I put my heart and soul into every one of the 100,000 words in that book. I really wanted this book to be useful to people; to help them navigate the social software landscape and become comfortable playing with new technologies. I lived up to my end of the bargain in the publishing process. I never turned anything in late and usually got things in early. I took the initiative and did that Flickr Alternative Book Cover Contest to help market the book. I frequently add resources to the companion website to keep the site up to date. I’ve done everything in my power to make this book successful.

If my book starts shipping now, it will have been a year since I turned in the manuscript. That is a LONG time. The printing problem that delayed my book launch was frustrating, but I understood that it was beyond my publisher’s control and that it wasn’t the end of the world. When Amazon canceled everyone’s orders last month, I was a annoyed, because I had specifically asked if someone from ITI should contact Amazon to let them know the release date was pushed back and they said it wasn’t necessary. I’m more than annoyed now. I’m beside myself.

And I’m discouraged. I’ve been sitting on a really terrific book idea the past few months. I’ve been collecting research and I’m itching to write it. But this experience has left me feeling like I never want to go through it all again. I love writing. And I hope that when people are finally able to read the book that they learn something useful from it and realize that you don’t have to be a “techie” to use social software. But I just don’t know if I can go through all of it again. I don’t even know if this is the norm and I’m just too naive and fragile to deal with the publishing world or if this is a crazy situation. I have nothing to compare it to.

For those of you who haven’t been able to get ahold of the book and are going to be at ALA Annual, it will be on sale at the Information Today booth (booth #814) and I will be signing books there on Saturday, June 23 from 10:00 am until 11:00 am. I’m really looking forward to the conference and I hope I get to meet some of y’all there.

I just wish this could be the happy experience I thought it would be.

Either way, I hope you find it useful.

I had noticed that the book cover looked darker than what they’d e-mailed to me (though I figured things often do look different on the Web) and that the plasticy stuff on the cover was kind of peeling from the edges of the book, but I didn’t know how big a problem it was until John e-mailed me about it.

It’s just been a bad few days. I’ve had the flu since last Friday night. I’m not deathly ill, but just feel systemically awful with fevers coming and going. It’s definitely nice to have a doctor in the house (my husband) when I’m feeling this way, though there isn’t too much anyone can do for the flu. I don’t know about y’all, but I have the weirdest and most stressful dreams when I’m sick. Last night, I was forced to assemble a unicycle (or maybe it was a bicycle with missing parts) underwater. And I am not good at holding my breath. The night before, I was involved in international intrigue and was running from some dastardly international organization (SPECTRE? SD-6? Cobra?) and after that, I had a dream where I was nominated for an Oscar for best supporting actress and was stressing about making myself presentable enough to go to the Oscars (to the point where I was actually thinking about hairstyles). Sheesh! I’ve got enough stress in real life… I don’t need it in my dreams too.

I promise, I’ll be back to my usual self soon. No more “woe is me” posts. I’ve got a pretty great life; I have a lot more to be grateful for than I do to complain about.

My day started off pretty badly. I woke up and my neck was so stiff and painful that I couldn’t turn my head or lift my left arm. I ended up calling Adam around 1 pm to pick me up from work because I was in so much pain. When we got home, we found a big box at the front door, which I assumed was for Adam since he’s always getting computer gadgets and gizmos from strange places.

It wasn’t a gadget or a gizmo.

It wasn’t for Adam.

It was my book!

You know, even holding it in my hands now, it doesn’t quite feel real. I guess the book itself feels real, but I can’t believe I wrote it. And it’s going to feel even more weird (and scary) when people read it and tell me what they think of it.

What amazes me most about the book is the index. My goodness that index is comprehensive and I have nothing but admiration for the person who had to go through my book and pick out every single person, thing and idea mentioned in 300 pages. They did a great job! I think it’s looking at the index, and seeing everything I mentioned so neatly listed with a page number, that is making this feel much more real. When I have some time, I might make a list of the librarians and libraries mentioned in the book since the index makes it so easy to do that. I know that if someone wrote a book and I was in it, I’d love to know about it.

I’ll be doing a book signing at the Tuesday evening reception at Computers and Libraries (starting at 5:00 pm), which should be even more surreal. I’m still working on the pithy saying to write on the books. Perhaps something like “jump on the cluetrain” or “keep reaching for that rainbow.” I think I might be able to do better than that, but I’m not great at brevity or pithiness. Maybe I should have had a Pithy Saying for My Signing Contest instead of an Alternative Book Cover Contest.

I just want to say a big thanks to everyone who helped me make this book happen, especially my incredibly smart and supportive editor, Rachel Singer Gordon. But really, all of you deserve thanks. You challenged me, inspired me and made me a far better writer and thinker than I was before I started blogging. If I wasn’t a librarian and a blogger, there wouldn’t be a book.

Since my book is about social software, I thought it would be fun to have a promotional contest that is all about the creative outlets that social software has given us. So I talked to the folks at Information Today about sponsoring a Social Software in Libraries Alternative Book Cover Contest and I created a group in Flickr for it.

What do you think the cover of a book called Social Software in Libraries should look like? Create an alternative cover for the book and add it to this group. The people with the three best (most original, most on-topic, most artistic, or funniest!) covers will each receive a signed copy of the book Social Software in Libraries: Building Collaboration, Communication and Community Online by Meredith G. Farkas. The winners will be announced at the Computers in Libraries conference (April 16-18), but you don’t have to be there to win. And you certainly don’t have to be a librarian to enter.

I know there are many really creative people in our profession (and related professions), so I hope you will consider creating something for the contest.

My book is now on Amazon and should be up on the Information Today site sometime this week for pre-ordering. My mother just told me the other day that when I was very young, she went to a fortune teller (not sure why since she’s a pretty skeptical person) who told her that her daughter was going to grow up and write a book. She said she dismissed the idea because “how likely was that going to happen?”

Anything is possible.

I just heard from the folks at Information Today that my book is heading off to the printer tomorrow! I think it’s going to spend some time there, because I was told that it will be available at the end of March or the very beginning of April. It still doesn’t feel real. Even though I’ve seen the cover design (which I love!), have seen the record in the LOC catalog, and have scheduled my book signing at Computers in Libraries, I just don’t feel like the author of a real book yet. I don’t think it’s going to feel real until I’m holding the book in my hands. I can hardly wait!

Since the book is all about social software, I absolutely had to create a nice Web supplement (on a blog of course)! Come check it out! The resources page has links to all of the sites mentioned in the book as well as things I’ve bookmarked on each subject. I also have provided an excerpt from the book. While I know most people usually offer the Introduction on their site, I really wanted to provide Chapter 1, because I think it’s a much more thought-provoking chapter. Chapter 1 is entitled What is “Social Software?” and it includes my rather unique definition of social software as well as the reasons why I think social software is absolutely amazing (and important to libraries). Let me know what you think!

I’m still adding things to the site, so expect to see more up there soon. It’s going to be a perpetual work in progress as I continue to add resources related to the topics in the book and occasional blog posts.

Here are the vital stats on the book:

Social Software in Libraries: Building Collaboration, Communication and Community Online.

By Meredith Farkas

Foreword by Roy Tennant

Here is the first book to explore the growing phenomenon of social software and how these technologies can be applied in libraries. Social software lets libraries show a human face online, helping them communicate, educate, and interact with their communities. This nuts-and-bolts guide provides librarians with the information and skills necessary to implement the most popular and effective social software technologies: blogs, RSS, wikis, social networking software, screencasting, photo-sharing, podcasting, instant messaging, gaming, and more. Success stories and interviews highlight these tools’ ease-of-use—and tremendous impact. Novice readers will find ample descriptions and advice on using each technology, while veteran users of social software will discover new applications and approaches. Supported by the author’s Web page.

2007/336 pp/softbound/ISBN 978-1-57387-275-1 $39.50

When I was editing my book in June, I kept finding incredibly cool things that libraries were doing that I hadn’t heard about before. Many of them I added, but eventually I had to stop myself because the book would never have gotten finished (and would have been a thousand pages long!). At some point you have to say “it’s done” because there’s always going to be something new to add or something you could improve upon. Since declaring the book “done”, many new things have come onto my radar screen that I’m kicking myself for not knowing about earlier. Here are just a few:

My Own Cafe – the coolest library-sponsored online community I have ever seen. I always wondered if a library (other than Ann Arbor which has a very unique population) would be able to successfully build and attract teens to an online community. The Southeastern Massachusetts Library System has shown that it is possible when the community is well-designed and the library doesn’t intrude too much into it. My Own Cafe has cool things like a gazillion message boards (on such topics as music, college prep, books, movies, gaming, life, etc.), local band info and downloadable music, and a great Info Center where the librarians can sneak in their readers’ advisory, homework help and other useful library stuff. I had been searching for something just like this when I was writing my chapter on online communities and didn’t find anything nearly as cool. In fact, I found very few successful library-created online communities. Are there other inspiring online communities created by libraries that I don’t know about? Do tell! [Thanks Sarah!]

Westerville Public Library – wherever did you come from Westerville Public Library? With your nice, crispy-clean Web design, your MP3 players loaded with audio books, and your terrific vodcasts of library events… how did I not know about you until recently? Library vodcasts were another thing I had a very difficult time finding good examples of, so I really wish I’d known about Westerville (and the Orange County Public Library in Florida, which is particularly cool because it’s in Florida where people just don’t seem to value libraries enough). I’ll definitely be keeping an eye on Westerville and Orange County from now on… I expect great things from both of you! [thanks David]

Carvers Bay Branch Library’s gaming program – So often, when I see pictures from these ultra-successful gaming nights, I see a sea of white faces. And I think of the teenage clients (poor and much more ethnically diverse) that I worked with as a therapist and wonder why kids like that don’t seem to be represented. If the library was a cool welcoming place where they could socialize, play and learn, it could have been such a positive force in their lives. The Carvers Bay Branch Library in South Carolina serves a largely black, poor population with a high illiteracy rate and a very poor rate of library use. The Library Director smartly sought grant money to build a new library and to fund nnovative programs to improve the community, including a gaming program. However, instead of the gaming program being an end in and of itself, it is used as a means to improve literacy rates and create positive outcomes for these kids. Ability to take part in the gaming program is tied to writing book reports, taking part in positive afterschool activities, and doing community service. I definitely think gaming programs like at AADL, SJCPL and others are terrific, but I am so thrilled to see a library that is using gaming as a hook to produce positive outcomes in a very needy youth population. Understanding the sort of teenage population they are probably dealing with in that area, I am thrilled to see that the program has been successful and well-attended thus far. Hearing stories like this make me wish I was working in a public library in the area where I used to be a therapist — I think the library could have been making a real difference in people’s lives there (but it wasn’t).

I learned about so many amazing things that libraries are doing through the research for my book. I’m thrilled that the innovations and brilliant ideas just keep on coming! Yippee!

This is why you’re not going to hear much from me until then. I may blog a bit just because I find it therapeutic, but don’t be surprised if you hear at most a peep or two out of me this coming month. And I must apologize in advance if I don’t get back to your e-mails for a good long while (unless they’re about pressing issues and I know you personally). I get a lot of e-mails from new librarians and folks in library school as well as aspiring wiki creators. Normally, I get back to people really quickly, but that will not be the case until mid-July. I just can’t focus on anything else.

Later this summer I’ll offer more details on what I (and the people I’ve asked to organize this with me) are thinking of in terms of online education. I will definitely be asking for volunteers from all over the library blogosphere to volunteer for various pieces of the endeavor. But from the comments on my last post, it sounds like a lot of people have some great ideas for online education and conferences. I think the more different models we all try for providing education in the online medium, the better we will know in the future how to design an ideal program on a dime. YAY!

Oh yeah, and go read Dorothea’s terrific post on conference economics, different types of speakers, and online conferences (and not just because she calls me a “hardcore altruist” in it). Dorothea has the distinct misfortune of listening to me wax poetically (over IM) about my idealistic visions of free online education almost daily. She’s a pretty altruistic person herself, even if part of her just wants to “show ALA how it’s done.” Hey, can’t say I feel any differently about it.