#eprdctn on Twitter: An Essential Resource
When I first started making ebooks, I found the Twitter feed #eprdctn (either from Anne-Marie Concepción’s Lynda course on Indesign to EPUB or from Liz Castro’s EPUB Straight to the Point). I signed up for Twitter, got my own handle (@BNGObooks), found a friend to follow me, and I was off.
Now, hundreds of followers and followings later, I’m still on Twitter daily, with a bookmark for the #eprdctn gathering.
What happens there? Simply, folks drop in, ask a question, find an answer, blow off steam, share a discovery, make bad jokes, make good jokes. You post a question and, if you’re lucky, get a response quickly. It’s also common to get a response a day later; folks like to go back through the feed and see what they’ve missed if they’ve been away for a day.
What kinds of questions? PDF, InDesign, Illustrator, Word to EPUB and MOBI; reflowable vs. fixed-layout; semantic markup; accessibility; image + caption issues; getting onto retailers’ bookshelves; almost anything you can think of. I say almost because I expect there are lots of dilemmas noone has run across yet.
And, it’s also great for some company. Many developers work as independent consultants without the benefit of in-office colleagues dropping by for a chat, so it’s a break from the solitude of a small office.
#eprdctn Hour: Tweet There or Be Square
Every Wednesday at 11 AM (EDT), there is an hour of more intense conversation. Sometimes it’s free-form, sometimes it’s structured around a topic. Sometimes it’s hosted by an ebook developer with a particular subject in mind, sometimes not. Whatever a given week’s format, I always come away with valuable info.
Some of us have recently begun signing up to host an hour, with a topic chosen in advance.
This week, Laura Brady brought up job opportunites for ebook developers, from both the hiring and the wanting-to-be-hired perspectives. It was a lively hour—my Twitter feed ran faster than I could read it at some points.
Here’s the conversation in Storify. (Storify is a tool that gathers conversations into a neat package.)
What’s Coming Up?
The next few weeks will bring lots of useful information. Come by to hear what folks are saying, and bring your own insights and examples.
June 17, Joshua Tallent (@jtallent) will lead a chat: Selling directly to consumers: #eprdctn solutions that make it less painful.
June 24, @epubsecrets (@epubsecrets) will host an hour on when to let go of an #eprdctn problem; is the book broken, or not working as you want it to on one or two apps?
July 1, Iris Febres (@epubpupil) will bring a topic everyone’s talking about right now: Storyboarding for Reflowable EPUBs (Skip FXL!)
July 15, Colleen Cunningham (@BookDesignGirl) will get into EPUB3 Now: What is rendering across devices? What is still breaking?
And, in case the Summer isn’t going too fast (before it’s even begun), Laura Brady has an August conversation lined up:
August 12, Laura (@LauraB7) will map out the #eprdctn conference season.
Want To Host an Hour?
Sign up here to lead an hour. Just find an open week and enter the topic and your Twitter handle. We’ll see you there!
If you have an idea for a dedicated hour but don’t want to lead it, leave it in the Comments to this post. Someone will see it and maybe put it on the schedule.
Not on Twitter?
No problem. You don’t need to sign up to Twitter to follow #eprdctn.
Click here and you’ll see the stream.
If you want to join in but need some coaching, here’s a thorough guide to Tweet chats.
Great summary of the depth and value of that Twitter community. Thanks, Kevin!