6 June 2009 - 15:47Starting work on a ‘How to Screencast’ eBook

Having learned an awful lot about screencasting in the last 4 years, I’m starting work in ProCasts on developing an eBook that teaches How to Screencast.  With over 3 years of tutorial screencasting in ShowMeDo and 2 years of commercial screencasting for marketing, tech-support and training that led to ProCasts, I feel rather well-qualified to write the book on the subject.

Right now the book is in the design stages, I’ve posted a survey in SurveyMonkey that asks 10 easy questions about your current screencasting knowledge and what you want to learn about.  If you want to learn more about screencasting – please fill in the survey.  It doesn’t require registration and if you put in your email address for the first question you’ll be in the draw for 2 free licenses (one for you, one for a friend).

If you don’t want to fill in the survey but you do want to be notified about the release, sign-up to our eBook notification list.

Topics that I’ll probably cover include:

• Using screencasts for Sales, Training and Technical Support
• Story-boarding to explain all your benefits and features
• Writing a short, powerful script that really grabs the viewer’s attention
• Techniques for converting your viewer into a user of your software
• The best software packages to use when recording and editing a screencast
• Editing competently so you have a short, polished video
• Using annotations, fades and high-lights to focus the viewer’s attention on the key points
• Improving your audio recording
• Critiques of existing screencasts including ways of improving them
• Check-lists for each step of the process so you can quickly complete each phase confidently

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Ian applies Artificial Intelligence as an Artificial Intelligence Researcher for companies (Mor Consulting), co-founded the StrongSteam A.I. datamining toolkit, co-authored SocialTies, programs Python, writes The Screencasting Handbook and is also a sea-side dweller and consumer of fine coffees.