Mastodawn

Hi, Mastodon friends,

I've been busy. I decided to turn that long blog post into a free book.

Once I started working with it, I saw a million ways to improve it and make it more readable, so I think it's better.

I had it professionally proofread, copyedited, and fact checked. Any errors are mine because I had to transfer all the marks to the Indesign document.

Anyone wanna advance peek?

I don't know how to put a PDF here, so it's on the blog page:

https://terikanefield.com/whyextremismhappens/

1/

Why Intolerance and Extremism Happen by Teri Kanefield

This is the full text of a book that I am offering for free. Barnes and Noble Kobo Amazon Google Books Apple Books It’s on Goodreads. Or you can download a PDF by clicking here. Why Intolerance and Extremism Happen: Understanding Our Deepest Divides He who knows only his own side of the case […]

Teri Kanefield

Teri Kanefield Nov 14

Now I have to figure out how to turn it into an ebook (I'll need my technical support staff for that.)

The process was long. I started with a microphone and "talked" the blog post, as if once more talking to a room full of college students.

My technical support staff turned those into a YouTube thing. It helped me sort out the ideas and figure out a better way to present the material.

You know, keeping those college students paying attention isn't easy.

2/

T M von Weber Nov 14

@Teri_Kanefield Maybe try Calibre? https://calibre-ebook.com/

calibre - E-book management

calibre: The one stop solution for all your e-book needs. Comprehensive e-book software.

Doc Edward Morbius ⭕Nov 14

@Teri_Kanefield There's also #Pandoc, a document-manipulation Swiss-Army Knife on steroids.

https://pandoc.org/

This is a command-line tool, and can convert between many document formats. It's available on MacOS, Linux, Windows, and probably other platforms.

My general preference is to start with #Markdown or #LaTeX (both are far less intimidating than they seem, though Markdown would be easier), and generate HTML, PDF, ePub, and the like from those. There are other document markup languages which can be used, or if you're more comfortable with them, word-processing formats (DocX, used by MS Word and many others is probably the lowest-hanging fruit).

I've used Pandoc to create multiple book-length works, both my own and transcribed / converted from elsewhere. You need little more than paragraph breaks, chapter headings, and a title, author, and publication date block for the basics.

Pandoc - index

@Teri_Kanefield
Teri, thank you so much.

When I discovered you on Mastodon and followed the development of these articles, it crystallized so much I had thought but never put the pieces together. I think this is a transformational way to think about news and politics.

Gordon J Holtslander Nov 14

@Teri_Kanefield If it’s a blog, it’s written in ‘web/internet’

The epub electronic book format uses the same.
https://www.w3.org/TR/epub-overview-33/

epub is just a specific set of folders with html css media etc compressed into one file using the zip compression/archiving tool

look at tools to convert a blog into epub

EPUB 3 Overview

EPUB® 3 defines a distribution and interchange format for digital publications and documents. The EPUB format provides a means of representing, packaging, and encoding structured and semantically enhanced web content — including HTML, CSS, SVG, and other resources — for distribution in a single-file container.

keen456 keen456 Nov 14

@Teri_Kanefield Thanks for sharing!

@Teri_Kanefield

For your website, I have set a Task and To Read, with five stars and a flag.

All genuine positive attempts at moving forward ideas on this topic have to be considered.

Bodhipaksa Nov 14

@Teri_Kanefield Thank you. I aspire to read it, but I never get on well with PDFs, so I hope you do manage to bring out an epub.

Teri Kanefield Nov 16

@bodhipaksa I managed to create an ePub. Wanna check it out for me?

Bodhipaksa Nov 16

@Teri_Kanefield I'd love to, thanks!

Teri Kanefield Nov 16

I will DM you

Michel Patrice Nov 14

@Teri_Kanefield

I just gave a very quick look.

I misunderstood or there is a redundancy here : "As the saying goes, your right to swing your fist my fist stops where my nose begins."

Shaula Walko Nov 14

@MichelPatrice @Teri_Kanefield
My dad loved that saying. He used to say it, “Remember, the right to swing your fist ends where the other guy’s nose begins.” Thanks for the reminder. I miss my dad.

Teri Kanefield Nov 14

@shaulawalko @MichelPatrice

Right. It's the problem with the idea of unlimited personal liberty. It can't happen.

I once tried to argue with someone who said personal liberty should be un limited. "Okay so what about your freedom to dump toxins from your factory into the river that flows past my house?" He insisted he could do what he wanted.

Michel Patrice Nov 14

@Teri_Kanefield @shaulawalko

There is comedian Yvon Deschamps who had a monologue about being free. He started by saying how he wanted to free free free free free free.

And while thinking about all the ways he had to think of others and care for others, he no longer wanted to be free free free anymore, just free free.

In the end, he only wanted to be fr.

Shaula Walko Nov 15

@MichelPatrice @Teri_Kanefield
I love that! Thanks for sharing it ☺️

Teri Kanefield Nov 14

Are you looking at the PDF or the website?

I don't see that error on my copy.

Michel Patrice Nov 14

@Teri_Kanefield

At the website.

And just right after, I saw the link to the pdf that says that the pdf supercedes the website.

The error is probably already corrected.

Teri Kanefield Nov 14

@MichelPatrice also refresh the website. I just put the entire PDF onto the website, and I hope I did it right.

Michel Patrice Nov 14

@Teri_Kanefield

There is a lot into this. I will take some time to read this carefully.

Congratulations for your dedication.

Shaula Walko Nov 14

@Teri_Kanefield
Thank you! 🤗

Filipi Limi Nov 14

@Teri_Kanefield I have a few details important to narrative purposes to point out , but they are inconsequential to both the noticeable thoroughness of research done, and the benefit of discussing these things

draNgNon Nov 14

@Teri_Kanefield just to be clear, you are effectively making an Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) available to us as a wonderful gift?

since it's been edited by professional people, you aren't looking for your Fediverse fans to give you feedbacks since that's all done. Right?

(separately, I was talking to a friend not on Fedi about how she is turning someone's personal memoirs into an epub so I linked your post to her. She had been describing the gotchas as font choices and page breaks so it's not as simple as just running a pdf through a software tool.)

Teri Kanefield Nov 14

I intend to make the book free, so this really isn't much of a courtesy.

And yes, it's a chance to tell me if there are errors because it hasn't been published yet.

I now understand that making something free on Amazon isn't as easy as pushing a button, but I'll figure it out.

I have no desire to monetize this.

draNgNon Nov 14

@Teri_Kanefield I will very much read this! Thanks for this effort and grats at getting this far! 🙏 and don't be humble here, it is very much a courtesy.

technically. I think the .mobi for Kindle format means it enters Amazon's rent-seeking ecosystem, but I could be wrong. But you can turn it into a DRM-free .epub format with a variety of tools. Kindle can handle that I think, and other ereaders as well. that said, I suspect doing that will need another round of proofreading.

If you are looking at Amazon, I suggest you also look at bookshop.org and kobo.com for a broader footprint!

Teri Kanefield Nov 14

@draNgNon The only reason I mentioned Amazon is because it seems only Amazon makes it hard to go free.

With the other sites, I can just list it for free, no problem.

Someone just told me that Amazon will make it free if there is public interest, so I think I can get my friends on Mastodon to help with that. It may take reviews somewhere and some clicks. I'll know more after more research.

Dale Reardon Nov 15

@Teri_Kanefield @draNgNon The other way to make it free that I have used in the past is to list for free on a major Amazon competitor and then Amazon has a special price match provision to match the other site/s being free - You just have to find the right way to contact the right team at Amazon and I don't have current details sorry

Stewart Haines Nov 15

@Teri_Kanefield If your ebook production task is creation of an EPUB 3 file for non-commercial distribution without installing anything or grappling with technical EPUB details then your technical staff might be interested in looking at the SEED.html app

https://stewarthaines.com/epub

SEED.html

Convert plain text to EPUB - the simplest way to create EPUB files

@Teri_Kanefield
There’s a lot to study and to like here. Definitely thumbs up. Comments later. If I may.

Darth Hideout 🏳️‍🌈Nov 15

@Teri_Kanefield Thank you. I don’t see a copyright. Is this CC licensed or public domain?

Teri Kanefield Nov 16

Little known fact: A piece of writing does not need to have the (c) symbol in order to be protected. It's not there because I didn't include it in this PDF.

After 1989, anything a person writes is automatically copyrighted.

Things go into the public domain after a certain amount of time, or if the author or creator states that it is public domain.

You always have to ask permission to use something.

Teri Kanefield Nov 16

@darth_hideout That said, I am planning to make it free, so you won't have to worry about it. Right now I'm still chasing down errors and figuring out how to turn it into a Epub file, but I don't intend to charge for it. I don't want to monetize this.

Seán Fenian Nov 16

@Teri_Kanefield @darth_hideout (But you can't actually get statutory damages for copyright violation unless the copyright is registered with the US Copyright Office.)

Teri Kanefield Nov 16

@zakalwe @darth_hideout

You can get actual damages for any thefts before filing.

It shouldn't matter. Don't steal creative work. People own what they create.

As far as this piece I am writing, I am going to make it free, so feel free to share it, but you might want to wait until I've chased down all the errors.

I haven't done any copyright legal work for decades, but when I did, infringement usually happened overseas and there was nothing much to be done anyway.

Teri Kanefield Nov 16

@zakalwe @darth_hideout

I guess my point was that it isn't an either/or.

Things are not either registered or public domain. The creator owns what they create.

Maude Nificent Nov 16

@Teri_Kanefield @maudenificent

thank you!

opalideas Dec 1

@Teri_Kanefield Brilliant.
I made notes about a couple discussion points that I may expand on later, but my primary one is, How in the world can one push an iceberg into a different current while paddling a lifeboat?