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I’ve always marveled at the role sheer randomness has played in my career.

For example, when I got the contract to write my first computer book (about 10 years ago now), it was only because I happened to be in the right place at the right time. I was doing tech support for Nisus Software, and I happened to be answering mail sent to one of the company’s email addresses. A publisher wrote to the company at that address to ask if we knew of any Nisus-using authors who might be willing to write a book on the program. I mentioned a few names, and then said I myself would be extremely interested. One thing led to another, and I got the gig. And the fact that I’d had one book published gave me enough currency in the publishing biz to do a second one, and so on.

In today’s mail I found my copy of the October, 2004 issue of Macworld magazine, featuring an article by yours truly—my first for the magazine. Again, the way I got the assignment was pretty random. I’d written an ebook on dealing with Spam in Apple Mail, and just before the ebook was published, a Macworld editor had joined our Take Control authors’ mailing list. She read about my ebook and told me that another editor at the magazine had been looking for someone to write an article about spam, and would I be interested? Absolutely—I’ve wanted to write for Macworld for a long time.

But here’s what I find interesting. For its first couple of months, Take Control of Spam with Apple Mail did not sell particularly well. However, its publication led to interviews for radio shows and Wired News, not to mention the Macworld article, so it’s had the biggest PR impact of any of my titles. After the companion ebook Take Control of Email with Apple Mail came out, the two titles seemed to boost each other’s sales, and now both are quite successful. So even though the ebook by itself didn’t generate a huge amount of interest, it spawned other processes (so to speak) that indirectly reinforced its sales. And with the upcoming publication of these two books together in printed form from Peachpit, I’m hoping the exposure we get from appearing on bookstore shelves will make even more people aware of the Take Control series and perpetuate the cycle further.

September means back to school and the beginning of fall for many people in the northern hemisphere. But in San Francisco, it means the beginning of summer. While I can usually count on the weather to be pleasantly cool, humid, and (often) foggy here, we’ve now entered our annual hot season, which will last for one or two months. I enjoy the sunshine—as long as I can enjoy it from the comfort of a cool, shady room. Alas, air conditioners are all but unknown in this city, and on days (like today) with no breeze in Glen Park, our south-facing house gets uncomfortably hot. Especially my office, which in addition to getting the brunt of the sun, is full of computers and other heat-generating electronic equipment. In short: it’s sandal weather here, and since every blog needs a “hello world” entry to get it started, I’m pulling mine up by the sandal straps today.

Even though I write daily articles for Interesting Thing of the Day, a vaguely bloglike publication—and even though I once had a massive and frequently updated personal home page listing every detail about my life—I’ve so far resisted participation in the whole personal blog phenomenon. It’s just too trendy, and besides, it takes so much effort to separate the wheat from the chaff.

But I’ve finally made the momentous decision to put those prejudices behind me, for several reasons.

First, I often find myself wanting to comment on current events, and that sort of thing just doesn’t fit into the mold of ITotD. Second, most of the writing I do requires scrupulous attention to spelling, grammar, and style—which is OK, but sometimes I like to kick back and write in a more relaxed way without worrying about word counts, deadlines, templates, or making editors happy. And finally, I wanted to be able to write about my work—Interesting Thing of the Day, alt concepts, ebooks, and so on—because increasingly people tell me they’re curious about what goes on behind the scenes.

So I’ve redone my personal home page and added this blog, which will henceforth be the new repository for news and commentary about my life, my work, and anything I notice that I think is worth sharing. It’s also where I’ll say anything I have to say about the books I read, movies I watch, music I listen to, and so on. I’d like to keep this informal and interactive; I invite your comments, questions, and suggestions.

Because this system is brand new, I assume that things like styles and layout will change as time goes on in order to make the site prettier and easier to navigate. I make absolutely no guarantees as to the frequency or quality of the posts, but I’d like to think that the very lack of pressure to produce will encourage me to write more.

How to Succeed in Publishing Without Really Trying

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