Jason Crawford - Latest Comments

Re: Startup idea: Turnkey self-publishing service for authors

Sunil Garg — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 05:47:25 -0000

Isn't that exactly how the fee-for-service model is supposed to work? I don't have any personal experience with CreateSpace, so can you expand more on why you don't think it's ideal?

Re: Startup idea: Turnkey self-publishing service for authors

Doris-Maria Heilmann — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 21:47:24 -0000

Sunil, CreateSpace lets you pay for all the author services and on top of that they charge a fee for each book sold.
Not ideal...

Re: Startup idea: Turnkey self-publishing service for authors

Steven — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 10:28:24 -0000

We have helped thousands of authors publish their own books for over 20 years. Bookpublishing.com Ask for Steve!

Re: Startup idea: Turnkey self-publishing service for authors

publification.com — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 01:47:41 -0000

Our team at www.Publification.com is working on an innovative solution to your needs. If you would like to be a beta tester - let us know (yrjo @ publification.com) and we will give you an invite and personalized support service

Re: Startup idea: Turnkey self-publishing service for authors

Leonard Fernandes — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 23:19:26 -0000

Jason, I think there are many who provide this kind of service including us at www.cinnamonteal.in. Now phase 2 is a good idea. Something like http://unbound.co.uk/ perhaps?

Re: Startup idea: Turnkey self-publishing service for authors

Burgess Laughlin — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 07:51:33 -0000

Here is my summary of why the publishing process takes so long:

http://www.drmcdougall.com/for...

Shorter, simpler books take less time. The point is that the pubiishing process, as tedious as it may seem to some, _benefits_ the author by challenging him with contrary opinions (from editors, about his writing) and designers (about the "look" of the book).

Re: Startup idea: Turnkey self-publishing service for authors

Burgess Laughlin — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 07:38:59 -0000

I can vouch for the quality of CreateSpace, an Amazon affiliate that can work closely with Amazon (which is a relief). I was very pleased with all the editing, proofreading, page design, and printing support they gave me. The only problem I had was with cover design. Even though I had already paid for a complete, premium package, including cover design, I went to a friend who is a graphic designer. Together we worked out the simple, bold (internet display friendly) design that now appears on _The Power and the Glory_.

http://www.reasonversusmystici...

The suggested rough designs I received from CS were not as good. However, I am confident that I could have worked out a satisfactory solution with them, with a few rounds of discussion and thumbnails of the cover.

Regardless of the path chosen, through CS or not, any author needs to accept the fact that the publication process is long and very detailed. For a full-length, scholarly book, expect one to one and half years from the completed manuscript to a printed copy for sale.

Re: Startup idea: Turnkey self-publishing service for authors

jasoncrawford — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 03:07:00 -0000

Didn't know about them. Looks cool.

Re: Startup idea: Turnkey self-publishing service for authors

Sunil Garg — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 03:03:00 -0000

Aside from the fund-raising component that he used Kickstarter for, isn't this exactly what CreateSpace offers?

Re: How to work with “stupid” people

Jojo — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 13:48:12 -0000

What are you talking about when you say america? cause america is the whole continent you know. now see why "the US is being dumbed down".

Re: How to work with “stupid” people

Jenny — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 13:43:41 -0000

What if most people are stupid? will you still expect yourself to be at the same level of intelligence than most people?

Re: How to work with “stupid” people

Jenny3223 — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 13:33:38 -0000

You should read the last part of the article it clearly explains a good solution. "Choose your battles. You don’t have to get your way in every disagreement". Your friend is just stupid, most of the time other people realize that but say nothing. and if they think the same way your friend does, it's because they're stupid too.

Re: How to work with “stupid” people

Jenny — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 13:16:23 -0000

It's a good article, but I totally agree with you 'cause it's like trying to think the same way they do and they might be wrong and that makes us stupid too.

Re: How to work with “stupid” people

Jenny3223 — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 13:03:24 -0000

i agreed with you davidi before you posted that last comment

Re: How to work with “stupid” people

Jenny — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 12:52:55 -0000

I think david is one of those stupid people difficult to work with, that will never let others point out his stupidity by giving stupid aguments trying to defend his stupid comment .

Re: How to work with “stupid” people

Videogold — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 17:27:56 -0000

So let's say I do all that you say, paying particular attention to the way others judge the world, and how that relates to my own perspective, thus attempting to bridge that divide of human social interaction, meanwhile, they spend no time even thinking about what I might be thinking, could not possibly care less, and go on there merry way actin how they have always acted. Now who's stupid?

Re: User-generated content? Bah!

Atul Kapur — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 02:28:43 -0000

That's why innovators like Jobs and Bezos are called "visionaries"!

Re: How to work with “stupid” people

Rackshom — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 01:08:19 -0000

I am well aware of semantic noise, and it is a combination of poor cognitive ability and semantic noise. The thing is, this person is my friend. I am frustrated over this, and I don't want to hold it against him personally, but I feel that this is making me very upset, not just because of him, but because the majority of people do this as well. I cannot persuade them and motivate them, they are singleminded and again, think nothing beyond the first step of logic. He said that it was unacceptable for me to do it, but that he did it because "my tiny brain" couldn't comprehend the message. If he thought beyond this however, I am sure any person with the intelligence level of a ten-year old would realize that I repeat a message to get a point across as well. He makes a "serious" accusation and does not let me explain myself, but I am sure he believes in trial by jury. I will restate my point if it did not come across as clear the first time, I want a way to make sure that they think beyond the first step, as these people LITERALLY just stop thinking about an idea, and refuse to accept any comment otherwise, as soon as they reach the first "sensical" conclusion. I believe that if I can get people to think beyond the first sensical conclusion, "God must be real because the Bible say's so, and we know the Bible's real because God wrote it," and think beyond to other possiblities: "A cycle of unverifiable logic is hardly a validation of religion, but, science is based on the what is logical at the moment, but things are still unknown, and every fact we know about science is bound to change at some point. Therefore, modern science is actually no more valid than religion"

Re: How to work with “stupid” people

jasoncrawford — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 23:20:25 -0000

Hi Rackshom. You clearly got very fired up about this; you must be having some very frustrating interactions with people. If they don't seem to be listening to you, or don't seem to be thinking carefully, it may be one of the emotional, cognitive, or psychological problems I listed in the last couple sections of the article.

Or, it may actually be that the people you've been talking to are stupid—or irrational, or muddleheaded, or otherwise confused. In that case, re-evaluate why you're talking to them in the first place. What do you have to gain?

You can't make people listen to you, or force them. All you can do is persuade them and motivate them. If that doesn't work—go somewhere else and talk to more intelligent, clearheaded, rational, logical people.

Re: How to work with “stupid” people

Rackshom — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 23:19:05 -0000

It's not a refusal to utilize it, it's a learned behavioral trait that makes such utilization unnecessary. You learn to think from only your own perspective, and not to consider other perspectives, you learn that once a conclusion makes sense, it is conclusively correct, despite the fact that it only makes sense in a specific set of cases, meaning it isn't 100% accurate yet. It is not that they do not utilize their intelligence, it is that they have adopted a system that doesn't need to. I will assume you play videogames, and know what I'm talking about. It is like how you can run Crysis 2 on an Alienware computer, but you can also run DOOM. The intelligent attitude is symbolized by Crysis, and the stupid attitude is symbolized by DOOM. However, the Alienware is a person with a higher IQ, and a dumber person, (an original dell computer, let's say from the early 1990's), can run DOOM but not Crysis. The Alienware has much more power, but DOOM is a simple program and does not need more processing power. A smart person can easily take a retarded attittude.

Re: How to work with “stupid” people

Rackshom — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 23:09:20 -0000

Not quite, I'd flag myself as only five or ten points higher (at most, I would really expect myself to be at the same level of intelligence) then most people. However, the quality that leads me to believe somebody to be moronic is the lack of utilization of thinking skills. And, the article does not apply to me, as I do not judge intelligence on the results, but the method of argument. And it has become apparent to me that, despite the steps of communication are receiving, interpretting, evaluating, responding, most simply skip to interpretting. This is the trait I believe to be stupid in a peer. The attitude, not the answer.

Re: How to work with “stupid” people

Rackshom — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 23:04:50 -0000

The point he is trying to get across is that we mislabel people as stupid. However, I truthfully think that none of the communicative errors he lists are problems I generally create. These problems do exist, but only on the other person's side. I try to listen, but the other person just tell's me to shut up when I respond. That is the stupidity I am trying to learn to cope with.

Re: How to work with “stupid” people

Rackshom — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 23:02:36 -0000

It does, but it assumes we label other people stupid when we disagree, it does not take into consideration the fact that, when I call a person "stupid", I mean a flaw in the way the person argues, not a flaw in the argument itself. Although one is commonly found where the other rests.

Re: How to work with “stupid” people

Rackshom — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 23:00:21 -0000

I do not agree. They are fully capable as human beings. While I do agree that the truly stupid people are frustrating to work with, they still have applications. I hate stupidity, but not the people it affects, so I can see that they cannot help being ignorant shitheads. However, even if they have an astonishingly low mental power, they still can be friends. Of course, many conflicts with my "stupid" friends arise from their refusals to listen to anything that invalidates their views, I still view them as friends. And, I am sure that they, while not contributing extra, will at least return an equal amount as the effort put into raising them. But, what we have to realize, or at least I have to realize if I am the only person how view intelligence the same way I do, is that, maybe I am just as stupid as they are. They press their opinions on us and expect them to accept their values without intelligent reason, true, but why argue with them? I do not know for sure why they do not listen when you point out loopholes, flaws, and exceptions to their logic, but if it is a fear of being wrong, then I cannot complain, for my hatred of such stupidity blooms from a twin bud. I hate being right. I hate it when, I see something that makes me believe myself to be right about something, and they don't listen. I hate it when people think I"m wrong, when I'm right. The very things I hate about stupidity are caused by attributes I have myself. We need to understand that they have all the same mental functions, and the only difference is that ours work together, instead of individually functioning.

Re: How to work with “stupid” people

Rackshom — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 22:39:35 -0000

This was absolutely useless. The normal kind of disagreement is one I view as a contrasting view based on different levels of thought and knowledge. You cannot expect two people, even of the same intellectual level, to think the same thoughts all the time. The kind of idiot I have a problem with is the kind that does not use his brain in an argument. The way I got to this page was by googling "How to make stupid people listen" and this was the closest I could find under any similar search query. Why would I want them to listen? Because it is my belief that, while not a surefire sign, the willingness to press your own morality and views on another person without listening to his view on morality is a very good indicator of stupidity. For example, such a person recently told me that nobody like someone who say's something and then keeps on saying it over and over again, and when I tried to point out he kept on saying this over and over again, he said it was because my mind can't comprehend it. I tried to explain to him the reason I say things over and over again is because in intellectual converation, most cannot understand my thoughts, so I have to give examples and restate it multiple times to make sure they get the big picture, so I've gotten to the point where I do it by default, which became a habit that carried on to everyday conversation. I tried to explain this, but he just told me to shut up and that I was an idiot, and refused to listen. He tells me that my views are twisted and evil, and when I try to explain to him the flaws in his reasoning, he just refuses to let me speak. I tried to google "how to make stupid people listen", but this was the closest damn thing I could find under that or any similar query. I need advice on how to make force stupid people to listen. I do not want to be able to tolerate a person I have a severe disagreement with, as that is actually not the bad part. I want to know how to make an actual person that you can conclude is stupid based on a lack of logical thought to conceive of traits he chooses to criticize, and refuses to hear any further, therefore not ever hearing anything to show exceptions and flws in his logic. I want to be able to effectively make these people respect the idea that not listenting is the stupidest thing you can do.