New Book coming out in March

[Jim Lapenta]

Over the last year I have been working on a new book. SCUBA: A Practical Guide for the New Diver is designed to be used as a supplement for the Basic Open Water text of any agency. It contains those items that are, in my opinion, crucial for the new diver to know. Safe Diving Practices, Diver Responsibility, Buddy Skills, Dive Planning, Gas Management, and how to choose a number of things. Including equipment, instructors, courses, and even your Local Dive Shop (LDS). Some may find it controversial as it does expose some truths that are often not revealed to new divers until later in their diving careers. Plans are to make this work available on disc, pdf download, Kindle and other e-readers, and limited print editions. Stay tuned for updates on prices and delivery dates for print versions.

[Selchie in LB]

Congratulations Jim! Look forward to reading it.

[drrich2]

Glad to hear you'll have a Kindle version. Lots of divers travel, and the eBook readers get taken along sometimes.

Richard.

[Jim Lapenta]

The e-readers was a no brainer. Except for some specific formatting there is minimal cost involved in getting on them. I love print books myself but have been seriously eyeing a Kindle. Anything that encourages anyone to read and increase their education in any way is great. As an aside the print versions are going to be in single face workbook type format. I want readers to use them as such. Take notes, jot down specifics as they relate to your diving. Write down the answers when you interview an instructor/shop and ask the questions it suggests to compare with other training sources. I have some requests already for signed copies and will be happy to honor those.

I am also really excited about the illustrations. The artist is a very talented 16 yr old high school student. This will look very good on her college ap and resume'. I love working with kids and giving them opportunities I did not have myself. I can tell you they (the drawings) are better than some of the stuff in other mainstream manuals out there now. There will also be a few photos where that would be more appropriate.

I also could not have gotten this far without the hard work and dedication of my editor. She is also my GF but that is beside the point. Not only is she eminently qualified to do the editing, she also knows what I am trying to say because she is also a diver. I am puncuation challenged and tended to write when I was in moods where I should not have been writing. She pointed that out a few times and I am greatful for it.

[Jim Lapenta]

Just as an update. Due to formatting issues the Kindle version is going to be delayed a bit. There are other readers coming on the market and I want to be sure I can get access to all of them. And choosing the right person to do the formatting is not going to be a quick decision as I want someone who knows what they are doing.

[BurhanMuntasser]

Good luck to you Jim. I look forward to receiving an autographed copy

[Cave Diver]

I am puncuation challenged and tended to write when I was in moods where I should not have been writing. She pointed that out a few times and I am greatful for it.

Is there going to be an editors cut available?

[drrich2]

Jim:

I wrote a book called Captive Care of North American Water Turtles, available in hard copy (paperback) online as a self-published work, or from Lulu.com as a free PDF download. I went with a company called Accurance to do an e-book package, covering Kindle, Apple's iPad book store, Barnes & Noble Nook, and some online e-book vendors. I've had a lot of other stuff going on and haven't kept close tabs on time and what-not, but I liked the ePub version, and I see it's available as a free download at Barnes & Noble now (I specified free; this wasn't a money-making venture). I'm just mentioning them as an outfit that does this sort of conversion. I can't really say how they compare to others, and the process does take awhile.

Richard.

[johnshap]

I would be really interested in an iPad version.

[Jim Lapenta]

The preliminary quote to get an iPad version was nearly 400 bucks. If I sell enough of the other formats I may look into that. Can you not get a disc or pdf version and download it into an iPad? I don't know enough about Apple products to answer this. Cost would be about the same but you'd have a backup in case the iPad crashed.