We’re in the phase of the book-writing process where the editors are working their magic. My voicovers, PowerPoints, and written book portion have been long done and submitted, and now the whole thing is going through technical editing and assembly. Exciting stuff!
Everything has been going smoothly so far, except for one small snag: my book’s description on sites like Borders.com, Barnes and Noble, Amazon, etc. all say the wrong thing. Gaaaah! The good news is that we know why it happened: The publisher has a standard marketing blurb that all books in the Video Mentor series automatically get as a temporary placeholder… but mine never got updated with the real book synopsis, which I submitted last July.
Understandably, I am pretty freaked out about this because the standard marketing blurb incorrectly states that my book/DVD set contains hours of Flash animations, hands on labs, and simulations; alas, my book doesn’t contain these things– they were never part of the plan. My publisher’s standard marketing language is perfect for the typical tech-training type stuff that my publisher puts out, but ITIL isn’t technical training in a “click here, configure that” sense. My product contains 100% lecture and Powerpoint, and a ton of sample questions. No labs; no Flash animations; no business simulations. It’s just me being informative and charming. :-)
We chose not to include simulations and labs because this book/DVD set was never intended to be a full-blown V3 Foundation class; it’s simply designed to reinforce the exam syllabus/requirements for students who have already either taken a class or have chosen to go the self-study route. We wanted to create something to give students some extra confidence going into the exam so they could knock it out of the park.
My (irrational) fear is that the book/DVD synopsis won’t get changed in time, and people will buy the book/DVD set expecting Flash animations and labs and simulations… and when they don’t get what they were promised, they’re going to trash the book in their reviews. Do not want.
If people aren’t happy with my product because I did a crummy job, I totally own and accept that. But if people aren’t happy with my product because of an administrative error, I am going to be REALLY unhappy because I’ll have to, you know, find a new career.
Anyhoo, my publisher found the bug and they’ve set the wheels in motion to get it fixed. Now we’re waiting for various batch jobs to complete so the information trickles down to all of the various bookseller sites.
My editorial team is a great group of folks, and I know they’re doing their best to make it right, so that’s good news.
But still… it’s like watching a pot of water and waiting for it to boil.
I’m choosing to view it as an opportunity for me to practice compassion and patience. :-)
Have had your book on order since the 31st of July, 2010, with the anticipated arrival sometime in August. Different websites are stating different release dates, some say August (Amazon UK), the one I’m using is saying September and Pearson are saying October???
Reading through this blog I see this has been going on for the best part of 6 months, do you have a definative date or has it been cancelled?
Hi, Jake–
Thank you so much for pre-ordering the book! I’m anxious for it to come out, too. :-) It definitely hasn’t been canceled, I know that for sure.
Sadly, I don’t have an accurate release date. The last I heard was that Pearson was shooting for October. If I hear anything different, I’ll update the blog.
From what I understand, the delay isn’t on our end; it’s being held up by the organization who tallies up the amount of copyrighted material we quoted so we can pay the necessary royalties to the ITIL publishers.
It’s worth the wait, I promise. :-)
Thanks again for pre-ordering, and hang in there… it’ll come out soon! (Fingers crossed!)