My first book, PHP for the World Wide Web: Visual QuickStart Guide, came out about 12 years ago now (it covered both PHP 3 and 4!). In the dozen years since then, I’ve written 22 more books (including revisions), with three different publishers. About 2-3 years ago, I first started thinking about self-publishing a book, and as of Fall 2012, am finally doing so with The Yii Book. I occasionally get asked, probably by people that also want to self-publish, about the tools I’m using for writing and self-publishing this book: technically speaking, how am I doing it? The introduction to the book does discuss this, but as not everyone has purchased the book, I thought I’d write up my process.
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In the past couple months, I’ve had two experiences with two different business that screwed up. In both cases, these are business to which I have given a substantial amount of money. What was notable, though, is how professionally both of them screwed up. Which is not to say that they screwed up in a more advanced manner than the amateur could, but rather that in both instances the business responded professionally. So professionally, in fact, that not only would I willingly give them more of my business, I’d happily recommend those businesses to others. Even though neither of these businesses is remotely involved in technology, the pattern demonstrated by them is something that any business or consultant should take to heart.
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I am happy to report that my presentation “How to (not) Get Rich Writing Books” has been selected for the 2013 Pittsburgh TechFest. Pittsburgh TechFest is a one-day event on software development and related subjects. Tickets are only $10, which includes lunch (it’s a steal if you’re anywhere near Pittsburgh). Tickets will go on sale in early April. You can follow Pittsburgh TechFest 2013 on Twitter at @pghtechfest13.
My specific presentation is a new one for me, and one that I’ve been thinking about giving for a little while now. I’ll have an hour time block at Pittsburgh TechFest. Right now, the outline of my presentation looks like…
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A couple of developers that attend a lot of conferences put together an online “Day Camp 4 Developers”. These are live, half-day blocks in which great presentations from recent conferences are done again, this time online. I’ve not attended, or viewed, any yet myself, but this Wednesday, March 22nd, the theme is “Public Speaking for Developers”.
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Last year was a fairly active one for me in terms of public speaking. I spoke at four events, each quite different than the next, and I really worked hard on becoming a better public speaker. (Those two activities–public speaking and working on becoming a better public speaker–don’t always go hand-in-hand, sadly.) Over the course of the year, I learned quite a bit, both about myself and about public speaking in general. In this newsletter, I thought I’d share some thoughts and resources along those lines.
As always, questions, comments, and all feedback are much appreciated. And thanks for your interest in what I have to say and do!
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