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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link="#0563C1" vlink="#954F72"><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal>Jochen, <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>FOOD FIGHT! FOOD FIGHT! I absolutely and totally disagree that “everything evolves” [while agreeing that anything that is everything is nothing]. Rocks and tornadoes do not evolve. They change, but the don’t evolve. Evolution (to me) is a very specific pattern of design arising through phylogenetic descent – lineages being bent through time to match their circumstances. I am not entirely sure that some inanimate things don’t evolve. I would have a hard time arguing ferociously that the sorting of pebbles on a beach is not the result of some sort of evolution. I certainly don’t want to define evolution as something that only organisms can do, if only because that turns the assertion, “only organisms evolve” into a nothing, or an everything, depending on how you care to look at it <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>In this matter, as in all matters, Eric will correct me. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Nick <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><div><p class=MsoNormal>Nicholas Thompson<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Emeritus Professor of Ethology and Psychology<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Clark University<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><a href="mailto:ThompNickSon2@gmail.com">ThompNickSon2@gmail.com</a><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><a href="https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson/">https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson/</a><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><div><div style='border:none;border-top:solid #E1E1E1 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in'><p class=MsoNormal><b>From:</b> Friam <friam-bounces@redfish.com> <b>On Behalf Of </b>Jochen Fromm<br><b>Sent:</b> Sunday, July 5, 2020 4:47 AM<br><b>To:</b> The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group <friam@redfish.com><br><b>Subject:</b> Re: [FRIAM] The theory of everything<o:p></o:p></p></div></div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><div><p class=MsoNormal>Russ, I agree. Maybe we found it already, the theory of everything & nothing: Darwin's theory of evolution. It is a theory of everything because everything evolves. It doesn't say anything how fish, insects, dinosaurs, mammals, birds, religions, civilizations, companies, parties or states look like, though. Therefore it is also a theory of nothing. I have to reread your book.<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><a href="https://www.hpcoders.com.au/nothing.html">https://www.hpcoders.com.au/nothing.html</a><o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal>-J.<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:black'>-------- Original message --------<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:black'>From: Russell Standish <<a href="mailto:lists@hpcoders.com.au">lists@hpcoders.com.au</a>> <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:black'>Date: 7/5/20 11:49 (GMT+01:00) <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:black'>To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group <<a href="mailto:friam@redfish.com">friam@redfish.com</a>> <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:black'>Subject: Re: [FRIAM] Book publishing advice needed <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div></div><p class=MsoNormal>Being self-published hasn't stopped my book "Theory of Nothing" from<br>being cited. According to Google Scholar, it has 22 citations, 9th on<br>my list in terms of citation count, just after "Why Occams Razor", a<br>peer reviewed paper on similar topics. It got a bit of a boost from<br>Max Tegmark's book, as he singled it out as inspiration, kind of ironic when it<br>was one of Max's "crazy papers" that inspired me to write "Why Occams<br>Razor" and then "Theory of Nothing".<br><br>I think you need to have a reason to publish a book. Making money is<br>not one them - almost nobody makes money from writing books. Vanity<br>publications ("it looks good on the CV") is another one to avoid. Best<br>bet is if you have a story or a topic that needs telling, and you<br>think would be interesting to other people, then go for it. Marketing <br>then becomes telling other people about it, advancing arguments from<br>it in fora like this. With a bit of luck, it goes viral.<br><br>One good reason for writing academic books is that it gives you<br>expanded scope to explain your ideas more fully, and in less<br>technically forbidding terms. Allows you to expand your readership<br>beyond the narrow circle reading your peer revieed articles. But you<br>probably want those peer reviewed articles to back up/draw upon your<br>book work. That's probably the reason why old academics write books,<br>and young ones write papers.<br><br>In my case, I've self-published 3 books so far: "Theory of Nothing",<br>which has sold over 1000 copies, and perhaps 2-3 times as many free<br>downloads from my website and the usual pirate websites, but in no way<br>does the royalties cover the time I put into it (unless being paid<br>less than a Calcutta rickshaw driver was a career ambition); "Amoeba's<br>Secret", a translation of a semi-autobiography by Bruno Marchal, which<br>was about the clearest exposition he gave of his ideas, and "Magic<br>Cottage", an Anthology of my son's writing, which was quite exquisite,<br>and sadly something he's not really doing now. Magic Cottage proved to<br>be more of a vanity publication than I thought it would be - but<br>partly because he never took up my suggestion of leaving a copy around<br>his college room, now apartment, where it could act as a conversation<br>starter. I also envisaged him using the book when going for jobs that<br>might require writing skills, but it seems he hasn't needed to do that<br>to date.<br><br><br>Cheers<br><br>On Sat, Jul 04, 2020 at 10:25:03PM +0200, Jochen Fromm wrote:<br>> Thanks. Yes, self-publishing is an option. I am looking for an official<br>> publisher mainly for one reason, namely that other scientists and researchers<br>> can cite it, since I still cling to the illusion that someone would actually do<br>> it. Normally self-published texts are not considered as reliable or trustworthy<br>> sources. I didn't expect that finding a decent publisher would be so<br>> difficult. <br>> <br>> -J.<br>> <br>> <br>> -------- Original message --------<br>> From: Tom Johnson <<a href="mailto:tom@jtjohnson.com">tom@jtjohnson.com</a>><br>> Date: 7/4/20 20:10 (GMT+01:00)<br>> To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group <<a href="mailto:friam@redfish.com">friam@redfish.com</a>><br>> Subject: Re: [FRIAM] Book publishing advice needed<br>> <br>> Jochen:<br>> The deal being offered strikes me as a bad deal.<br>> <br>> Background: I have been practicing and teaching about "Be Your Own Publisher"<br>> for nearly 15 years. There are, in my opinion, some major problems with all<br>> publishers today. It starts with control of the copyright. I think YOU should<br>> want to maintain control of the copyright to your work. It will depend on the<br>> contract, but many or most publishers will try to lock down the copyright in<br>> their favor for all -- ALL -- forms of your work in perpetuity and throughout<br>> the universe. Sometimes quite literally.<br>> <br>> Second, you should assume -- especially with a small publisher and you, not<br>> being as well known as Stephen King or Daniel Steele -- the publisher will do<br>> little if anything to promote your book beyond a mention in its catalog and,<br>> maybe, some promotional links on Amazon. Given that, a 5 percent royalty<br>> should be seen as a con.<br>> <br>> Third, given your computing experience, you should find it easy to format and<br>> produce the book yourself. I have used Lulu.com for years. It is especially<br>> good if you want to have both hardback, paperback and PDF editions. Again the<br>> advantages: you keep the copyright, you can set (and change) the prices and to<br>> a degree the royalties. Also, Lulu and Amazon handle all the backend financial<br>> arrangements and administration and pay directly and quickly. I also use a<br>> very good, high quality digital printer in Albuquerque for paperback editions. <br>> It is Lithexcel. It handles all the printing (one copy to any number) quickly,<br>> along with all the fulfillment and accounting. The folks there will also, for<br>> only $25, set up your book in the Amazon inventory search engine. Finally,<br>> there is Amazon's self-publishing arm. While Amazon might take a bigger slice,<br>> the control over all aspects is in your hands.<br>> <br>> Here's the problem/challenge with all of these. YOU have to do the marketing/<br>> publicity/promotion. But so what? If you today sign with any publisher of any<br>> size you will have to do the same thing.<br>> <br>> Hope this helps. Feel free to contact me with questions. Also you might want<br>> to see <a href="https://bit.ly/2ZvihKc">https://bit.ly/2ZvihKc</a> <br>> Tom<br>> <br>> ============================================<br>> Tom Johnson - <a href="mailto:tom@jtjohnson.com">tom@jtjohnson.com</a><br>> Institute for Analytic Journalism -- Santa Fe, NM USA<br>> 505.577.6482(c) 505.473.9646(h)<br>> NM Foundation for Open Government<br>> Check out It's The People's Data <br>> ============================================<br>> <br>> <br>> <br>> [icon-] Virus-free. <a href="http://www.avast.com">www.avast.com</a><br>> <br>> <br>> <br>> On Fri, Jul 3, 2020 at 1:29 AM Jochen Fromm <<a href="mailto:jofr@cas-group.net">jofr@cas-group.net</a>> wrote:<br>> <br>> At one end of the spectrum there are the 5 big commercial publishers<br>> Hachette, HarperCollins, Macmillan, Penguin Random House and Simon &<br>> Schuster. They only publish stuff their agents select to make a lot of<br>> money. There are also the big academic publishers like OUP, CUP, HUP and<br>> MIT Press, which preferably publish strictly peer-reviewed content from<br>> professors at Ivy League universities who made their PhD at the age of 20.<br>> <br>> At the other end of the spectrum there are "predatory publishers" who<br>> publish anything you submit as long as you pay enough money for it. Open<br>> access books can also be very expensive. Publishing an "open access book"<br>> at De Gruyter for example costs up to 8000 $. You pay for it so that other<br>> people read it. It is basically some kind of advertising of your own work.<br>> <br>> For my own new book I finally have an offer from a small publisher in<br>> Washington D.C. who is somewhere in the middle of the spectrum. They are<br>> really small and offer 5% royalties. Should I accept this offer or wait for<br>> a better one? It is the only one from more than 25 publishers I have asked,<br>> and the publishers at the moment are flooded with submissions. :-/<br>> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2020/mar/26/">https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2020/mar/26/</a><br>> novel-writing-during-coronavirus-crisis-outbreak<br>> <br>> -J.<br>> - .... . -..-. . -. -.. -..-. .. ... -..-. .... . .-. .<br>> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv<br>> Zoom Fridays 9:30a-12p Mtn GMT-6 bit.ly/virtualfriam<br>> un/subscribe <a href="http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com">http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com</a><br>> archives: <a href="http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/">http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/</a><br>> FRIAM-COMIC <a href="http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/">http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/</a><br>> <br><br>> - .... . -..-. . -. -.. -..-. .. ... -..-. .... . .-. .<br>> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv<br>> Zoom Fridays 9:30a-12p Mtn GMT-6 bit.ly/virtualfriam<br>> un/subscribe <a href="http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com">http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com</a><br>> archives: <a href="http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/">http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/</a><br>> FRIAM-COMIC <a href="http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/">http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/</a> <br><br><br>-- <br><br>----------------------------------------------------------------------------<br>Dr Russell Standish Phone 0425 253119 (mobile)<br>Principal, High Performance Coders <a href="mailto:hpcoder@hpcoders.com.au">hpcoder@hpcoders.com.au</a><br> <a href="http://www.hpcoders.com.au">http://www.hpcoders.com.au</a><br>----------------------------------------------------------------------------<br><br>- .... . -..-. . -. -.. -..-. .. ... -..-. .... . .-. .<br>FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv<br>Zoom Fridays 9:30a-12p Mtn GMT-6 bit.ly/virtualfriam<br>un/subscribe <a href="http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com">http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com</a><br>archives: <a href="http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/">http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/</a><br>FRIAM-COMIC <a href="http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/">http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/</a> <o:p></o:p></p></div></body></html>