My 137 ebooks & 233 training videos

The List, part ii

 

These are the 137 ebooks I worked on beginning in 2002 and going through to 2020, an average of seven per year. Many of these can be purchased from https://worldcadaccess.typepad.com/ebooksonline/. When added to my 108 print books, that represents 245 books in 31 years. 

The advantage of ebooks over print books is that I eliminate the publisher and make 97% of the cover price of a book. The publisher typically handles editing, printing, distribution, and marketing -- in exchange for paying me an average of 7% of the cover price. 

 

How I Began in eBooks

I had written a series of customizing tutorials (Tailoring AutoCAD) for a tabloid AutoCAD magazine, whose editor permitted me to republish my work after three months. I posted the series to my Web site, and a reader wondered if I could collect them into a single PDF file for ease of downloading. That became my first ebook -- Tailoring AutoCAD for AutoCAD 2000, released in December 2002.

Each year, I added more to the ebook, until by the AutoCAD 2006 edition it had tripled in size. I realized it suffered from two problems: parts of the book never needed updating (like LISP and linetypes), and at 420 pages the ebook was getting fat.

At this point, I spun off parts of the book so that I needed to update only the parts that changed. And so we have titles like Tailoring Dynamic Blocks 2009 and Tailoring Dynamic Blocks 2010 -- and no new editions afterwards, as Autodesk no longer updated dynamic blocks with new functions. By AutoCAD 2015, I stopped writing about AutoCAD entirely, as Autodesk fell to adding only a few new functions each year.

I put together a few ebooks for CAD running on Macintosh computers, but sales were dismal enough for me to give up on them.

 

Tutorial Videos

Since 2014 I've produced 233 training videos, typically 4-5 minutes long:

• Bricsys: 161 videos
• C3D Labs: 2 videos
• Nanosoft: 70 videos

 

History of Training

My time in writing about CAD shows the changes in technology prevalent for training:

1. 1990-2014: print books
2. 2002-2020: ebooks
3. 2014-date: videos

 

Other Writing

In addition to books, ebooks, and videos, I've participated in the following:

• Co-launched new magazines for Microstation, Visio, and AutoCAD
• Launched these newsletters: The CAD Market, CAD++, upFront.eZine, and Visions.eZine
• Wrote magazine articles for CADalyst, Cadence, Architecture, InfoWorld, Design Engineering, Jon Peddie Associates, CAD lab, CAD infinitum, CADinfo.net, Federal Government News, MicroStation Manager, Visio Smartpages, Technical Design Solutions, IMAGINiT Technologies, Vancouver AutoCAD User Society, and PC Magazine.
• Whitepapers for various clients.

 

The eBook List

* Book titles with an asterisk are ebook versions made from materials first produced for a print edition

All CAD Systems

1.   CAD Manager's Guidebook* - Apr 01

2.   The Russian MCAD Market - Jan 10

3.   CAD & BIM: Is There a Free Pass? - Nov 10

4.   MobileCAD is Reaching Maturity - Oct 15

5.   Best CAD Practices - Nov 17

 

AutoCAD

6.   AutoCAD 2013 Reference Guide Rough Edition* - Apr 13

7.   Inside AutoCAD’s Multilines and Splines* - Aug 2008

 

8.   Tailoring AutoCAD 2000 - Dec 02 (my first ebook)

9.   Tailoring AutoCAD 2004 - Apr 03

10. Tailoring AutoCAD 2004, Workbook Edition - Nov 03

11. Tailoring AutoCAD 2005 - Mar 04

12. Tailoring AutoCAD 2006 - Jun 05

13. Tailoring AutoCAD 2007 - Dec 05

14. Tailoring AutoCAD 2008 - March 07

15. Tailoring AutoCAD 2009 - Sept 08

16. Tailoring AutoCAD 2010 - Aug 09

17. Tailoring AutoCAD 2011/12 - Jun 11

18. Tailoring AutoCAD 2012 for Mac & Windows - Sep 11

19. Tailoring AutoCAD 2013 - Jun 12

20. Tailoring Animation - Jan 07

21. Tailoring Animation 2012 - Jul 12

22. Tailoring AutoLisp Diesel & DCL - Dec 06

23. Tailoring CUI - Sep 05

24. Tailoring CUI 2009 - Dec 08

25. Tailoring CUI 2010 - Jul 09

26. Tailoring CUI 2011-12 - Junl 11

27. Tailoring CUI 2013 - May 12

28. Tailoring Dynamic Blocks - Aug 05

29. Tailoring Dynamic Blocks 2009 - Dec 08

30. Tailoring Dynamic Blocks 2010 - Oct 09 (my best selling ebook)

31. Tailoring QuickCalc - Sep 05

32. Tailoring Render - Oct 06

33. Tailoring Render 2012 - May 11

34. Tailoring Visual Styles - Apr 06

 

35. What's Inside? AutoCAD 2005 - Jan 04

36. What's Inside? AutoCAD 2006 - Jan 05

37. What's Inside? AutoCAD LT 2006 - Jan 05

38. What's Inside? AutoCAD 2007 - Mar 06

39. What's Inside? AutoCAD 2008 - Feb 07

40. What's Inside? AutoCAD 2009 - Feb 08

41. What's Inside? AutoCAD 2010 - Jan 09

42. What's Inside? AutoCAD for Mac - Aug 10

43. What's Inside? AutoCAD 2011 - Jan 10

44. What's Inside? AutoCAD 2012 - Feb 11

45. What's Inside? AutoCAD 2013 - Feb 12

46. What's Inside? AutoCAD 2014 - Mar 13

 

AutoCAD LT

47. Inside AutoCAD LT Volume 1: 2D Drafting* - Nov 07

48. Inside AutoCAD LT Volume 2: Management and Customization* - Nov 07

 

BricsCAD

Bricsys originally based BricsCAD on IntelliCAD, and then with version 8 switched to its own code

49. BricsCAD 9 for AutoCAD Users

50. BricsCAD 10 for AutoCAD Users - Sep 09

51. BricsCAD 11 for AutoCAD Users - Dec 10

52. BricsCAD 12 for AutoCAD Users - Nov 11

53. BricsCAD 13 for AutoCAD Users - Nov 12

54. BricsCAD 14 for AutoCAD Users - Dec 13

55. BricsCAD 15 for AutoCAD Users - Dec 14

56. BricsCAD 16 for AutoCAD Users - Dec 15

57. BricsCAD 17 for AutoCAD Users - Nov 16

58. BricsCAD 18 for AutoCAD Users - Nov 17

59. BricsCAD 19 for AutoCAD Users - Nov 18

60. BricsCAD 20 for AutoCAD Users - Oct 19

 

61. Customizing BricsCAD 4 - Apr 03

62. Customizing BricsCAD 5 - Oct 04

63. Customizing BricsCAD 8 - Sept 07

64. Customizing BricsCAD 9 - Mar 09

65. Customizing BricsCAD 10 - Jan 10

66. Customizing BricsCAD 11 - Dec 10

67. Customizing BricsCAD 12 - Dec 11

68. Customizing BricsCAD 13 - Feb 13

69. Customizing BricsCAD 15 - Mar 15

70. Customizing BricsCAD 16 - May 16

71. Customizing BricsCAD 17 - Nov 16

72. Customizing BricsCAD 18 - Dec 17

73. Customizing BricsCAD 19 - Jan 19

74. Customizing BricsCAD 20 - Dec 19

 

75. Learn BricsCAD 8 In a Day - Dec 07

76. Learn BricsCAD 9 In a Day - Mar 09

77. Learn BricsCAD 10 In a Day - Dec 09

78. Learn BricsCAD 11 In a Day - Jan 11

79. Learn BricsCAD 12 In a Day - Oct 12

80. Learn BricsCAD 13 In a Day - Feb 13

81. Inside BricsCAD 14 - Mar 14 (the title changed from “Learn in a Day” to “Inside”)

82. Inside BricsCAD 15 - Feb 15

83. Inside BricsCAD 16 - Apr 16

84. Inside BricsCAD 17 - Dec 16

85. Inside BricsCAD 18 - Dec 18

86. Inside BricsCAD 19 - Nov 18

87. Inside BricsCAD 20 - Nov 19

 

A+ CAD, CADopia, DWG Editor, IntelliCAD, progeCAD 

IntelliCAD Technical Consortium programs IntelliCAD, which is distributed by other companies

88. Customizing CADopia 4 - Apr 03

89. Customizing CADopia 5 - Oct 04

90. Customizing CADopia 6 - Sep 05

91. Inside CADopia 5

92. Inside CADopia 6 - Sep 05

 

93. Inside A+CAD 6 - Jul 07

94. Inside A+CAD 2010 - Sept 09

 

95. Inside IntelliCAD 5 - Nov 04

96. Inside IntelliCAD 6 - Oct 05

97. Tailoring IntelliCAD - Jan 03

98. Tailoring IntelliCAD 4 - Apr 03

99. Tailoring IntelliCAD 5 - Oct 04

100.           Tailoring IntelliCAD 6 - Oct 05

 

101.           IntelliCAD, The Un-AutoCAD - Nov 05

 

102.           SolidProfessor DWGEditor - Jul 07

 

103.           Inside progeCAD 2009 - Dec 08

104.           Inside progeCAD 2017 - May 16

105.           Tailoring progeCAD 2009 - Feb 09

 

ARES, DraftSight, CorelCAD

Graebert GmbH programs ARES for itself, DraftSight for Dassault Systemes, and CorelCAD for Corel

106.           Ares for AutoCAD Users

107.           Ares 2 for AutoCAD Users

108.           Ares 2014 for AutoCAD Users

109.           Ares 2015 for AutoCAD Users

 

110.           Inside Ares

111.           Inside Ares for Linux

112.           Inside Ares for Mac

113.           Inside Ares 2013

114.           Inside Ares 2014

115.           Inside Ares 2015

116.           Inside Ares 2016

117.           Inside Ares 2017

118.           Inside Ares 2018

119.           Inside Ares 2019 (at 650 pages, my largest ebook)

Inside Ares 2020 was split into three titles with a combined length of 770 pages:

120.           Book i: Starting Computer-Aided Design With Ares Commander 2020

121.           Book ii: Modern Editing and Collaboration On Mobile and Cloud

122.           Book iii: Advanced CAD With Ares Commander

 

123.           Inside CorelCAD

124.           Inside CorelCAD 2013

125.           Inside CorelCAD 2014

126.           Inside CorelCAD 2015

127.           Inside CorelCAD 2016

128.           Inside CorelCAD for Mac

 

129.           Inside DraftSight

130.           Inside DraftSight 2

131.           Inside DraftSight 3

132.           Inside DraftSight 2015

133.           Inside DraftSight 2016

 

Generic CADD, General CADD

After Autodesk bought and shut down DOS-based Generic CADD, General CADD Products resurrected it as a Windows program

134.           Inside Generic CADD 6* - Dec 02

135.           Inside General CADD Pro - Nov 02

 

Visio

136.           Inside Visio 2002* - Dec 03

137.           Tailoring Visio 2002* - Nov 03

 

 

 

Comments

[Rich Webb]

I wish that Bricsys would team up with you again. Not a fan of the current documentation. Web pages are a pain to navigate and, of course, impossible to highlight and add notes to. The autogenerated (apparently) off-line help files are ... not good.

[Ralph Grabowski]

As is expected when a company is bought by another one, significant people leave, and the new ones have different ideas.