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Matthew Chan’s choice of title, TurnKey Publishing, is perfect in describing the contents of his book – a wealth of information – truly a basic primer on the subject. He has included every facet of self publishing anyone would need to know in order to have a thorough grasp of the subject.

The book comprises such aspects as: what to write about, budgeting and setting aside of funds toward eventual expenditures, costing, forming your own publishing company, design ideas for the book cover, use of photos, printing options, getting an ISBN number, etc. Matthew covers it all.

Not only does he explain the topics in simple understandable terms, but he tells “how to” in a way that makes it easy for any reader to use and apply the material.

This book is one of my top choices, a “must read” roadmap for anyone contemplating the route of self-publishing and wanting to avoid the potholes with the result of having a successfully journey.

Part 1 of 3.

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Part 2 of 3

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Part 3 of 3.

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Partial Q&A sessions

There will continue to be celebrities and other people who have large platforms that will continue to make the remaining New York Publishers viable.  But the Long Tail effect will continue to lengthen shattering the current obsolete book publishing and distribution models.  There will be much more free content produced by authors that will monetize their efforts in other ways than from their books.

As more authors become more empowered and understand their position in the new publishing marketplace, even the best authors will consider moving off in a different direction UNLESS New York publishing accommodates them or moves with them. But I see very little of that because most employees are fundamentally not entrepreneurial. Or if they are, they are not in an environment that will support them.

Many employees within New York Publishing will find their skills obsoleted in much the same way old-style typesetters were put out of business when desktop publishing software became popular.

Those employees who continue to chase positions with the big publishers will be participating in a game of musical chairs except that the chairs being removed will taken away dozens if not hundreds at a time.  Their only hope is to find another career or morph into providing contract services to empowered authors.  However, I believe most authors will NOT take on New York publishing’s ex-employees.  They expect too much pay and the culture shock will be too great. It will probably be better for many to home-grow their own professionals or find those people who are experienced in being independent contractors.

Book publishing will continue to have its place.  Books won’t go away.  But with many more authors producing more independent titles, it will dilute the power and influence of most New York publishers.

And if you are bothered by this article, ask yourself why?  I am only one unknown guy writing on little-read blog right?  There is no power in this one lonely blog post, right?  After all, a prediction does not make it fact.  If I am wrong, I have little to lose.  But if I am right, there are LOTS of people in for a lot of financial and career pain.

Word of the the day:  TITANIC

Here is a fairly substantial video from TOC Conference 2008 that was brought to my attention on Twitter.

Without fully divulging the details of our email exchange, Jack Sallay did bring to light some information I did not previously know regarding the company and founder, Brad Inman and how the Vook company interacts with the major publishers.

I asked some pointed questions. He answered some and disregarded others. I did tell him that that I had every intent of being fair and accurate in my review. But I did make known that my biggest issue with Vook had mostly to do with their proprietary and closed approach to incorporating video with the book experience.

Quite frankly, I credit the folks at Vook for hugely accelerating my plans.  There is so much press activity right now with the newly-announced Nook by Barnes and Noble and the just-released Vook.  As an underdog publisher with my own plans, there was no way I could be silent especially when their plans are in direct conflict with mine.

Although Vook and I are not direct competitors in the traditional sense and actually agree on many of the larger concepts, I think we are significantly different in our approach. I believe they have a niche that will be suitable for certain clients, publishers, and authors.  But make no mistake, open standards will rule the day.

Even Bill Gates and mighty Microsoft could not stop the open standard movement that started in the 1990′s until today with the Internet, Linux, Internet Browsers, and the like.  The mighty music recording industry has been brought down to their knees in recent years with the iPod and MP3.  The giant old-school newspaper industry are collapsing around us with free news sites and active bloggers.  And now the traditional publishing industry is next in the economic crosshairs for their eventual erosion and perhaps even collapse with the advent of print-on-demand, self-marketing, ebooks, and other innovations.

In its place, there will be a HUGE movement of self-published authors and independent, non-traditional publishers will rise in its place.  It is already happening but most employees within New York publishing and traditional publishing are oblivious.  But that doesn’t bother me too much because it works to my advantage.

What I won’t let go without a big fight is let the proponents of the traditional publishing industry dictate and brainwash the lesser-resourced and perhaps less-technically-oriented self-publishers and the independent publishers that the “big guys” can “takeover” and establish the “new standard” and conversation of including/incorporating video with the book reading experience.

The standards and the open technology exist today. The technically-savvy already have insights of what I am planning.  But what does NOT YET exist is a professional sample of the true-to-life implementation. In the absence of anyone stepping out, I have decided I will provide a Version 1.0 implementation that will work from Day 1.

I don’t really have time to wait for “someone else” to do it.  I intend to take my case direct to self-published authors and independent publishers and empower them by showing them my version.  With all the creativity and mindshare, they can then take what I have done and build and expand upon it.

Stay tuned for more updates in the days to come.

However, from what I have seen from the Simon & Schuster “sample” “vook”, it is offensive to my sensibilities because, once again, New York publishers are trying to take a proprietary approach to something I believe is relatively simple to implement but trying to lock out other parties.

I am a proponent for the the independent author and publisher who wants to reputably take their work directly to the open market. To date, I have mostly seen “cheese” because people make very little effort to respect some publishing conventions.

I had already made plans to make an announcement on a different note but this whole proprietary vook thing has got me bothered.  I launched “The TurnKey Publisher” series as a direct attack and alternative to the traditional publishing model but now comes the vook.

As such, I feel I need to respond rapidly. I don’t have time to write a book on it, so I am simply taking my proof of concept and giving it away.  Essentially, it is my hope to put a damper to any proprietary vook / video books formats.

On December 1, I will be releasing my non-proprietary version of the vook for FREE.  I will also be providing instructions how to do it for FREE.  My Twitter subscribers will be the first to find out about this. With any luck, people who like what they see will spread the word and rally around this open-implementation of vook.

It appears that Ari Hinnant has is carrying out her threats to smear my name through fake stories of my being a pedophile, child rapist, and molester. Anyone knows if I was, in fact, these things I would be reported and registered in the state Sex Offender databases around the U.S.

It is simple enough to check anyone’s Sex Offender background on:

• National Sex Offender Public Website -  National search provided by U.S. Dept. of Justice
• Ancestor Hunt – Links to each of the 50 states Sex Offender Registry.
• Family Watchdog – National and state search on Sex Offenders.

She sent me this email last night.  Please note that she has not stated what “offenses” I have supposedly committed.  She is just going to report me to the authorities.  For what I ask? For telling the truth of her online shenanigans?

Matt,

I have reported you to the FBI, BBB, All your social networks and local police.  I will be taking further actions against you and your business. All future correspondences will be forwarded to the FBI and my attorney.

Ms. Hinnant

My initial response to her was this:

Ari,

What exactly will you report as you are the one who has been scamming people and lying to people with your products?  You have impersonated people.  You plagiarize people.  You hire people without paying them.  You get shut down by ecommerce companies.  In fact, I caught you and the proof is posted.  I suppose you will go make something up as you continue to do. I have screen shots of payment companies shutting you down and so forth.  I am keeping records on everything you send me.

You brought this on yourself.  If you had not persisted in spamming the business area I was in, I would never have investigated you.  I could not stay silent while you tried to take advantage of the community I participate in.

I have no wish to waste any of my time coming across your fake posts and messages.  I see you have removed your website so I am willing to “hide” those blog posts.  But if you persist on, I will spend money on information services to dig out more personal information on you.  I don’t want to waste my money but if you are hell bent on tarnishing my reputation by concocting stories, be prepared.

It is your choice how you want to proceed.  Believe it or not, I have much better things to do than to keep investigating you.  I am willing to stop but you need to stop engaging in your fraudulent and spamming activities where I participate.  You let me know what you want.  This can all go away quickly.  But if you want to do it the hard way, then I can play hardball too.

I have way more to report on you than me.  The only way you can report something on me is if you fabricate something (which I know you have already done).  Do you want to escalate this or do you want to back it down?  I prefer that everyone go back to their own lives and mind their own business.

Matthew Chan

My second response to her made today was:

Ari,

I have seen evidence of your handiwork on the whole Pedophile accusation thing.  Everyone knows if I was, in fact, a pedophile, I would be required to register my name to the state and I would have a criminal record.  I am happy to say that, aside from the occasional traffic ticket, I have no criminal record which is easily verifiable to anyone who cares.

Just realize, I am printing screens of everything I find from you.  As usual, you have taken to impersonating other people to make these accusations. This is very transparent. If and when it comes to the point where there is “enough” evidence or destructive behavior, I have every intention to seek criminal prosecution not simply make online reports.

At this point, I am willing to let everything go away.  But just realize if you persist, I will be an aggressive fighter and I will reach out to your family and friends to inform them of your shenanigans. Believe it or not, I don’t have an axe to grind here but if you perpetuate in this smear campaign, I will become very angry.

If I find more fake smears, then I will no longer give you a courtesy warning.  You can simply expect I will be taking actions to the fullest extent I am able.  There will be no warnings anymore.

Matthew Chan

I have made screen prints of everything I discover along the way. Thus far, she has attempted to smear my name on:

• Scribd
• Twitter
• ArticlesBase
• RipOffReport

There is probably more on the way that I will have to keep track of.  I will be updating this post as I gather ongoing evidence.

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On May 17, 2010, I received 2 fake comments on this blog post by “Zorro” who uses the name “Ann Alloria”. WordPress is an impressive piece of software and reveals a lot of information regarding anyone that posts comments to this blog. Look below. The IP address and ISP being used is identical to the ones I listed before relating to Ari Hinnant and all the other aliases she has been using.

Author : zorro (IP: 74.128.166.84 , 74-128-166-84.dhcp.insightbb.com) E-mail : ann.alloria@gmail.com

Whois  : http://ws.arin.net/cgi-bin/whois.pl?queryinput=74.128.166.84

Comment:

I’m read and have worked with Ari and she’s amazing and I love her books. I think you have the wrong person.  All her books have a money back guarantee… so, I’m confused about what you’re talking about.

I heard that Matthew who owns this blog is a child sex offender and thinks that Ari is another person who wrote an article about him.

Ann Alloria

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Author : zorro (IP: 74.128.166.84 , 74-128-166-84.dhcp.insightbb.com) E-mail : ann.alloria@gmail.com

Whois  : http://ws.arin.net/cgi-bin/whois.pl?queryinput=74.128.166.84

Comment:

I actually know Ari and she is a wonderful person. She has given away over 50,000 books to the poor.  I’m confused, how can she scam people if she sells books and has a 30 day money back guarantee?

Anyway, I heard that Matthew (Owner of this blog) is a child sex offender and someone named Ari wrote an article about it and he is blaming the wrong person.

Believe what you want, I love her books and I know her personally.

Ann Alloria

I also found independent complaints/reports on Ari Hinnant / Ari Zkari that I found to be good reading. One relates to Living-in-bliss and the other is Verifiee.  Apparently, she engages in sexual services too. I wish I could take credit for this report but I cannot. Someone else besides me have found Ari Hinnant’s behavior disgusting and unethical and felt the need to report on her.

You can read about the two prior encounters here:

Ari C. Hinnant – Red Flags for a Possible Scam/Rip-off Artist

Ari C. Hinnant is Definitely a Fraud and Scam Artist

Anyhow, you would think she learned her lesson and keep a low profile.  So, on a LinkedIn Group, she makes this post in a group full of experienced publishers, authors, editors, writers, etc.  Everyone knows she is running a scam because of what she wrote which I have pasted here.

Tips on Selling over 100,000 books for the fearless author

Hello fellow fearless writers,

I’m going to tell you step-by-step how I sold over 100,000 books. I will make this process effortless.

1. Create an explosive book. The title must be off the hook! The book and title must be irresistible! Inside the book, the first page my have 10 plus bullet points one what is inside the book. Once again, they must be irresistible. Once your book, website and publishing’s company is complete its time to hit the street.

2. Book hundreds of radio interviews.

3. Advertise on TV, cable, radio, etc..

4. Most importantly, own all your work. Create your own publishing company. Do not give your power or money away.

If you want me to show you how to sell tons of books… let me know. I will show you how to sell over 250,000 books in 18 months or less. Effortlessly.

Contact me at: ari@changeyourlife.org

Tell me.  Does that smell like a scam or not?  And get this, the LinkedIn Account holder is named Bliss L. but the message says to contact Ari!  Yet another fake name and account.

Anyhow, everyone is piling on with wise cracks of her claims.  I share my prior investigation and the moderator Judy (a consummate publishing pro in her field) thanks me.

So, I get this email tonight from an “arnold lewis”.  It is a bit sick but it proves what a nutjob Ari is.

I was going to buy a book from you… then I read that you are a child rapist on Linkdn.  Now I know why you write such mean things about people.  I’m going to spread the word that you are a pedophile.  I will make sure that every social network knows about your past.

Let’s assume for a minute that what she said was true.  Who the heck says to themselves, “Gee, that looks like a great book.  I think I want to buy it. BUT, she “reads” through some LinkedIn post that the author is supposedly a child rapist?  Imagine that.  LinkedIn is where a whole bunch of networking and business discussions are going on and someone just conveniently discovers a little-known “news flash” about a child rapist.

So this “arnold lewis” supposedly has just met me and now feels the need to spread word about me being a pedophile.

The investigator within me decides to look at the email headers.  This is what I find.

Return-Path: <arnoldlewisjr@gmail.com>
Received: from psmtp.com (exprod7mx264.postini.com [64.18.2.118])
by new.ascendbeyond.com (8.13.1/8.13.1) with SMTP id n9G8IWZi023651
for <matt2@ascendbeyond.com>; Fri, 16 Oct 2009 04:18:32 -0400
Received: from source ([209.85.212.177]) by exprod7mx264.postini.com ([64.18.6.14]) with SMTP;
Fri, 16 Oct 2009 08:18:32 GMT
Received: by vws7 with SMTP id 7so986318vws.18
for <matt2@ascendbeyond.com>; Fri, 16 Oct 2009 01:18:31 -0700 (PDT)
DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed;
d=gmail.com; s=gamma;
h=domainkey-signature:mime-version:received:date:message-id:subject
:from:to:content-type;
bh=AjyFk7niymcVApoCZlNk74TfIsmIK1tCY8ea++XKkx8=;
b=tH+dHLaTqT52JpiM+hCYI3HsfhFwDcaOTLLN2RKHvO8H2HEquP52wikr8lzCf0Kt3a
NSOJNJtIYWDjVHqy4p/Xpcuyey0MGHv3TkJukzqA5AX2uuR3hf3MML4NF4s3/DQHkcNu
sFOHXJRh48ggnfogFd/tAb7RPZLl92mGGwbr4=
DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; c=nofws;
d=gmail.com; s=gamma;
h=mime-version:date:message-id:subject:from:to:content-type;
b=q6l0ZtZRa7LySCOr7WKyhCn+KeIgJKH0NXNqvIk7D7JS3wC/mx2QAJ3HiJdmv/yc3E
szDYvLvbpAM5D6Xypf75++5VqBQY1DM4rJk6HZ79W1WzvWVmDo0sKyIJ0NSm4vVwmMqR
h92+JYWw+vgo4OBWY0gxpv3LKpRPXdVvadpQA=
MIME-Version: 1.0
Received: by 10.220.89.4 with SMTP id c4mr2533203vcm.38.1255681111739; Fri, 16
Oct 2009 01:18:31 -0700 (PDT)
Date: Fri, 16 Oct 2009 03:18:31 -0500
Message-ID: <34c023970910160118q2a7f64c6wdb92a6970e07c999@mail.gmail.com>
Subject: Sex offender
From: arnold lewis <arnoldlewisjr@gmail.com>
To: matt2@ascendbeyond.com
Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary=0016363b925e9dccba0476090aaa
X-pstn-neptune: 0/0/0.00/0
X-pstn-levels:     (S: 5.72949/99.90000 CV:99.9000 FC:95.5390 LC:95.5390 R:95.9108 P:95.9108 M:97.0282 C:98.6951 )
X-pstn-settings: 1 (0.1500:0.1500) cv gt3 gt2 gt1 p
X-pstn-addresses: from <arnoldlewisjr@gmail.com> [db-null]
Received-SPF: pass (new.ascendbeyond.com: domain of arnoldlewisjr@gmail.com designates 64.18.2.118 as permitted sender) receiver=new.ascendbeyond.com; client-ip=64.18.2.118; helo=psmtp.com; envelope-from=arnoldlewisjr@gmail.com; x-software=spfmilter 0.97 http://www.acme.com/software/spfmilter/ with libspf2-1.0.0;

Now, I am no expert here but I do some poking around to check where this email is coming from.  Clearly, it is being sent from a Gmail address (which Ari is infamous for using). What do you think the chances the email sender’s real name is “arnoldlewisjr”?  I would have to say “arnold” is “ari”.  If you study her writing patterns and languaging, it is consistently bad English!

Anyhow, based on past behavior patterns, it did not take long to figure out who it was.  For the record, this was my reply to Ari Hinnant and “arnoldlewisjr”:

Ari Hinnant,

You are fooling no one.  You are once against impersonating someone.

If you decide to post these false allegations, you better believe that I will be tracking you down personally and hold you responsible for such actions.  I suggest you watch yourself.

You are the one who has been scamming people.  Jennifer Cole knows it, another editor knows it, and I know it.  All of your messages will be traced I promise you.

Matthew

I truly hope I don’t have to write about this again but when someone is going to make some outrageous statement about me that has no basis in fact, you have to fight it even if it is a nutjob.  And the best way to fight it is to just make it public to defuse it.