-based published operation concerned largely with computer stuff have asked me to be involved in editing a publication. What is unclear to me, and they don't seem to want to answer . . . . . . is what their academic standing is as well as the extent of their market reach. What is also unclear is how they select their editors as they have made no enquiry as to an academic qualifications I may have, years of experience in the field and so on. This strikes me as very odd indeed. I came across your discussion, and felt that you would be an ideal person to review this book for us. Is opaque in the extreme: what discussion? where? and what on earth would that actually tell you about either my ability to review a publication or my academic bona fides vis-a-vis computer programming. Now all they are offering me for my work seems to be a hard copy of the book plus another from their stable of publications. That is all very jolly, but it is not what motivates me; what does is the fact that my c.v. has got a bit thin on the ground recently, and the odd editorship and/or publication would spice things up a bit when/if I decide to apply for a new job. What I am really wondering is whether this will have any sort of clout in a c.v at all, or is just a bit of fun to get a couple of books. Richmond. ___ use-livecode mailing list use-livecode@lists.runrev.com Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your subscription preferences: http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-livecode
Re: [OT] Packtpub?
Hi Richmond, They published Colin's book last year. That all I know about them. I received an email from them too, similar to yours. Not sure how to respond. Best - Phil Davis On 7/9/13 12:20 PM, Richmond wrote: Packtpub, apparently an India-based published operation concerned largely with computer stuff have asked me to be involved in editing a publication. What is unclear to me, and they don't seem to want to answer . . . . . . is what their academic standing is as well as the extent of their market reach. What is also unclear is how they select their editors as they have made no enquiry as to an academic qualifications I may have, years of experience in the field and so on. This strikes me as very odd indeed. I came across your discussion, and felt that you would be an ideal person to review this book for us. Is opaque in the extreme: what discussion? where? and what on earth would that actually tell you about either my ability to review a publication or my academic bona fides vis-a-vis computer programming. Now all they are offering me for my work seems to be a hard copy of the book plus another from their stable of publications. That is all very jolly, but it is not what motivates me; what does is the fact that my c.v. has got a bit thin on the ground recently, and the odd editorship and/or publication would spice things up a bit when/if I decide to apply for a new job. What I am really wondering is whether this will have any sort of clout in a c.v at all, or is just a bit of fun to get a couple of books. Richmond. ___ use-livecode mailing list use-livecode@lists.runrev.com Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your subscription preferences: http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-livecode -- Phil Davis ___ use-livecode mailing list use-livecode@lists.runrev.com Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your subscription preferences: http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-livecode
Re: [OT] Packtpub?
On 07/09/2013 10:31 PM, Phil Davis wrote: Hi Richmond, They published Colin's book last year. That all I know about them. I received an email from them too, similar to yours. Not sure how to respond. Well, I read their guff and said 'Yes', and they have sent me more guff, and I am waiting for a chap to start sending me chapters. At worse I will lose a few hours reading the book; at best a copy of the book and another one, and, just possibly, something to put on my brag-sheet. I certainly cannot see any real damage ensuing. I will have a go with this one, and then have a good long think afterwards as to any future stuff they may lob at me. I do get a slight half-a-dozen people in a small room with a couple of computers hooked up to the internet feeling; but as a Schumacher sort of capitalist, I'm going to find that hard to fault so long as they are not ripping people off. Probably the best way to 'cope' with this is to watch 'Bowfinger' [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bowfinger ] and have a good laugh; BUT, make sure you do your bit 100%. That is the way I'm getting on with it. Richmond. Best - Phil Davis On 7/9/13 12:20 PM, Richmond wrote: Packtpub, apparently an India-based published operation concerned largely with computer stuff have asked me to be involved in editing a publication. What is unclear to me, and they don't seem to want to answer . . . . . . is what their academic standing is as well as the extent of their market reach. What is also unclear is how they select their editors as they have made no enquiry as to an academic qualifications I may have, years of experience in the field and so on. This strikes me as very odd indeed. I came across your discussion, and felt that you would be an ideal person to review this book for us. Is opaque in the extreme: what discussion? where? and what on earth would that actually tell you about either my ability to review a publication or my academic bona fides vis-a-vis computer programming. Now all they are offering me for my work seems to be a hard copy of the book plus another from their stable of publications. That is all very jolly, but it is not what motivates me; what does is the fact that my c.v. has got a bit thin on the ground recently, and the odd editorship and/or publication would spice things up a bit when/if I decide to apply for a new job. What I am really wondering is whether this will have any sort of clout in a c.v at all, or is just a bit of fun to get a couple of books. Richmond. ___ use-livecode mailing list use-livecode@lists.runrev.com Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your subscription preferences: http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-livecode ___ use-livecode mailing list use-livecode@lists.runrev.com Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your subscription preferences: http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-livecode
Re: [OT] Packtpub?
So did I. I think they're just trolling the email list/forum. I turned them down because the title of the book indicated it was about mobile development and I know nothing about that. Pete lcSQL Software http://www.lcsql.com On Tue, Jul 9, 2013 at 12:31 PM, Phil Davis rev...@pdslabs.net wrote: Hi Richmond, They published Colin's book last year. That all I know about them. I received an email from them too, similar to yours. Not sure how to respond. Best - Phil Davis On 7/9/13 12:20 PM, Richmond wrote: Packtpub, apparently an India-based published operation concerned largely with computer stuff have asked me to be involved in editing a publication. What is unclear to me, and they don't seem to want to answer . . . . . . is what their academic standing is as well as the extent of their market reach. What is also unclear is how they select their editors as they have made no enquiry as to an academic qualifications I may have, years of experience in the field and so on. This strikes me as very odd indeed. I came across your discussion, and felt that you would be an ideal person to review this book for us. Is opaque in the extreme: what discussion? where? and what on earth would that actually tell you about either my ability to review a publication or my academic bona fides vis-a-vis computer programming. Now all they are offering me for my work seems to be a hard copy of the book plus another from their stable of publications. That is all very jolly, but it is not what motivates me; what does is the fact that my c.v. has got a bit thin on the ground recently, and the odd editorship and/or publication would spice things up a bit when/if I decide to apply for a new job. What I am really wondering is whether this will have any sort of clout in a c.v at all, or is just a bit of fun to get a couple of books. Richmond. __**_ use-livecode mailing list use-livecode@lists.runrev.com Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your subscription preferences: http://lists.runrev.com/**mailman/listinfo/use-livecodehttp://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-livecode -- Phil Davis __**_ use-livecode mailing list use-livecode@lists.runrev.com Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your subscription preferences: http://lists.runrev.com/**mailman/listinfo/use-livecodehttp://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-livecode ___ use-livecode mailing list use-livecode@lists.runrev.com Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your subscription preferences: http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-livecode
Re: [OT] Packtpub?
Hi Richmond, Yes, it looks like they operate from India, but the owner of the company might be in Great Britain or somewhere else. They work with interns it seems, whom they may not have to pay. They don't pay reviewers/editors and I think they pay authors per book sold. So, that's pretty much a risk-less enterprise for them (or him). They have no academic standing whatsoever. Perhaps their interns don't even know what that is. Actually, I might be misunderstanding your exact definition of academic standing as well. I don't know their market reach, but they use their own website and Amazon and that seems to work well for them. I got the same e-mail as you. Apparently, they collected e-mails on this list. I'm slightly offended, because they said I'd be _the_ ideal person, while apparently dozens or hundreds of other persons appear to be equally ideal. I'm not offended because I'm no more ideal than you, but because they don't mean what they write. If you decide to do this, consider this a fun job. It is hardly worth mentioning on your c.v. If I decide to do this, it'll be to help out the author, not for them or for me. They found the author by asking in a number of places, like forums, mailing lists, Facebook and LinkedIn. The author must have thought he was fit for the task and decided to respond to the request. -- Best regards, Mark Schonewille Economy-x-Talk Consulting and Software Engineering Homepage: http://economy-x-talk.com Twitter: http://twitter.com/xtalkprogrammer KvK: 50277553 Use Color Converter to convert CMYK, RGB, RAL, XYZ, H.Lab and other colour spaces. http://www.color-converter.com We have time for new software development projects. Contact me for a quote. On 9 jul 2013, at 21:20, Richmond wrote: Packtpub, apparently an India-based published operation concerned largely with computer stuff have asked me to be involved in editing a publication. What is unclear to me, and they don't seem to want to answer . . . . . . is what their academic standing is as well as the extent of their market reach. What is also unclear is how they select their editors as they have made no enquiry as to an academic qualifications I may have, years of experience in the field and so on. This strikes me as very odd indeed. I came across your discussion, and felt that you would be an ideal person to review this book for us. Is opaque in the extreme: what discussion? where? and what on earth would that actually tell you about either my ability to review a publication or my academic bona fides vis-a-vis computer programming. Now all they are offering me for my work seems to be a hard copy of the book plus another from their stable of publications. That is all very jolly, but it is not what motivates me; what does is the fact that my c.v. has got a bit thin on the ground recently, and the odd editorship and/or publication would spice things up a bit when/if I decide to apply for a new job. What I am really wondering is whether this will have any sort of clout in a c.v at all, or is just a bit of fun to get a couple of books. Richmond. ___ use-livecode mailing list use-livecode@lists.runrev.com Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your subscription preferences: http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-livecode ___ use-livecode mailing list use-livecode@lists.runrev.com Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your subscription preferences: http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-livecode
Re: [OT] Packtpub?
I got one too, they write me a couple of times a year. I reviewed a book outline for them once. They don't pay for any of that. On 7/9/13 2:31 PM, Phil Davis wrote: Hi Richmond, They published Colin's book last year. That all I know about them. I received an email from them too, similar to yours. Not sure how to respond. Best - Phil Davis On 7/9/13 12:20 PM, Richmond wrote: Packtpub, apparently an India-based published operation concerned largely with computer stuff have asked me to be involved in editing a publication. What is unclear to me, and they don't seem to want to answer . . . . . . is what their academic standing is as well as the extent of their market reach. What is also unclear is how they select their editors as they have made no enquiry as to an academic qualifications I may have, years of experience in the field and so on. This strikes me as very odd indeed. I came across your discussion, and felt that you would be an ideal person to review this book for us. Is opaque in the extreme: what discussion? where? and what on earth would that actually tell you about either my ability to review a publication or my academic bona fides vis-a-vis computer programming. Now all they are offering me for my work seems to be a hard copy of the book plus another from their stable of publications. That is all very jolly, but it is not what motivates me; what does is the fact that my c.v. has got a bit thin on the ground recently, and the odd editorship and/or publication would spice things up a bit when/if I decide to apply for a new job. What I am really wondering is whether this will have any sort of clout in a c.v at all, or is just a bit of fun to get a couple of books. Richmond. ___ use-livecode mailing list use-livecode@lists.runrev.com Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your subscription preferences: http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-livecode -- Jacqueline Landman Gay | jac...@hyperactivesw.com HyperActive Software | http://www.hyperactivesw.com ___ use-livecode mailing list use-livecode@lists.runrev.com Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your subscription preferences: http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-livecode
[OT] Packtpub?
Packtpub, apparently an India-based published operation concerned largely with computer stuff have asked me to be involved in editing a publication. They are India-based, but they do get technical books into retail. Ive seen plenty and read a couple - a Joomla book, plus another one. Is opaque in the extreme: what discussion? where? and what on earth would that actually tell you about either my ability to review a publication or my academic bona fides vis-a-vis computer programming. Now all they are offering me for my work seems to be a hard copy of the book plus another from their stable of publications. That is all very jolly, but it is not what motivates me; what does is the fact that my c.v. has got a bit thin on the ground recently, and the odd editorship and/or publication would spice things up a bit when/if I decide to apply for a new job. What I am really wondering is whether this will have any sort of clout in a c.v at all, or is just a bit of fun to get a couple of books. They aren't as well known as O'Reilley but they are willing to publish books on relatively new (or not that well known) technologies. Sometimes they get a bit spammy on promotions, but I lay that more to someone inside being assigned to promote a book and getting overzealous. It wouldn't look good if they paid you to review a book - getting a free copy is about what they can do. Its not like doctors going to pharma lectures ;-) Best regards, Lynn Fredricks President Paradigma Software http://www.paradigmasoft.com Valentina SQL Server: The Ultra-fast, Royalty Free Database Server ___ use-livecode mailing list use-livecode@lists.runrev.com Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your subscription preferences: http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-livecode
Re: [OT] Packtpub?
They also asked me. Glad they asked enough people to hopefully get a couple of takers. I have been a reviewer on two Packt books, both SketchUp ones, and it’s an interesting task to take on. You end up reading the book more closely than you would if you were a regular reader. Also, you go through every single exercise in the book, so that you can then pass back comments about any points of confusion. There’s a small amount of money you get too, but for the two books I reviewed I told them not to bother paying me, it wasn’t enough money to be worth the hassle of declaring it in my income. ___ use-livecode mailing list use-livecode@lists.runrev.com Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your subscription preferences: http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-livecode
Re: [OT] Packtpub?
Hi Colin, You don't get paid (anymore) for reviewing or editing a book. -- Best regards, Mark Schonewille Economy-x-Talk Consulting and Software Engineering Homepage: http://economy-x-talk.com Twitter: http://twitter.com/xtalkprogrammer KvK: 50277553 Use Color Converter to convert CMYK, RGB, RAL, XYZ, H.Lab and other colour spaces. http://www.color-converter.com We have time for new software development projects. Contact me for a quote. On 9 jul 2013, at 23:22, Colin Holgate wrote: They also asked me. Glad they asked enough people to hopefully get a couple of takers. I have been a reviewer on two Packt books, both SketchUp ones, and it’s an interesting task to take on. You end up reading the book more closely than you would if you were a regular reader. Also, you go through every single exercise in the book, so that you can then pass back comments about any points of confusion. There’s a small amount of money you get too, but for the two books I reviewed I told them not to bother paying me, it wasn’t enough money to be worth the hassle of declaring it in my income. ___ use-livecode mailing list use-livecode@lists.runrev.com Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your subscription preferences: http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-livecode
Re: [OT] Packtpub?
Oh, wait a sec. I don't mean you specifically ;-) -- Best regards, Mark Schonewille Economy-x-Talk Consulting and Software Engineering Homepage: http://economy-x-talk.com Twitter: http://twitter.com/xtalkprogrammer KvK: 50277553 Use Color Converter to convert CMYK, RGB, RAL, XYZ, H.Lab and other colour spaces. http://www.color-converter.com Buy my new book Programming LiveCode for the Real Beginner http://qery.us/3fi Fill out this survey please http://livecodebeginner.economy-x-talk.com/survey/ On 7/9/2013 23:29, Mark Schonewille wrote: Hi Colin, You don't get paid (anymore) for reviewing or editing a book. On 9 jul 2013, at 23:22, Colin Holgate wrote: They also asked me. Glad they asked enough people to hopefully get a couple of takers. I have been a reviewer on two Packt books, both SketchUp ones, and it’s an interesting task to take on. You end up reading the book more closely than you would if you were a regular reader. Also, you go through every single exercise in the book, so that you can then pass back comments about any points of confusion. There’s a small amount of money you get too, but for the two books I reviewed I told them not to bother paying me, it wasn’t enough money to be worth the hassle of declaring it in my income. ___ use-livecode mailing list use-livecode@lists.runrev.com Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your subscription preferences: http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-livecode
Re: [OT] Packtpub?
Richmond richmondmathewson@... writes: Packtpub Packtpub is possibly the worst company I have ever dealt with online. What is unclear to me, and they don't seem to want to answer . . . That is correct. They answer nothing. Not queries, not support emails about why they charge a different amount than on an order, nothing. There's no contact information other than a web page that gets no responses. Emails to support go unanswered and presumably end up in a bitbucket. I'm surprised they're in India - I would have guessed Nigeria. I'd stay far away from them. Wait... did I say possibly above? Strike that. -- Mark Wieder mwie...@ahsoftware.net ___ use-livecode mailing list use-livecode@lists.runrev.com Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your subscription preferences: http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-livecode
