Yes. But for those who write how-to books (or buy them) that feature lots of online tips with links, they mean you need to consider their shelf life. You new book will be outdated with the first change any of the tech giants make if you are trying to help people through the step-by-step practicalities.
So, what to do? Consider eschewing paperbacks that are more expensive to update. A good alternative is the e-book format. It can be updated reasonably quickly.
The alternative is to avoid specific navigation steps in your print edtion. See the new changes expected on Facebook soon at http://www.switched.com/2009/12/28/facebook-gets-another-facelift-in-other-news-sun-rises-grass/?icid=main|htmlws-main-n|dl6|link3|http%3A%2F%2Fwww.switched.com%2F2009%2F12%2F28%2Ffacebook-gets-another-facelift-in-other-news-sun-rises-grass%2F
And, now go rework anything you've already published or plan to publishes that helps people with Facebook.
It does seem a shame, doesn't it? Some of these changes don't really feel like improvement and they discourage us from writing anything but the most general of guidelines for our readers. If you're a techie, you may not agree. You may not want to discourage progress.
Where do you stand?
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Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of This Is the Place; Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered; Tracings, a chapbook of poetry; and two how to books for writers, The Frugal Book Promoter: How To Do What Your Publisher Won't and The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success. Her FRUGAL book for retailers is A Retailer’s Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions: How To Increase Profits and Spit in the Eyes of Economic Downturns with Thrifty Events and Sales Techniques. She is also the author of the Amazon Short, "The Great First Impression Book Proposal". Some of her other blogs are TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com, a blog where authors can recycle their favorite reviews. She also blogs at all things editing, grammar, formatting and more at The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor blog.
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The constant changes are more of an irritation than anything. Continually having to adjust means that I am more adept at handling change--which seems to come at me daily now.
ReplyDeleteI tend not to write technical how-to's. Although, not too long ago, I deleted a blog I had for writers because my information was outdated. :)
Allyn
www.allynevans.blogspot.com
I agree about the irritation factor. Only rarely do the changes seem an improvement from this user's viewpoint! (-:
ReplyDeleteNice post, Carolyn. As you know, I do write how-to books and tutorials that teach all the techie online stuff to non-geeks. An e-book format was the only logical way for me to publish. And, I do all the formatting in my word processor, so I don't have to hire someone to put it through a formal book publishing program. It's very easy and cost effective for me to stay current. All of my e-books and tutorials are on blogging platforms and add-ons, such as those associated with WordPress. They don't change as often as Facebook. The only way to efficiently write about that topic is through blog posts.
ReplyDeleteThis is one of the reasons that I publish my books in PDF format -- things change so fast in the world of online marketing. Fortunately, Facebook's newest re-design happened on the very day I was sitting down to make revisions to my Facebook Guide to Authors. I also just updated my Twitter Guide to Authors so I could cover the new List feature. Several days ago I revised an article that I had written about how to get more visibility for your books on Amazon, because Amazon had made changes to their site. It's always a moving target!
ReplyDelete