Well, I guess it was bound to happen. My book got it’s first negative (and I mean negative) review at Amazon recently. It was pretty brutal on first read…
- “Lacks focus and a targeted audience…”
- “The big font was easy on the eyes…”
- “Worth skimming through if you find a discarded copy hanging around.”
Ouch. Well, that’s the last book I write, so there. ;0)
After a couple of more readings and some digging into his background, it’s clear that this person wasn’t the intended audience anyway. And there are lots of folks who tell me they’re getting a lot from the read.
I’ll live.
Still interesting to get panned like that though…
I love it, Will, and not just because of the large print. It’s healthy mix of big picture thought leader ideas and the step-by-step that gets reluctant educators onto the edge of the new information landscape, are just what we all need to be reading — at this moment in history.
— dave —
I have learned so much from reading your book.
I am an educator and the book has really helped me get started with my blog and also with the bells and whistles. I also enjoyed your presentaion at KSU a few weeks ago. You are right, the book wasn’t intended for the person who wrote the review.
Keep Writing for educators.
I have been on a month-long buzz because of your book. Inspiring! Now, I’d better buy it!
Will, I am a new reader of your blog. But all I can say is that what authors tell me is that criticism of their work is one of the greatest compliments. Somebody took the time to read it and apparently a whole lot mroe than a few people read it. I am going to read it.
Thanks.
Andy Pass
http://www.Pass-Ed.com/blogger.html
Will:
As a recent first author, I feel your pain, but shrug it off–you can’t please everyone. I read your book and I think it was a bulls-eye in terms of its intended audience. I have a fair amount of experience with wikis and blogs, and while I didn’t learn very much from your chapters on those topics, I thought they were an excellent intro for people new to those areas. The rest of the book, where I have only a passing experience, taught me a lot. I’ve already passed the book on to another colleague who’s interested in learning to blog. Keep up the good work!
Don’t give it a second thought. Just remember the 25 teachers you helped with their blog project @ KSU. And, because of the user friendliness of the book, I have been recommending it to my friends who are new at blogging. Keep doing what you’re doing.
Like you were writing the book for the praise of an Amazon critic! I picked up your book about a month ago, and I haven’t come down off my “blogging high.” I can’t wait until fall (yes, I just said that!) to incorporate blogging and wikis in my English class. I even created a second blog for me (cpeppler.edublogs.org) to trace my progress as I put to work the great ideas in your book. Thanks, Will!
I’m an educator and therefore a member of the intended demographic so it is no surprise that I love the book. The surprise is that I have to wrestle it from my husband, a biologist for a state agency, if I have any intention of reading it. The book has been in our house for ~24 hours and he already is jazzed about the Flickr ideas. We discussed blogging techniques over breakfast. I love a book that sparks discussion!
Your wonderful book is dogeared from the places I show other teachers. I loved the book, easy of reading and explanations that I recommended it to our tech committee. We bought 12 more copies & from the comments I’ve been getting, they are loving the book too.
Pshaw on the poor critic, we should pass on some online prunes so he will feel better soon.
We are happy and excited about your book in our neck of the woods.
Will, you did a fine job with your book. I have shared it with about 15 others in the National Writing Project training I am doing. They are considering buying it for everyone. One of the ladies even left you a nice little comment on our blog . So you have pleased the target audience and the ones paying cash for your book.
We’ll never get the attention of all of the teachers if there aren’t books on new subjects to be read. Some teachers just can’t read the Help file associated with a new tool and get enough out of it to find meaningful ways to use it. I consider myself lucky to have my copy just after I figured out how to make a blog and your words in print kept me reading about all the other new tools. Just think, no one in my graduate class called “Emerging Technologies” knew about your book (until I told them) I am on my second time around reading it!
Will,
we now use the book as part of our teacher training in technology. Thanks for the work on the book
If your book were to try to be all things to all people then you’d be doing it wrong. It is most definitely a good thing to receive criticism for this reason, even for a passionate ground-breaking book like yours.
I think the whole point of this new approach is that it is open and does not try to smother criticism. No matter how bad the criticism it is always useful to receive it (not too much of it, of course) because you can learn from it. It keeps us informed, on our toes, and tells us that there is no one way to do anything. Surely this approach is vital for a healthy society.
But I have no doubt that Will fully understands this. By turning the criticism into a discussion you diffuse it, tame it, treat it as it should be treated – respectfully, not defensively, as a means to learn and engage the critic in a real discussion. Businesses who refuse to take this tack (Dell, for example) are suffering from it. It is also a hugely important lesson for our young people to learn. ‘Engage people in discussion, rather than reflexively trying to deny it or censor it.’ If the computer is now the network, we’d all better get used to free flowing comments and criticisms.