Hi Bob, Amazon says your book is in the mail and I should have it by Saturday. Looking forward to reading it!
Cheers, Lance On Tue, Jul 7, 2015 at 5:16 PM, Bob Stayton <b...@sagehill.net> wrote: > You know me as the author of *DocBook XSL: The Complete Guide*. Now I > have written another book on a completely different topic: solar energy. > Since I produced my new book using DocBook, I'm taking this opportunity to > tell the DocBook community about it, and I describe how I produced it at > the end of this message. Replies about the DocBook process can go to the > whole list if you think it's appropriate. If you want to reply about the > book's content, please reply just to me so we don't burden the mailing list. > > > I'm pleased to announce that my book *Power Shift: From Fossil Energy to > Dynamic Solar Power* has been unleashed from its long development and is > now available to the world. If you have any interest in solar energy, then > you should read this book. > > > > Climate change researchers sometimes paint a bleak picture of our current > global-warming crisis, but rarely explain how we got into this predicament > in the first place and how we get out of it. Now, for the first time, my > new book does just that. *Power Shift* retells human history through the > lens of energy, explains the science behind the crisis--in clear, succinct > language that anyone can understand—and provides a detailed blueprint for > the future, from governmental, commercial, and individual perspectives. > > Wondering if the book is any good? Here is what others are saying: > > "Solar is surging all of a sudden, and if you read this comprehensive > book you’ll understand why!" -- Bill McKibben, author of The End of Nature > > "An energy book that is a pleasure to read" -- Kirkus Reviews > > "visionary and brilliant" -- NASA Researcher Joe Jordan > > "Exceptionally well written" -- Midwest Book Review > > "lucid, convincing" -- Denis Hayes, organizer of the first Earth Day > > "points the way to a clean energy future" -- California Secretary of > Natural Resources John Laird > > or check out the reader reviews on Amazon > <http://http://www.amazon.com/Power-Shift-Robert-Arthur-Stayton/dp/099047920X/> > > > After teaching solar energy for many years, I spent over 15 years > researching and writing this book, all while living the life in the > off-grid solar home we built. This is my lifework. > > It has been a long road to publication. I handed out the first draft in > January 2000, and many things have changed since then. Now I get to report > on solar energy's *success *instead of just wishing for it. I'm self > publishing the book, because as an unknown author I could not interest a > publishing company, and because they don't offer much in the way of > marketing for new authors anyway. So I started my own publishing company, > Sandstone Publishing (www.sandstonepublishing.com), whose catalog > contains exactly one book. > > Now I get to market my book, an activity for which I am totally unsuited. > My low-budget marketing plan consists of getting good reviews, and word of > mouth. So if you read the book and like it, please write a review on > Amazon or Goodreads, and tell your friends and family about it. Even > climate skeptics can get something out of this book. > > The book is available in paperback and Kindle at Amazon > <http://www.amazon.com/Power-Shift-Robert-Arthur-Stayton/dp/099047920X/>, > in paperback and Nook Book at Barnes & Noble > <http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/power-shift-robert-arthur-stayton/1121672614>, > in iBooks at the Apple iTunes Store > <https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/power-shift/id991636783> and in Kobo > from Kobo Books <http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/power-shift-4>. > And if you can't afford one, convince me and I'll give you an Ebook copy. > 8^) > > By the way, although you know me as Bob Stayton, I'm publishing the book > under my full name Robert Arthur Stayton as a gesture to honor my father > Chester Arthur Stayton, Jr. and my grandfather Chester Arthur Stayton, Sr., > with whom I share my middle name. > > *Producing* > > * Power Shift with DocBook *I wrote the book in DocBook 5 using XMetal > 7. I started off writing it in modular fashion, but found that it got in > the way of continuity. This isn't technical documentation, after all. > 8^) So I merged all the files into one big book file and finished the > book that way. That allowed me to easily find something for cross > referencing and to keep the narrative flow moving. Searches for indexterms > were much easier in a single file, and I used XMetal macros to assist with > inserting indexterms. > > I hired a book designer for the interior and implemented the specs from > the InDesign file she gave me in DocBook XSL. From that I could generate > the PDF for the book's interior. I had hoped to be able to show you the > page design by referring to the Look Inside the Book feature on Amazon, but > for some reason they put the Kindle version in there and I have not been > able to reach the right person at Amazon to replace it with the PDF version > I submitted to them two weeks ago. One of the many trials of working with > automated publishing vendors. > > For the cover, I started with a cover template in InDesign that I > generated from Lightning Source, which is the print-on-demand vendor that > I'm using. They provide a form to enter the book's dimensions, paper type > (which determines thickness), and page count, and they generate an InDesign > template for the cover spread (back cover on left, spine in center, front > cover on the right). I could then fill in the text in the appropriate > boxes. I left the cover in InDesign rather than try to implement it in > DocBook. From InDesign I produced the PDF for the cover. > > Then it was just a matter of setting up the book at Lightning Source and > submitting the two PDFs. Since I already had an account at Lightning > Source for my DocBook book, I just had to add another book. If you are new > self publisher, they will likely try to push you over to Ingram Spark, > their service that is intended for self-publishers with little publishing > experience. Lightning Source does much less hand holding than Spark. > > Lightning Source has some specific requirements for the PDF files you > submit. All fonts must be embedded, including those of any SVGs you > insert. They also came back and said the cover colors were too rich and > had to be scaled back. I was able to fix all the PDF issues using > PhotoShop and Acrobat Pro's Preflight tools. > > In January of this year I ordered the first Advance Reading Copies (ARC) > to send to reviewers that want the book months before publication so they > can write a review. The ARC version predated the final copy edit, the > index, and other final details. The great thing about print-on-demand is > that I could order only as many copies as I needed. In April I completed > the final revisions in XMetal and submitted my revised PDFs. It cost only > $40 each to update the book block and the cover. Once I approved the test > book, Lightning Source arranges for the book to be posted on Amazon and > listed in Books-in-Print. > > I also used the DocBook tools to produce Ebook versions with the epub3 > stylesheet. I ended up producing four different epub3 flavors for Kindle, > Nook, iBooks, and Kobo. They differ mostly in the CSS used, because their > readers are not at all consistent about how CSS is handled. It reminded me > of the bad old days of HTML browser incompatibilities. I then had to set > up accounts on each of the systems to become an Ebook seller. The biggest > pain was iBooks, because Apple *requires* you to use an Apple computer to > run the software they use to manage iBooks. > > Just when you think you are done, you realize that no one is buying your > book because no one knows about it. So I had to start a whole new career > as book marketeer. Not much help from DocBook there. > > -- > Bob Stayton > Sagehill enterprisesb...@sagehill.net > >
