My first book has been published
Since part way through last year I’ve been working in whatever work time I could slice out (and some weekends and evenings) writing “Create Stunning HTML Email That Just Works!“ for SitePoint. Last night it finally launched, and it is out there in the world, which is a great feeling.
I have plenty more to say about the process of writing a book, but for now I’d love you to check it out, if it is relevant to you, and spread the word if you would like to help me out. The book’s aimed at web designers who need to learn how to create better HTML emails.
You can read a couple of sample chapters via the book’s page at Campaign Monitor.
Hear me on the Sitepoint podcast
Last week I appeared on the always excellent Sitepoint podcast, being interviewed by Kevin Yank about Campaign Monitor, HTML email and related topics.
Please listen and leave a comment on their page if you have any questions or feedback for me, I always appreciate it. What you can’t tell from the podcast is that moments before we started recording I made the foolish decision to try some kind of intense Filipino caffeine sweet.
Within seconds I was having a delightful asthma experience, and only the ever present Ventolin inhaler allowed me to be audible. Big thanks to Ros for bringing those sweets in!
Meerkat at Symbio Zoo, April 2010
Please start from the beginning
While in Austin for SXSW I met Ryan Taylor, and after being bribed with a Campaign Monitor shirt he later offered to interview me for his excellent web video series Please start from the beginning….
Find out about my very first job, and experience an accidental moment of Irish accent:
Thanks to Ryan for having me on the show, and definitely check out some of the other videos, there is plenty of interesting and useful information to be gleaned from them.
Tim Tams and Boomerangs in Austin
“Well you don’t sound Australian!”
For the benefit of the rest of the world: Paul Hogan and Steve Irwin do not represent the typical Australian accent. I spent last week in Austin, Texas for the SXSW Interactive conference with roughly 4,000 other geeks, disappointing them with my lack of Aussie-ness.
Fortunately my fellow Campaign Monitor team member Ros shipped in a ton of Tim Tams and boomerangs so we managed to maintain our citizenships. The Campaign Monitor trip to Texas set out to meet a few goals:
- Catch up with existing customers and remote Campaign Monitor team members
- Talk to web designers about Campaign Monitor
- Learn everything we could from the speakers and attendees
I’d say we can give ourselves three big ticks, now that we’re back in Australia (and Portland, Calgary and Norway for the other guys). SXSW must be the highest concentration of web designers on the planet, so dense it is a serious risk of becoming a kind of nerd blackhole that sucks all the bandwidth right out of existence. My highlights of the trip include seeing Dan Roam and Gary Vaynerchuk speaking, chatting with Sarah Hatter (that’s Sarah with an ‘h’!) and eating a truly incredible amount of meat.
We also met and talked to the people who are our ‘competitors’ in the email marketing industry and found them all friendly and helpful, and surprisingly willing to wear our shirts. There might even be some community building coming out of those chats, which would be exciting.
Thank you Austin for your hospitality, your obsession with fluorescent cheese and your constant offers of convenient tattooing. I hope to see you again next year.
