Lightroom eBook Question - suggestions please?

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Victoria Bampton

Victoria Bampton

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Hi guys

Well many of you know I'm busy working on writing a couple of Lightroom eBooks at the moment - a 1.4.1 version and a 2.' version.

If you don't mind, I'd really appreciate some feedback from you lovely folks, on how I go about writing this.

The theory goes that it's a great long eBook of Frequently Asked Questions, gathered from this forum and others, over the course of the last year or so. Think of it as a reference book, so you can easily find answers to questions without having to wait for someone to reply to your thread.

The 1.4.1 version will be released about the same time as 2.' (mainly for people who aren't upgrading immediately), and many of the questions that we answer here have a 'you can do that in 2.'' kind of answer.

So the question is this... when writing the 1.4.1 version, should I include the 'you can do that in 2.'' or write it as it 2.' doesn't exist?

FWIW, you're welcome to give me suggestions of questions that must be answered too. All suggestions welcomed!

Thanks for your help!

(And yes, Ian said I can post this here! :))
 
My vote is for ignore version 2 in your 1.4.1 eBook. My take on it is that these books should be written to help the end user understand the software they are using. If I were using 1.4.1, I wouldn't necessarily want to read about version 2. If I did, I would just get the version 2 eBook.

But, in an attempt to stay firmly planted on the fence, I could also see where it might be nice to reference an updated feature in a new version of the software. That way, if I was finding a bit frustrating and I read in your eBook that version 2 does it/does it better, I would likely be relieved to know that I can accomplish what I set out to do.

So, where's the third poll option for "I have no idea and I just want to ramble on while offering no real help?"
 
LOL Erm, I don't want toooooo many people using that poll option Ian! ;) But thank you for nicely summing up the fors and againsts.
 
I'll vote for that...

I do plan on upgrading to 2.', so my thought would be to ensure what ever is covered in the 1.4.1 issue is also given equal exposure in the 2.' ebook, with obvious upgrade extras.

Point being, and no offence here, so i don;t have to have both versions of the ebook. Having said that, one would only then have to get the 2.' version and refer to the relevant 1.4.1 content, even if they only wish to use 1.4.1 software....mmmm perplexed.

I would love to see this Victoria. i find the books out currently are helpfull, but less so when trying to troubleshoot, find workarounds or finding a specific problem.

I think one of the things everyone, including myself, seems to get lost on is the 'Computer technology' side of things. I hate computers, and that will never change:roll:, so slant on LR with that in mind would rock.
 
I think both. One of your Frequently Asked Questions for 1.4.1 will be, "Should I upgrade?" And so you'll need an answer for that.

So to help people answer that for themselves, answers for 1.4.1 should be answered as though 2.' didn't exist -- but there should be a footnote, where those who are curious can jump to the "back of the book" where the alternate 2.' answer lies.
 
I'm with Mark, I think the 1.4.1 version should acknowledge 2.' changes/enhancements in some fashion. We'll leave the 'how' as an exercise for the author. As a precedent, almost every Photoshop book I've ever consulted talks at some point about the bad-old days before feature X was installed, and how much easier/powerful it is now.

Will you be looking for pre-release commentary, etc. In any event, good luck!
 
I also think that there should be either at least an appendix or addendum dedicated to discussing that 2.' will soon exist and what it brings to the table. The issue for me is the timing. You say that the 1.4.1 book will come out very close to the release of 2.'. For an author to ignore the topic at that late stage would seem odd to me. If the book came out today, that would be different... IMHO.
 
Mark Sirota said:
I think both. One of your Frequently Asked Questions for 1.4.1 will be, "Should I upgrade?" And so you'll need an answer for that.
Click to expand...

Ooooooh, I like that idea! That could be a very good compromise!

Thanks for all the feedback guys, it's really helpful. Keep it coming!
 
Braders said:
Point being, and no offence here, so i don;t have to have both versions of the ebook. Having said that, one would only then have to get the 2.' version and refer to the relevant 1.4.1 content, even if they only wish to use 1.4.1 software
Click to expand...

Brad, I considered putting all the information in 1 book, but it got very complicated trying to say 'this works in 2.' but doesn't in 1.x, where you have to do X instead.' So the current theory is that the 2 books will be separate, but there will be a discounted price if you want both at the same time, if you're not upgrading immediately. Sounds like a plan?
 
Steve Sutherland said:
The issue for me is the timing. You say that the 1.4.1 book will come out very close to the release of 2.'..... If the book came out today, that would be different... IMHO.
Click to expand...

Current aim is 1.4.1 version by the end of this month, 2.' version when 2.' releases. So if I include 2.' notes in the 1.4.1 version, I would have to go back and add it once 2.' releases.
 
Victoria Bampton said:
Brad, I considered putting all the information in 1 book, but it got very complicated trying to say 'this works in 2.' but doesn't in 1.x, where you have to do X instead.' So the current theory is that the 2 books will be separate, but there will be a discounted price if you want both at the same time, if you're not upgrading immediately. Sounds like a plan?
Click to expand...


If you wanted to keep to one book, the v.2.' only information could be added in a different colour perhaps to differentiate it from the v.1.4.1 version?

Anthony.
 
That's a thought Anthony, thanks. And then I realised how many of the screenshots changed too!
 
If the release of the book for 1.4.1 is soon, then this will work.

I like Andrews idea too, but...

I'm thinking for new comers into LR, especially after the 2.' release. If they immediately go into 2.', would they need the 1.4.1 ebook? From a marketing perspective, why would i buy, for eg, a book PSCS2 by Marting Evening, when i have CS3 and the book for CS3 has all the info from the previous book. It might look weird to some, that they need the 1.4.1 ebook as well.

Any chance of some small video files being included, showing brief and to the point exaamples?
 
Braders;156'1 said:
I'm thinking for new comers into LR, especially after the 2.' release. If they immediately go into 2.', would they need the 1.4.1 ebook?
Click to expand...

No, 2.' version will include everything about 2.' and be correct as of that release, so new users skipping straight to 2.' won't be interested in the earlier version.

Some users currently on 1.4.1 who will later upgrade to 2.' may be interested in both - well, the option will be there to buy either or both - whichever anyone prefers.

I initially planned to only do a 2.' version, but had a number of emails specifically requesting 1.4.1 version... and it went on from there!

And the poll is now at a 5'/5' split, so I'm still none the wiser!!! :lol:
 
Well, 2.' doesn't exist yet, right? We've got a beta edition that they specificially tell us may or may not have the features that the final for publication version has.

So... Since we don't actually know which features the final version will have, it would be risky to say "2.' will do this". My suggestion would be to have a brief appendix saying something like "At the time of publication, Version 2.' was being tested. Some of the new features being tested are 3D Imaging, Digital Time Travel and Dual Chromatic Vortex Warping" (OK, so you should probably substitute the real features. ;))
 
BobH said:
Some of the new features being tested are 3D Imaging, Digital Time Travel ......
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<Humor>

Actually, the Digital Time Travel feature has been available since the very first Beta, but so many people have complained about the wandering capture times of their images, that the team is considering removing this feature. They experimented a little in 1.4.', but that didn't work so well........

They've promised it will be completely gone in the 2.x final release.

</Humor>
 
BTW, speaking of time travel, I have noticed that if you capture more than one image per second, LR occasionally gets confused. (I've read elsewhere this is a known bug)

I take a lot of train photos, and it's funny to scroll through a sequence of shots and see the train progressing forward, then suddenly jump backwards for a frame or two. Whiplash!
 
Victoria Bampton;156'2 said:
...And the poll is now at a 5'/5' split, so I'm still none the wiser!!! :lol:
Click to expand...
Trying to make it 49/51... ;)

Write as 1.4.1 only. When something is expected to be changed or made possible in 2.', just add a "See appendix". Then, at the end of the book, add that section about what is expected in 2.' giving answers to the "See appendix" references. Up to you to say more than what was referenced because otherwise, the appendix will become the LR2.' eBook itself! :p
 
Well I am thrilled to announce that after an awful lot of hard work, the 1.4.1 version is now available, and the 2.' version can be pre-ordered!

It certainly turned into a much bigger project than I originally envisaged, with the 1.4.1 version coming in at a whopping 329 pages of information, and the 2.' version continuing to grow.

A HUGE thank you to Brad Snyder, who checked it over so carefully.

And thank you to everyone here - it was you guys who came up with most of the questions. And as a thank you, how about a nice discount code.... LRF2''8

All of the details are now up on http://www.lightroomqueen.com

Enjoy!
 
Victoria Bampton said:
All of the details are now up on http://www.lightroomqueen.com

Enjoy!
Click to expand...


Hi,

I want to buy (pre-order) the book, but I HAVE to create a GOOGLE account: the biggest cookiemonster in the world! They sure would like to place some cookies on my comp, but I won't allow Google to do that.

So I cannot pre-order (buy???) the book.

Alternativs?
 
Ah, interesting Willem! Thanks for letting me know about that. The cart has Google (credit/debit card) and PayPal, but I can also do NoChex (credit/debit card) by email, so drop me an email if you'd like to do that.
 
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