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New product line: In 30 Minutes video classes

By Blog, News, Video

Google Drive & Docs In 30 Minutes video classes

Publisher i30 Media is pleased to announce a new product line: In 30 Minutes video classes. We’re starting with the Google Drive & Docs In 30 Minutes video course (For a limited time, available at a 25% discount on Gumroad or available as a video class on Udemy), but will expand to other topics soon. You can learn more about the Google Drive and Docs video here, and we will also distribute the class to other online educational platforms.

The idea for In 30 Minutes video classes has been around almost as long as the book series. Around the same time the ebook and paperback versions of Google Drive & Docs In 30 Minutes were launched, i30 Media posted a series of short video screencasts on YouTube. They were very popular — one video that shows how to convert a PDF to Microsoft Word or Google Docs has garnered tens of thousands of views. Would people be interested in watching a longer video course about Google’s free online office suite? The popularity of the YouTube videos indicated that the answer was probably “yes” … but it would require a lot of work, ranging from writing a script to setting up a studio to shoot the on-screen narrations and screencast demonstrations.

What’s inside the Google Drive & Google Docs video class?

Here’s an excerpt from the description of Google Drive & Docs In 30 Minutes (video class):

This 30-minute class is narrated by the author of the top-selling guide, Google Drive & Google Docs In 30 Minutes. The course includes lectures on registration, finding and organizing files, creating documents and formatting them, working with Microsoft Word documents in Google Docs, and a complete review of the interfaces for Google Drive and Google Docs on the Web and mobile devices. The tone of this guide is friendly and easy to understand, with lots of step-by-step instructions and examples that show exactly what to do.

In addition to serving as a solid introduction to new users, it’s great for people making the transition from Microsoft Office, not to mention teachers using Google Drive for education and Google Docs in the classroom.

Here is the lecture list:

  • Introduction
  • The Google Drive user interface
  • The Google Docs user interface
  • Using the Google Drive and Google Docs mobile apps
  • Formatting in Google Docs
  • Formatting Microsoft Word files in Google Docs
  • The Google Drive desktop application for syncing and storage
  • Collaboration

We hope the Google Drive video classes prove as popular as the ebook/paperback versions of the guide. In addition, we will be paying close attention to how people use the course in order to improve the video tutorials and create new instructional videos based on popular topics.

LinkedIn In 30 Minutes gets a complete refresh

By News

Publisher i30 Media is pleased to announce a completely revised second edition of its top-selling LinkedIn book, LinkedIn In 30 Minutes. Written by author Angela Rose (bio), the new title explores the basics of setting up an effective LinkedIn profile, best practices for cultivating a network, and how to use LinkedIn to find a job.

LinkedIn book, LinkedIn In 30 Minutes, 2nd EditionLinkedIn In 30 Minutes (2nd Edition) also explores the updated LinkedIn interface. Since the first edition of the guide was released in 2013, LinkedIn has streamlined the interface while introducing or expanding new features. For instance, whereas LinkedIn used to be all about building a profile and growing a network, now there is a greater emphasis on reading or contributing content through LinkedIn updates or longer essay-style posts. The idea that LinkedIn wants to promote is linkedin.com is more than a career network or online resume — it’s a destination for learning and keeping up to date.

Rose expertly covers the newer features, but spends a lot of time in Chapter 3 getting into the nuts and bolts of creating an effective profile. She uses several real LinkedIn users as examples, including a Coast Guard officer, a financial journalist, and a website operator, and has lots of easy-to-digest checklists of profile elements that really matter … as well as things that don’t (“Six sections you can skip or save for later”).

LinkedIn Jobs: More than one place to look

People who want to leverage LinkedIn to find a new job should take a close look at Chapter 6 of the new guide. While it’s easy enough to click the Jobs link in the toolbar, or start a search for a specific position, the author points out that there are several other places to look for open jobs, including company pages, groups, and (of course) one’s own LinkedIn network.

LinkedIn In 30 Minutes (2nd Edition) is available now in paperback and ebook editions for Kindles, iPads, and other mobile devices. Go to the official book website located at linkedin.in30minutes.com to see the available download and purchasing options.

A new edition of our top-selling Twitter tutorial

By News

Twitter tutorial book - Twitter In 30 Minutes, 3rd EditionFor the first time in its short history, In 30 Minutes® guides is releasing a third edition of a book. It’s titled Twitter In 30 Minutes (3rd Edition): How to connect with interesting people, write great tweets, and find information that’s relevant to you. The first edition of the Twitter tutorial was only published in 2013, while the second edition was released in 2014, with thousands of copies (including the paperback edition and ebook formats such as the Kindle and Apple iBooks) having been sold to date.

So why are we publishing a third edition in three years? The short answer: Twitter frequently changes its interface—and does so more often than any other software technology that we cover. We also found a slew of new examples to use in the book. This post will describe what’s new in the third edition of Twitter In 30 Minutes.

First, here is a list of some of the changes that Twitter has incorporated since the last edition of the book was released:

  • New Twitter account onboarding processes for Web and mobile
  • Twitter timeline changes that show some tweets out of order
  • More Twitter ads
  • Favorites replaced by Likes
  • Addition of Moments on the Twitter toolbar (similar to the old “Discover” tab)
  • Tweaks to the toolbar (for instance, new icons, and moving things around)
  • Nested retweets and the decline of “RT”
  • New search results view
  • Updated user interfaces for the Twitter app on Android and iOS

Adding “likes”, the changes to retweets, and the new mobile interfaces significantly impact the Twitter user experience, and are featured prominently in the text and screenshots of the third edition of Twitter In 30 Minutes. Other changes don’t really add much to the Twitter experience, and aren’t really covered in detail.

Take Moments. It’s obviously a pet project of Twitter’s returned CEO, Jack Dorsey. Yet it’s a failure on several levels. I tried it in the first week and was greeted by celebrity news and cat videos. Twitter has a lot of data about me and my interests, and that’s the best its algorithms could do? Moments is also very similar to Discover, which was a bit of a flop in its own time. Why bring it back? My guess is @Jack wants Twitter to be a better environment for news and algorithmically curated content, kind of like Facebook and LinkedIn are positioning themselves to be. But people already have several ways to keep abreast of what’s happening, namely their Twitter feeds and the trending topics list.

Besides the changes to the Twitter UI, the new edition of our Twitter book also updated many examples. They range from ordinary users to celebrities, as well as small businesses, media accounts, a famous politician, and even a cat:

Sockington the cat Twitter

Many of the examples are practical—retweets, attaching photos, how to use hashtags, etc.—while others show what’s possible or interesting (trust me, @Sockington is consistently funny, and is worth following!)

As for practical “how-to-do X” Twitter tutorials, here is a short list of some of the topics that are covered:

  • Registration basics (Web and Twitter app)
  • The Twitter icons explained
  • Home timeline vs. personal timeline
  • How to customize your profile
  • Following other users
  • How to find local accounts
  • Accounts to avoid
  • Tips for writing great tweets
  • Controversial and angry tweets
  • How to delete tweets
  • Retweets and hashtags
  • Hashtag no-nos
  • Going viral
  • Shortcut keys

As the book is designed to be read in about 30 minutes, the total length is just over 16,000 words (compared to 50,000 words for a short novel). It’s written in an easy-to-understand style, with lots of screenshots (you can see a sample chapter on our blog for the Twitter book). The reader reviews for the first two editions were consistently strong, and I expect the same will be true for the new edition. Learn more about the latest edition of our Twitter tutorial on the official website, or check out the paperback and Kindle editions directly. We also have a PDF edition.

Lastly, I wanted to thank the Twitter users who agreed to our request to use their profiles in the book, including @jkrums, @sockington, @oprah, @momogoose, @RobertFischer, @Jus_Tish, @marty_walsh, @UniversalHub, @jnannapolis, @RICHi, and @estherschindler.

A new In 30 Minutes book about the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6S

By Blog, News

I’m pleased to announce the release of iPhone 6 & iPhone 6S In 30 Minutes: The unofficial guide to the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6S, including basic setup, easy iOS tweaks, and time-saving tips. This is a special book for i30 Media, as I will describe in the following blog post.

First things first: It’s safe to say that the four devices that make up the iPhone 6 family (and iOS 9) are the most innovative iPhone models since the iPhone 4/4S. With the new phones, Apple has moved beyond Steve Jobs’ emphasis on small and simple that defined all previous generations of the iPhone. The new phones have large screens and enable some advanced technical and UI features, such as 3D Touch and “Live Photos” in the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus models as well as a more sophisticated Apple Wallet experience. Here’s a chart comparing the basic features of the iPhone 6 family:

iPhone 6 and iPhone 6S comparison chart specs

However, with the additional features comes additional complexity—and that’s where iPhone 6 & iPhone 6S In 30 Minutes comes in. The learning curve for people coming from Android or older iPhone models can be steep. For people who have never used an iPhone (or owned an older model), features such as Dictation, Maps, Touch ID, 3D Touch, Apple Wallet, and various camera modes are not readily apparent unless someone sits down and explains how they work.

That’s precisely what I have set out to do in this book about the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6S. Using the classic In 30 Minutes style (friendly, brief, lots of examples), I cover basic setup and then move on to hardware, touch screen gestures, Siri, and core apps such as Camera, Mail, and Maps. Topics that are particularly tricky (I’m looking at you, iCloud and Photos app!) get extra attention. I also warn people away from settings that can negatively impact the iPhone experience, such as Wi-Fi Assist. There are more topics listed here.

What’s special about this title, beyond the cool product it’s about? For one, it’s the first new hardware-specific book published by i30 Media in two years. However, I have to admit that iPhone 6 & iPhone 6S In 30 Minutes spends quite a bit of time on iOS, apps, and other software/network settings. In other words, it’s not purely about hardware.

iPhone 6 & iPhone 6S In 30 MinutesSecond, iPhone 6 & iPhone 6S In 30 Minutes is also the first new title that sports the new In 30 Minutes design. This new look has been in the works since the beginning of the year, so it’s a real relief to finally see it in the hands of readers!

Please go to the iPhone 6 & iPhone 6S In 30 Minutes website if you are interested in learning more about the book or reading some tips and sample chapters. We are offering a 25% discount to people who download the PDF version, but we also offer a paperback edition and ebooks for the Kindle, iPad/iPhone, Nook, and other devices that have e-reader software for the ePub format.

Action plans for virtual offices

By News

There are manyVirtual Office Action Plans people who would like to start working virtually, but can’t. Why not? Perhaps they work for a company that doesn’t encourage remote work. Or, if they’re considering striking out on their own, they’ve never freelanced before or started their own business.

Today, publisher i30 Media is releasing Virtual Office Action Plans, a supplemental report to The Successful Virtual Office In 30 Minutes: Best practices, tools, and setup tips for your home office, coworking space, or mobile office. The new supplement can help employees, freelancers, entrepreneurs and businesses make the transition to virtual offices and telecommuting. The advice is particularly pertinent to current office workers who are considering telecommuting or starting a business — it’s a huge leap, and the default questions for many employees is “can I really do this?” followed by “what will my manager say?”

Action plans for managers

Speaking of managers, there is also a section of Virtual Office Action Plans devoted to managers who may have doubts about starting a program for telecommuters. Author Melanie Pinola writes:

“If you can’t trust your employees to get the job done without you looking over their shoulders or micromanaging their time, you’ve probably hired the wrong people and have got a bigger problem than figuring out how to transition to remote work.

Your ideal remote work candidates are self-motivated, take ownership of their work, are flexible and adaptive, and have excellent communication skills (especially writing skills, since that’s the main mode of communication when everyone’s in a different town). These are qualities you might already look for in any employee, on- or off-site, but even more critical to seek out in this scenario.”

You can find out more information about the supplement here.