Making do... getting it done

I spent Saturday re-recording the first book tour reading with my noise-cancelling headset microphone (As Robin William's character says in "The Bird Cage", Madonna! Madonna!), but I'm just not happy with the result. I've got a lot of whiny hiss in the final recording, and when I remove the noise, it comes out sounding tinny. The bitrate is higher with the line-in microphone, but I'm getting a lot of extra noise, for some reason. So, I'm going back to the original reading, for the sound quality.

Looks like the internal microphone is the way I'm going to go. In future readings, I'll bump up the animation in my presentation more -- give it more of a performance. But I'm tired of waiting and mucking around with the sound files, and it's a new year, so I'll just get this out there, so folks can see what the first reading sounds like. And they can send me feedback. And I'll focus on improvements in subsequent readings. My ultimate intention is to piece together all the audio from my different readings, into a single audiobook -- also to be downloadable from Lulu.com -- so if I get to the end and I want a better feel for the first two chapters of the book for the final audiobook, I'll just re-record them there.

It's all a learning curve. But the curve gets less steep, as I go on.

Now that I've done my first complete reading, it's time to document the process for "Creating your Virtual Book Reading Tour", the creator's manual I'm going to publish with Lulu.com. Having a virtual book tour is so very cool, and I'm sure other authors are going to want to do it, too. So, I'll create a guide to show folks how to do it. And over the coming weeks and months of doing this process, I'll refine the guide, if need be. But at this point, I've got just about everything I need for the first edition -- except for the screen shots -- so, now I just need to capture those, and I'll be on my merry way.

Now, the documentation I'm doing will be dual -- print AND online. The book is "totally portable media" in one slick package, while the online documentation will be broken up between steps, and will become an online self-guided course, eventually. That way, folks can move at their own pace and have info right in front of them.

The online format actually offers more space to put information -- and bigger graphics, in color. The restrictions of 9x6 inches and only black and white text, can be a problem -- especially for pointing out smaller details of Audacity and the sound files. Online, I can have full-color, full-size graphics which convey information much easier. It's just a different way of conveying information, and both print and online have their strengths.

The main thing is, to convey what you want to convey, and do it as thoroughly as you possibly can.

And convey I shall.

I've transferred the MP3 to the server, and I've set up my podcast page. You can see it at all in action http://www.podtopia.net/fuelbook/. Subscribe to the feed, or download the file today, to hear what's possible.

I've also submitted the feed to 21 podcast directories (hint: it's a whole lot of work, but if you can create a text file with the information that the directories ask for, over and over -- like the RSS url, the name of the podcast, the url of your site, your e-mail adddress, etc -- you can just copy and paste to your heart's content). Bless all the directories that believe the info in your RSS feed and just reference it, instead of demanding you enter all the information for them (again, as far as I'm concerned). Bless the folks that just let you "ping" them -- or, submit your RSS feed to them for their automatic inclusion.

I've learned a lot, this first time through. Now, it's time to capture that learning and pass it along. I think it's important to time the publication of the creator's guide with the press releases going out, because when people get a taste of this, they're going to want to do it, themselves. And I need to take advantage of that wave, when it hits. I'm kinda paddling around in deep water, now, and I need to be ready to catch "The" wave when it comes. So, this week will be about getting the print manual together and writing up press releases to send out at the end of this week.

And, of course, notifying my friends and family that Fuel is finally becoming a reality -- in more ways than they could imagine.

Next steps: Create press releases to notify the world that the Fuel VBT is available. Document the VBT podcast production process, publish the print manual, create the online self-directed course, and do press releases around that. All in good time. Right now, it's time for my daily walk. And then a nap...

It's going to be a busy month! I can't wait!