Nobody said it was easy ([info]copperbadge) wrote,
2009-01-22 10:24:00
HOKAY! I think it's finally ready. So here's a little propaganda post you can link to if you want. Please feel free to pimp the book anywhere you like. Really. Feel free.

The Alum's Guide To Getting Through University was an essay I created to organize my thoughts on my waning career as a graduate student and provide advice to a couple of people who were soon to be shipping off for their freshman year. In the past few years I've been proud that people have returned to comment on its usefulness; I like to be useful. I submitted it to a few educational-guidebook companies but got no bites (not surprising) so I decided to self-publish it.

The end result is a slick, updated new guide entitled "Other People Can Smell You," which I am offering on Lulu.com not only as a hardcopy pocket-sized handbook but also as a free download. You can access the free downloadable version here, at my storefront, or take a look through it and purchase the hardcopy (which is actually a softcopy considering it's a pocket paperback) at the sales page.

The image you see on the right is a preview print I ordered; I've since tweaked a few things on the cover and in the interior, but the size is the same. As you can see it is a very thin book, but it is "perfect" bound (with a glue binding) and not stapled or stitched. It seems pretty durable. (The one dollar bill, obvs., is for scale -- it was that or a 7-up can.)

In the interests of full disclosure, with media mail postage a single copy of the book will run you $11 even. Of that, I make fifty five cents. Buy a book! I plan to blow my royalties on Snickers bars and shiny trinkets.
Tags: extribulum

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  • 52 comments

[info]riverlight

January 22 2009, 16:29:03 UTC 3 years ago

Hey, congrats! That's pretty awesome. :)

[info]copperbadge

January 22 2009, 16:37:09 UTC 3 years ago

Thanks! It was a lot of fun to put together but I'm glad it's done now...

[info]riverlight

3 years ago

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[info]lorena_bee

January 22 2009, 16:29:54 UTC 3 years ago

I prefer the 7UP can since I love the "make seven" "up yours" campagin.

What about a Loonie? Can someone hook you up with a Loonie?

[info]copperbadge

January 22 2009, 16:34:43 UTC 3 years ago

I have a couple of Loonies at home, actually :D I thought of putting fifty-five cents next to it, but decided a dollar would work better for scale...

[info]twirlynoodle

January 22 2009, 16:42:38 UTC 3 years ago

Ack, html! Your text between images looks like an interesting experiment in free verse. Here, let me introduce you to my new friend, the float tag!

img style="float:left;" src="image.url"

Add pointy brackets and you're off to the races. Text wrap in html, who'd a thunk it? You can swap 'left' with 'right' too, of course.

Edited for typo and important missing semicolon

[info]copperbadge

January 22 2009, 16:46:22 UTC 3 years ago

The major problem is that I'm using a table, I've never been able to make float work for me with LJ. *wince* It looks fine on my monitor, though I know in a narrow window the text would get squeezed up.

if you open the link and go style=light it should look ok?

[info]twirlynoodle

3 years ago

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[info]copperbadge

3 years ago

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[info]twirlynoodle

3 years ago

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[info]copperbadge

3 years ago

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[info]bodlon

January 22 2009, 16:49:04 UTC 3 years ago

Sweet. I was planning posting an entry over at my blog where I am a Real Writer Who Puts His Name On Stuff, and I like to plug clever people, so consider yourself warned.

[info]copperbadge

January 22 2009, 16:51:31 UTC 3 years ago

Thank you! :D

[info]bodlon

3 years ago

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[info]copperbadge

3 years ago

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[info]bodlon

3 years ago

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[info]copperbadge

3 years ago

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[info]darksideofstorm

January 22 2009, 17:17:34 UTC 3 years ago

I'm a second year University student in the UK, and your book completely applies. I plan to pimp it out to all my coursemates. :D

Thanks for writing it!

[info]copperbadge

January 22 2009, 18:48:05 UTC 3 years ago

I'm glad it's useful! Thanks for pimping it out :D

[info]bluebombardier

January 22 2009, 17:55:13 UTC 3 years ago

SAM I LOVE YOU SAM THIS IS AMAZING.

My sister is already on her second semester of college, but I think I'll mail her a copy of this anyway, if only so she can leave it around the room for her roommate to pick up.

[info]copperbadge

January 22 2009, 18:47:41 UTC 3 years ago

hooray! :D

[info]alarivana

January 22 2009, 18:41:52 UTC 3 years ago

Hi, Cafe. I've been a lurker for a while, probably will go back to being one after this.

In any case, I was somehow made aware of this and various other practical college posts while deciding what to pack for my first semester of college. It has been incredibly useful as a guideline, even when it didn't quite fit with my college (no credits, no grades, no tests). However, as a result of following it, I encountered a strange problem.probably not a problem with the advice. I'm sure it's good advice for most people.

I kept in mind the bit about not bringing a lot of useless things when packing. However, within the first few months of being there, I managed to acquire a broken skateboard wheel, three doorknobs, a package of glow in the dark bats and another of multicolored feathers, as well as several glass bottles. In retrospect, I would have been better off bringing my nice useless things from home.

Ah, well. I have learned a valuable lesson in filtering advice while being aware of personal circumstances.

[info]copperbadge

January 22 2009, 18:44:45 UTC 3 years ago

Er...assuming that the things you acquired had no practical purpose, I don't really see how you'd have been better off bringing useless things from home. I mean, ideally, you would not bring useless stuff from home and be able to say, throw out the broken skateboard wheel. :D

I suppose I'm not seeing the cause and effect in "not bringing stuff from home" = "acquiring useless stuff at school"?

Glad it's been useful as a guideline, though :)

[info]alarivana

3 years ago

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[info]copperbadge

3 years ago

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[info]alarivana

3 years ago

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[info]doozer7787

3 years ago

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[info]tritoneclarinet

3 years ago

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[info]alarivana

3 years ago

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[info]shadowedkit

January 22 2009, 19:33:58 UTC 3 years ago

Congrats, that is awesome :-) I really like the 1950's (possibly?) type of cover.

Actually, despite having gone past the first year, the guide is still very useful. And that is from a NZ education system, which is completely different to US. (For one, our course approval seems a little easier. Admittedly not as many students.)

Hope you had fun working on it!


[info]copperbadge

January 23 2009, 14:25:01 UTC 3 years ago

Thanks, I had fun with the retro style of the cover -- it's actually from the 30's, and was originally a public service poster advising people to have their childrens' eyes checked. :D

I'm glad the guide is still useful, even one year out and in another country!

[info]shadowedkit

3 years ago

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[info]copperbadge

3 years ago

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[info]cleversimon

January 22 2009, 19:38:07 UTC 3 years ago

How was your experience with Lulu? I heard about it from Warren Ellis when it launched and have always thought it might be fun to do a chapbook through it (instead of illicitly "borrowing" school equipment like I did for the one—ones?—I sent you); apart from them fucking up the cover, was it an easy process? Are you happy with the book-in-your-hand?

[info]copperbadge

January 23 2009, 14:22:15 UTC 3 years ago

It's been....interesting. I like the quality of the printing, and LuLu makes it pretty easy, you're in control of 99% of the process. And actually in the end it wasn't them fucking up the cover, it was my improper conversion (since fixed -- and the prints should be fine regardless).

Basically, you tell it what size and binding you want (sometimes you can't get certain bindings based on size or page count), then you can upload either a .doc or .pdf file. If you upload a .doc file they convert it to .pdf for you so in that particular case your font range is limited (hence Garamond for this one).

I had some snafus in the uploading process between my .doc and their conversion to .pdf, so you have to really proof your .pdf once they've converted it and I ended up reupping my .pdf like eight times to get it perfect, but they make that easy to do.

The cover can be a little complex -- they let you design one on the site using their clipart, or you can upload your own, but if you want to do a "one piece" (ie, wraparound) cover then you have to wait until your PDF is loaded before they will give you the cover dimensions, because they won't know till they have a page count how thick the spine will be. The one-piece cover has to be a .pdf as well, which is where my snags came in -- I was making the cover as a layered image in Photoshop and then saving as a pdf, which means the print is fine but the image on the website looks messy. Simple fix -- I just had to flatten the image to a single layer before saving as .pdf (rasterizing the font layers would have worked too, I think; it was only the font Lulu couldn't seem to handle).

The only issue I have with the site is that, as cheap as it is, it's still pretty pricey. Other People Can Smell You should retail for about $6, but of course because of postage it actually costs $11 if you're buying a single copy. Which is retarded because there's no way media mail for a book that size costs $5, but they really seriously overpackaged it. :D

As for book-in-hand -- yes, I'm happy with it, it looks and feels like a professionally bound book. The perfect binding would work better on a thicker book and part of my name was cut off the cover, but the latter is my fault and there's not much to be done about the former.

I just typeset and published a chapbook, for my own private amusement; twenty-nine pages with a saddle-stitch binding (which in practice means staples, I think). I'll let you know what I think of that one when I get it :)

[info]doozer7787

January 22 2009, 19:56:56 UTC 3 years ago

I wish there was someway I could make my university distribute this to all of its incoming freshman at orientation. I read it my sophomore year in school and really wished I'd had a copy of it to read before my freshman year started.

[info]copperbadge

January 23 2009, 14:10:00 UTC 3 years ago

I'm wondering if I should send samples out to local schools :D

[info]doozer7787

3 years ago

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[info]copperbadge

3 years ago

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[info]doozer7787

3 years ago

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[info]copperbadge

3 years ago

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[info]doozer7787

3 years ago

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[info]midgetgems

January 22 2009, 20:08:02 UTC 3 years ago

I want this, but for distance learning (although, Sam dear, it is still awesomeness :D) I think I'll really need a good time management system once I start the level two courses in September.

[info]copperbadge

January 23 2009, 14:09:40 UTC 3 years ago

Hey, by the time you're done you could WRITE this for distance learning!

[info]midgetgems

3 years ago

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Anonymous

January 22 2009, 22:05:29 UTC 3 years ago

DEAR SAM.

This video (http://13gb.com/videos/3853/popular/") made me think of you, and more specifically, that one Torchwood story you wrote that the entire internet has read. Make sure the volume is on when you watch it.

Love, A Lurker.

Anonymous

January 22 2009, 22:08:39 UTC 3 years ago

Also, wtf livejournal, thank you for screwing with my link. This one should be clickable: http://13gb.com/videos/3853/popular/

[info]copperbadge

3 years ago

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[info]fizzylizard

3 years ago

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[info]melayneseahawk

January 23 2009, 01:54:02 UTC 3 years ago

My brother is definitely getting this in his College Survival Kit.

[info]copperbadge

January 23 2009, 14:09:00 UTC 3 years ago

Hooray! Hope he likes it :)

[info]annemjw

January 24 2009, 14:06:05 UTC 3 years ago

Oh man, just think of all those shiny trinkets!
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