BKYOUTUB.RVW 20081220 "YouTube: An Insider's Guide to Climbing the Charts", Alan Lastufka/Michael W. Dean, 2009, 978-0-596-52114-1, U$29.99/C$29.99 %A Alan Lastufka AlanLastufka@gmail.com %A Michael W. Dean www.viralvideowannabe.com %C 103 Morris Street, Suite A, Sebastopol, CA 95472 %D 2009 %G 978-0-596-52114-1 0-596-52114-6 %I O'Reilly & Associates, Inc. %O U$29.99/C$29.99 800-998-9938 fax: 707-829-0104 nuts@ora.com %O http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0596521146/robsladesinterne http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0596521146/robsladesinte-21 %O http://www.amazon.ca/exec/obidos/ASIN/0596521146/robsladesin03-20 %O Audience n Tech 1 Writing 2 (see revfaq.htm for explanation) %P 281 p. %T "YouTube: An Insider's Guide to Climbing the Charts" The preface is highly self-promotional on the part of the authors. Oddly, this is done in a way that isn't offensive. And, since the book is essentially about self-promotion, it's fairly appropriate. Unfortunately, information about the intent of, or audience for, the work is limited, other than the implication that this work is not for YouTube users, but for those creating the content. Chapter one is a brief history and description of YouTube, and mentions the importance of "viral" (essentially word of mouth) marketing in finding an audience for your video creations. Chapter two strongly emphasizes that the story line of your video is generally the most important aspect. Some suggestions are provided in regard to the basics of the story arc and directing. An awful lot of the material is in the form of "watch this clip and learn," which might be more helpful if there were more specifics about what *to* learn. Some limited suggestions for the purchase of cameras, microphones, and software are given in chapter three, as well as an introduction to a few functions of the Sony Vegas Movie Studio application. Along the way there are some notes on functions and features of the program, but most of the content is item specific, and so less useful than it might have been to novice filmmakers. Chapter four covers the process (and specific Web pages) for creating an account on YouTube, with some annotations. Posting videos to the site, and related features, are dealt with in chapter five. Chapter six reviews copyright. The initial content outlining the concept is misleading at best, and retails a number of common myths. However, the material specific to YouTube is detailed and useful. Rating, comments, and private videos are explained in chapter seven. Various functions for working with others are noted in chapter eight. Chapter nine describes a few ways to artificially manipulate the YouTube system and ratings. (A section on "ethical hacking" appears to be based on a misunderstanding of the term itself, and propagates a number of the usual fables.) Some activities for self-promotion on the wider Internet (mostly those falling under the social networking rubric) are discussed in chapter ten. Various ways of making money with short videos are noted in chapter eleven. Random thoughts on lifestyle and the Internet appear in chapter twelve. Chapter thirteen is similar to ten, covering more venues and activities. Miscellaneous opinions about the net and life are in chapter fourteen. Chapter fifteen has interviews with five major YouTubers. The preface makes a number of negative comments about other books written on the topic of YouTube. Given my experience with works covering popular Websites or applications, I can well believe that there are a number of texts that simply print pages of screenshots. This guide does move beyond that level to provide useful and practical tips. At the same time, the material is limited, and more detail would have been helpful in a number of areas. Better organization and structure could also have made the work more accessible and useful to the reader. On balance, I would have to say that this book is a decent introduction for those interested in getting into short video production, and making that content available through YouTube. copyright Robert M. Slade, 2008 BKYOUTUB.RVW 20081220