Under Construction – A Book About Hype (Print Edition)

Now that the Widgets app is in better shape, the plan is to finally work on a new version of A Book About Hype. While I love working on Widgets, I also love the community at forums.tumult.com! People have been asking for the book. I feel bad for not publishing an updated edition – especially since Tumult put extra work into improving the Physics API. Today, I decided to make it official. Work on the 2020 edition of A Book About Hype has officially begun.

After much discussion on the Tumult forums about the format for this book, the plan for 2020 edition of “A Book About Hype” is to make it a printed book. It will be a hardcover (so posh) 8.25″ x 10.75″ (500 pages) book, for $49.50.

FAQ

Bro, why are you making a printed book? Hype is animation software!

Many different formats were considered… another eBook, an App, videos on YouTube/Vimeo… ultimately, print won out. These are the reasons.

• More people prefer printed books — It’s shocking, in this digital age, but apparently true.
• It’s the only printed Hype 4 book — As far as I know, it would be the only printed book about Hype 4. (If there is such a book, I don’t see it listed on the Tutorials page.) Other people have created all sorts of digital content for Hype. The aim is to grow the pie, not divide it.
• It’s faster to create — With a book, I don’t have to worry about responsive design, dark mode, cross-platform compatibility or any other technical matters. I can simply open my word processor and get to work.
• It’s good for education — If someone wants to teach a credit-bearing (🐻) course, a book is typically part of the syllabus. While a book might not be required, it certainly helps to legitimize the class.
• It worked for Flash — While Hype is animation software, so was Flash. One of my favorite resources for learning about that software was a printed book.

What about templates? How are you going to include those?

I haven’t fully decided yet, but I’m thinking about posting the templates on photics.com as free downloads. The alternative is a private download section for book owners. The latter is higher maintenance, while the former could be good promotion for the book. Feedback may determine the outcome.

I already bought a digital copy of A Book About Hype, should I buy this one?

Much of the content will likely be similar or the same. Unless you like having a physical copy of the book, you probably don’t need it. There will be new content though, such as covering the changes in the software since version 3.6.

Dude, $50 is a lot of money! Why so expensive?!

Don’t forget shipping! Yes, printed books are expensive, especially ones with hard covers. Yet, I believe this is exactly what Hype needs to further legitimize itself. People generally don’t have serendipitous conversations about ebook files that are hidden away on hard drives. There’s something special about a book.

The plan is to use Lulu.com for on-demand printing. For a book of this nature, the price seems competitive. But if you are cost conscious, as you should be, then just wait for Lulu to have a sale. Here’s an example of one going on today (12/1/2019)…

OK, I like what I’m seeing. I want to buy a copy of this book. When can I do that?

The plan is to release this book in the first-half of 2020. It’s my New Year’s Resolution.

But I like the Widgets app! Isn’t development on that app going to suffer?

In the short-term, probably. While that project is not considered done, it does take massive mental focus. With this book project in the back of my mind, I’m distracted. Also, with some technical issues from Apple’s side, I could use a change of pace while those problems are worked out. However, while future development of the Widgets app is not guaranteed, there’s a nice update in the works.

The plan is to work hard, in order to keep both communities happy. 🙂

What topics are you going to cover in the book?

The idea is to thoroughly cover Hype, from getting started with Hype to using it in a professional setting. Some parts will be more useful for Web Designers, while other parts will be more interesting to Web Developers. Some stuff for Marketing folks is planned too. The hope is that if you’re a designer, you’ll learn more about development — and vise-versa.

 

So, that’s the plan. It might still change, but probably not. Once I start a project, I become obsessed until I finish it. This project has officially started.