This is a quick post (see the longer post on my personal blog: Open Sourcing “The Screencasting Handbook”).

I have just open sourced this eBook as a free book (it has been commercial for 3 years) as some of the content (mainly relating to software packages) is looking a little old now. The techniques and processes still look very sensible.

The new license is noted on the homepage along with the download link. Please note the requirement for attribution back to this site and to me if you use or discuss the book.

I’ve just started a three part guest post series on Freelance Advisor, the first entry is “Communicating more effectively with screencasts“.

The goal of the first post is to show freelancers how they could use screencasts to improve their business, in particular:

• Avoid meetings by sharing progress reports with screencasts
• Communicating more effectively with clients and vice versa (let the client show you what’s on their mind!)
• How to make your first screencast

The next two posts will look at demonstrating your skill and building a following using screencasts, distribution and licensing and finally looking at ways of making money from screencasts.

The second post is on “Rise above the noise: Gaining attention with screencasts” – I look at ways that a freelancer can use screencasts to demonstrate how much they know about their topic to raise themselves above their peers.

Finally I talk about “Making money with screencasting” – there are several ways to monetise your knowledge through screencasts. They range from selling your knowledge through another site over to building your own knowledge-based site, there are some simple techniques you can use to get started now.

Some of you know that I built my professional screencasting company ProCasts during 2009 into the UK’s largest screencasting agency. I’ve decided to move away from professional screencasting (don’t worry – I’m still working on this Handbook!) and so the business of ProCasts is up for sale.

If you’re building your own professional screencasting brand then consider the following:

• ProCasts generates leads for screencasting work every month
• ProCasts has great organic traffic (not paid for via adverts!) from Google for key search terms like ‘custom screencast’ in both the UK and the USA
• ProCasts has a strong reputation for high-quality screencasting that delivers the right message (and this provides for a nice margin!)

If you’re curious then visit the auction at flippa.com. Full details of traffic, keywords, income (with bank statements) and potential leads are provided. The listing will end in a week so there’s time to send me private questions (through flippa please) if you’d like to discuss the business.

This is exactly the right kind of opportunity for anyone who wants to build their business in both the UK and the USA (and Western Europe in general), this is especially relevant if you don’t yet have a strong reputation and you’d like to buy your way quickly up the ladder (rather than putting in a year or more of hard graft to build the same sort of reputation!).

In the Mic Technique chapter of The Screencasting Handbook a number of ways to improve your narration recording are discussed. In these two videos I’ll highlight the main points. First we cover:

• Keeping a constant distance to the mic
• Breath in a way that doesn’t swamp the microphone with noise
• Use a pop filter to avoid heavy breaths
• Avoid lip smack sounds
• Drink water carefully

Next we look at the best way to position the mic. In this video I’m holding my sE2200A microphone to show you how the quality of the recording changes if you mistakenly use the mic back to front or at the wrong angle:

I’ve received two more reviews for the Handbook, first Stéphane Wattier penned Un guide pour vos tutoriels vidéo (English translation). Here’s a section from the Google-translated English version:

“In French, we can find comparative screencasting tools, tutorials devoted to a particular tool (see for example my current folder on screencasting) or this file explaining how to make a good video tutorial. But nothing comparable to The Screencasting Handbook, the most comprehensive guide to my knowledge”

Gabriel Hasbun-Comandari, a long time member of the Google Group (and strong member of ShowMeDo) was kind enough to pen a long Review of “The Screencasting Handbook” by Ian Ozsvald he concludes:

“As biased as this review may seem (after all, I am listed in the acknowledgements section), this is probably the best book there is about screencasting”

Thanks to both Stéphane and Gabriel for penning the reviews!

Paul McGovern has written a wonderful review for the Handbook entitled “The Ultimate Screencasting Guide“. Paul is a Lecturer who has a lot of experience with screencasting, he’s written a very thorough review:

“The Screencasting Handbook weighs in at just under 130 pages and takes those completely new to screencasting as well as those that have some knowledge of the area through the processes and concepts involved in professional screencast production. The book deals primarily with techniques and approaches so users of no one application will feel isolated or left out. That said there are specific sections that relate content back to some of the leading screencasting applications Telestream’s ScreenFlow 2 & Camtasia Studio.”

…

“Throughout the book is clear, concise and very well presented, Diagrams are used to good effect and instruction is clear at all times. Even those with an already good working knowledge of the process will pick up new tricks and tips worthy of the price of investment”

The Screencasting Handbook is still priced at $36 (until this weekend), you can buy your copy here.

I’m very pleased to announce that the First Edition of The Screencasting Handbook was released this weekend, it covers everything that a new screencaster needs and it’ll teach an intermediate a few things too. This release is priced at a discounted $36 until May 15th when it returns to the regular $39 price, buy your copy now.

As a novice screencaster, I found every section of The Screencasting Handbook enlightening. Particularly helpful is Ian Ozsvald’s coverage of microphone selection for improving audio recording quality. In my case, simply moving from an analog to digital input dramatically improved audio quality and reduced post-editing time to nearly nothing. I recommend The Screencasting Handbook to anyone wishing to learn about this technology or wishing to improve their screencasting skills. I believe every novice and most experts will find something beneficial in The Screencasting Handbook that will easily cover the cost of the book. – Darryl Pendergrass

The Screencasting Handbook is aimed at educators, support staff and business owners who want to learn how to improve their screencasting ability. The Handbook will teach you to:

• Understand the needs of your viewer
• Plan the screencast that will teach and convince them
• Efficiently plan, record and produce your screencast
• Host your screencast and distribute it to the right people

The Google Group has over 128 screencasters, you can ask any questions there and I’ll take feedback to put towards future editions of the Handbook.

Having written the Handbook what I could really do with now is some help from you spreading the word to the right people – if you can send a Tweet or make a blog post then I’d be eternally grateful!

If you’re not sure whether you should buy your copy yet then drop to the bottom of the homepage – you’ll find a mailing list that you can join. You’ll receive a few tips and a reminder every time the Handbook is updated (there won’t be many emails, it is low volume).

As discussed in chapter 6 it is important to avoid wiggling the mouse if you want to bring attention to something – it is annoying and distracting. Instead use zooms for pure focus and spotlights if you want the user to focus on something within the context of the rest of the screen.

The following video makes this clear. If you haven’t already seen The Screencasting Handbook then take a look at the table of contents and perhaps buy your copy.

This video was created using Camtasia Studio 7 on Windows XP.

Darryl Pendergrass has just written a review of the almost-released Screencasting Handbook. He’s also provided a great testimonial which I need to add to the homepage:

As a novice screencaster, I found every section of The Screencasting Handbook enlightening. Particularly helpful is Ian Ozsvald’s coverage of microphone selection for improving audio recording quality. In my case, simply moving from an analog to digital input dramatically improved audio quality and reduced post-editing time to nearly nothing. I recommend The Screencasting Handbook to anyone wishing to learn about this technology or wishing to improving screencasting skills. I believe every novice and most experts will find something beneficial in The Screencasting Handbook that will easily cover the cost of the book.

If you’d like to get your copy you can buy it here, the price rises at the end of the week once the Handbook is completely finished.

The 9th release of The Screencasting Handbook is now out, this release is probably the last before the First Edition is released around the end of the month.

The current price is $36USD, the price will rise to $39USD in a couple of weeks when the final release comes out. Buy your copy now if you want to save a few dollars – you’ll get the First Edition by email in just a couple of weeks. These are the updates since the release a few weeks back:

• “How screencasting works” gives a light overview of the technology behind screencasting
• “Microphone technique” provides solutions to common problems with mic technique including how to deal with background noise, plosives, sibilants, lip smack and breathes
• “Editing Software” is complete, it includes notes for guidance on all the major editing packages

The Handbook has a new graphical skin and at the request of a couple of users I’ve started to add footnotes that show URLs – this helps if you’re using an eBook reader.

If you want to see how well others think of the Handbook take a look at the supportive reviews by Paul Pival and Paul McGovern.