hook line sinker (Rowe)

Hook Line Sinker: An Online Resource Book for People who Teach Mathematics, John Rowe (2019)

Not really a review, just reminding myself about some of the details of what I read ...

I didn't read this over the summer as much as perused it. As the title says, it's an online resource, meaning each section contains a lot of links to a lot of examples and exercises and lessons and whatnot. It's a great guide for cutting through the Net, and it contains likes to several people I follow online or whom I've actually met in real life, which is a bonus.

The book is listed as free (and should always be free), and you can find it at: https://books.apple.com/au/book/hook-line-sinker/id1452938209
Additionally, all the resources linked in the book are free as well. There is nothing typically be found in textbooks included here.

Hook, line, sinker is an obvious fishing reference for "reeling them in", and it follows a common theme I've encountered in Math PD (professional development) about "Math in 3 Acts". Another allusion would be "Appetizer, Main Course, Dessert", or something similar.

In this case, Rowe goes with: hook, how will you hook them in?; line, how will you build on what they already know; sinker, how will you help them consolidate what they learn?

Engage, Explore/Explain, Elaborate/Evaluate.

So I did go through it, even if I didn't read all the resources -- most of which I could, considering I was reading this on the train, mostly. But I'll still count it as a book read for the year. And a math book.

BAM! How to Write an Ebook and Upload to Kindle (Hill)

BAM! How to Write an Ebook and Upload to Kindle, by Jamie Hill, 2014

This ebook was basically a book to read between books. Something quick and possibly interesting before I decide where I want to go next.

If where you want to go in making ebooks on Kindle, then this might be the book for you. On the one hand, Jamie Hill has five titles available, so something is going right. On the other hand, I downloaded it for free, so maybe so, maybe not. On the gripping hand, I'm talking about it, so there is that.

The book is more than just instructions for uploading. It's about picking a topic, one that others might be looking for, creating an outline, sticking to a schedule and doing your research. Instruction on how to format your Word file so it translates into kindle's format are there, too. Covers are tricky -- so don't make your own. There are websites to go to where you can get one done cheaply enough.

Overall, some good information, much of which can crossover to other types of projects, and I couldn't be the price (although I think it's $.99 now).

Quick read, worth your time if you're thinking about getting into e-publishing.

365 Things I Learned the Hard Way (So You Don't Have To) (The Digital Writer, Jonathan Wondrusch)

365 Things I Learned the Hard Way (So You Don't Have To), by The Digital Writer (Jonathan Wondrusch), 2012

A free ebook on the writing business by a writer. Quick! What's he trying to sell me? Actually, he isn't selling me one thing -- he's selling me on a lifestyle, a workstyle, a way to make it all click, if that's what I want. And that should be what I want.

The Digital Writer puts together and presents information in a usable way, heavy on the discipline, easy on the hard sell. He recommends ways to establish your presence, your brand, online in social media, and the ways to monetize it. Because if you aren't monetizing, then what are you doing? He also tells you when to pay for others to do the work for you -- specifically, hiring an editor and paying for good cover design.

A good chunk of the book is dedicated to writing copy, which is a promising field to get into that pays well when jobs are available, as well as making ebooks starting with information that's readily available by consolidated so that the reader doesn't have to research it, and search engine optimization, because you want users to find you when you know that they aren't going to look at that second page on Google.

Ebooks, by the way, are a great source of steady income once you build a following. There's a good discussion on pricing, which has recently changed as Amazon has changed its terms.

The final part of the book is a Q & A from letters he received on his Digital Writer blog. They get a little repetitive with the rest of the book and with other questions, but it's definitely worth skimming. One thing that impressed me was that he recommends two great books to learn how to write copy -- and they aren't his. They're the ones that he learned from and he recommends them. You have to admire that. If nothing else, it definitely improves his brand.