Quote:
Originally Posted by exaltedwombat
That sort of professional selfishness is actually counterproductive. Knowledge is there to be shared
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If I may, I'd like to ask what
you do for a living?
I don't want to be argumentative, but the idea that I should regurgitate 4-5 years' worth of work and effort and learning, on my part, into someone else's head, so that they can invoice a client to do a job for which they are not qualified, is a bit irritating. Or, rather, having it called "professional selfishness" is irritating.
I do this for a living. I've worked hard at creating gorgeous books. I work 12-16 hour days so that I, and my employees, can all manage to live, pay our rent, eat, etc. Now, this person is, not for the first time, here to get advice on how to do some
very fundamental things, to make books for people he's
charging. Things that, frankly, he should already know how to do if he's bruiting himself about as a "professional."
For one thing, this is precisely the type of behavior that tends to give conversion houses and formatters a bad name--people who have no freaking clue how to make an ebook, taking on the work. I get poorly-made books like this ALL the time to fix. Worse, people talk, and they talk on the internet, about how they could have done "conversion work" themselves, because the results they get from unqualified people are so poor. Now, your perspective, I take it, is that I should help this guy, so that his results aren't poor. My perspective is,
his client should hire someone who is qualified to do the work.
eBook-making for money is capitalism. It's not altruism, it's not some "it takes a village"-type happy happy joy joy environment.
Capitalism, for anyone that hasn't caught on yet, is Darwinism played with money. Put as politely as I can, and to stay within correct forum guidelines,
this person has no business whatsoever offering his services for money. The fact that he thought he had to CUT AND PASTE a Powerpoint presentation into Word should say everything that there is to say, here. All of the questions he poses are basic, not advanced. Not some trickery of CSS; BASIC things he should already know before he starts charging.
I learned on my own time, and my own nickel. I am not going to educate this guy for free. Sorry, but I'm not. I have no issues whatsoever with sharing my knowledge and information on this forum, with fellow professionals, and fellow enthusiasts, as is easily seen--but neither I nor anyone else should be expected to do the heavy lifting for this guy while he bills some schmuck and learns on HIS nickel and MY experience. Sorry, but NO. If you want to answer all his questions on
your time, knock yourself out. Then you can be as unselfish as you wish. But please don't presume to tell me that I have some obligation to donate my time to him. You may be as unselfish with your time as you want--it's pure presumption on your part to decide what I
should or should
not do with mine. My time has value.
</rant>
Hitch