What’s this about a “web book” and a “version 0.8”– doesn’t “version 0.8” mean it’s unfinished?
The manuscript is currently getting a little facelift from dance educator Skippy Blair. But it’s a full book, near completion, with over 40,000 words of hardcore information.
As for the presentation, a web book, don’t dismiss reading a how-to manual on the web: links will whisk you to supporting web pages, including video clips; it’s easy to save relevant sections on your computer; it’s easy to search for keywords; you can access the book with any Internet connection; and you’ll see revisions and additions immediately. Ballroom dance begs for audio and video, which a bound book cannot provide.
It’s still under construction so not all chapters are posted and there’s not much video yet.
If you’re giving your web book away for free, how can it be any good?
First, I’m a published author and my writing is better than my dancing. I once had a big New York publisher (Berkley Books, a division of Penguin) do one of my books. Hurry over to amazon.com and you can probably find a used copy for 27 cents.
Second, I finally asked myself the right question, “Will it be easier to sell a dance book for $18 or a dance t-shirt for $18?” A light bulb went off (well, flickered) when I realized the web offered the opportunity for an author to turn the traditional publishing model upside down. Far more t-shirts are sold than books so my business model is based on some of you clicking here to buy a dance t-shirt with a clever saying on it. I was recently at a large book fair with 100,000 attendees. Very few people had books under their arms, most were wearing t-shirts.
On both a practical and egotistical level, it’s the mission of an author to reach as many eyeballs as possible. I could wait the year or two it takes a publisher to produce a book and put 10,000-15,000 copies in the bookstores; or I can put it on the web now and make it instantly available to over a billion people.
My business model does include selling a bound book. When the book is completed (version 1.0), a real book will be available. Author Cory Doctorow makes a good argument at forbes.com that giving a book away for free on the Internet can increase printed book sales.
Is this stuff just for men?
Even though it’s written for men, 95 percent of it applies to women also. Come on, this stuff is good for the whole family, even grandma will dig it.
This is foundation stuff, what you would get in a “pre-dance” lesson, if that were available. This book is especially for you, man or woman, if you’re rhythmically challenged, if you’re dance challenged, if you think you can never learn to dance, if you struggle in a dance class or if you’re stuck as a beginner and can’t move to the intermediate level. It took me a lot of humiliation and sweat over a 15-year period, and over $15,000 in dance lessons from the best and the worst, to make sense of this subject.
Who’s Skippy Blair?
Skippy Blair (swingworld.com), who opened her first dance studio in 1958, is a legend in the swing world. Click here to read her bio. After many years of dance classes I was frustrated because I was still rhythmically challenged. Then I met Skippy and everything changed. She was the first person to give me a foundation in music and dance. Although her following is primarily teachers and competitors in west coast swing—by the way, I don’t teach, compete nor do west coast swing—her material is profoundly relevant to the beginner, the pre-beginner and, especially, the rhythmically challenged.
