An e-book is born

December 2001 -- The e-book version of my brainchild Practical Home Theater is now available on the 1stBooks website. It's one of the unintended consequences of signing with 1stBooks. The Bloomington, Indiana based company got its start in e-books (but didn't become profitable until it launched its print-on-demand operation in 1999). Thus anyone signing a print-on-demand contract is required to publish an e-book as well. At $9.95, the e-book edition is priced on the high side -- and that's at my request -- but it's still half the $19.95 retail price of the paperback edition. The paperback and hardcover editions will become available in January 2002.

Year-end notes

December 2001 -- It's been several months since I've updated this page. So much has happened all at once. On September 11 a new chapter was written in the book of atrocities just a few miles south of the Upper West Side of Manhattan where I live and work. Sirens blared all day. Office workers discharged from their midtown buildings walked north along Broadway. I considered what I should say here about it and settled on speechlessness. American flags have sprouted around the city (and here).

As all this was going on, I was desperately trying to finish my book. The text was finished on July 29, the page layout on September 30, and the Adobe Acrobat conversion on October 26. In one fell swoop I've learned a lot about my limits as a writer, the graphics capabilities of Microsoft Word, and the workarounds necessary to keep Windows from embedding stray fonts in Acrobat. On the night when I finished the Acrobat conversion, a muscle knotted up in the back of my neck, producing headache and dizziness. The screen swam before my eyes as I completed the print production master. Then it was off to Amsterdam and Paris for a well needed vacation.

The book has slipped significantly from its original launch date of September 1, 2001. The first (2002) edition will go live on the 1stBooks website in January 2002 and other online booksellers will have it about a month later. Grab it while you can, silly cover and all -- the first edition will have a shelf life of perhaps as little eight months.

I'll be working on the second (2003) edition over the summer and hope to have it out in time for the holiday shopping season. While I'm proud of what I achieved in the first, it could use more information on networked audio, custom installation, projection screens, and the ever evolving micro-trends of digital video and surround sound technology. Exposing the book to public comment will help me improve it.

However, the book is just half of my professional life. The other half is my re-emergence as a magazine writer. Thanks to my editors at Audio Video Interiors, Home Theater, E-Gear, and Bloomberg Personal for the steady stream of assignments that took up where my unemployment benefits left off. Yes, I am signing away the rights to my work. But the beauty of working in more than one medium is that my magazine stories and book project promote one another -- and they both promote my career as a writer. After years of striving, I have finally made my peace with the publishing industry.

Mark hatches a book

June 2001 -- My book Practical Home Theater is nearing completion as I fiddle with graphics and last-minute fixing. This is my first book. One of the things that makes it possible is the new category of print-on-demand publishing, which makes small print runs more practical. Some print-on-demand publishers also allow (and even encourage) authors to own our copyrights -- I heartily approve of that. Another thing that will make this home theater book different from others on the market is that it will be regularly updated to reflect changes in technology. Among the expert readers helping me sharpen up my game (so far) are ex-etowners Brent Butterworth and Len Schneider along with Lance Braithwaite, former longtime technical editor of Video Magazine, and Craig Eggers of Toshiba. My thanks to all concerned.

3 etowners form a band

May 2001 -- It's the Ethan Rand Band. ET songwriter laureate Ethan McCarty (guitar) is rehearsing with Cayse Cheatham (bass) and Phil Ryan (drums). Check out ethanrand.com for more information about live dates. We're excited!

Credibility check

April 2001 -- How are former etowners doing? Martha McDonald is now one of PC Magazine's three managing editors. Another ex-etowner in the managing editor's hotseat is Margot Douaihy, now with Residential Systems magazine -- Margot's very excited about working in print for the first time. Phil Ryan has taken an edit job with Audio/Video International. Nat Wilkins is at TDK (does this mean I get lots of free samples?). I hear through the grapevine that Rob McGee is freelancing for Popular Photography via Mason Resnick. And that David Katzmaier is doing some editing for Joe Kane. David is also reviewing television for Sound & Vision. Kevin Miller is freelancing for Home Theater and Wired, he tells me. A whole bunch of ex-etowners are writing or editing for c|net including Steve Guttenberg. Larry Ullman has been writing for The Perfect Vision. Brent Butterworth left a still-breathing etown to take a dream job at Dolby Labs. Both Len Schneider and myself are working on books and my dozen-year-old column on home theater will continue in Audio Video Interiors. The magazine's May issue also sports my first appearance in the review section.

ET website goes dark

March 2001 -- Email from Ken Furst, among others, confirmed that the website went dark on or around Saturday March 3. Thanks to those readers who took the trouble to say goodbye to us on the message board. A six-year-old conversation goes silent as the community we built scatters.

Alumni have sites of their own

March 2001 -- Cayse Cheatham offers the web audience a dazzling showcase of his talents in aboutcayse.com.... Tracy Donahue has a snazzy homepage at simplymad.com.... Ron Goldberg sums up a most impressive career in the beta version of his site, rgoldberg.net.... Former columnist Ken Kantor shows his creative and interpretive sides at Anxious Hippy.... Ethan McCarty provides downloadable original music at ethanrand.com.... If your video display needs professional tweaking, Kevin Miller of the Imaging Science Foundation is your man. Read more about his work at ISFTV.com.... Check out Len Schneider, our veteran audio expert, at his Technicom site.... Oh, and the company's featured in a hall of fame.... If you know more, email me!

ET shuts down

February 2001 -- etown.com (my vainglorious little website, as I used to call it) shut down on February 14. The parent company, Collaborative Media, was formed in 1995 by David Elrich, Ron Goldberg, Harry Somerfield, Stewart Wolpin, and myself. A great many other creative people gave the company its best recent moments. Potential clients and employers, please note that David, Stewart, and I will remain active as tech journalists, and that lots of great writers and editors are looking for jobs.