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Surgical Sieve
Welcome to Surgical Sieve, a monthly newsletter published by idiopathic.com.


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One of the pleasures of my college library was coming across books like Queueing Systems: Vol.1: Theory. It was comforting to know that a topic I had never given second thought to still had experts to document it in several volumes. The beauty of modern publishing is that it allows authors in increasingly specialized fields to share their knowledge with the rest of the world. As readers, doctors and patients, we are all beneficiaries of these fruits of knowledge expansion.

But the system is not yet perfect. Although anyone is technically an expert on something, not everyone can have his or her book published. The costs of paper, printing, distribution and marketing mean that minimal number of potential readers must be found before a publisher invests money in a book. Perhaps this is a good thing - traditional publishers will tell you that the world is spared many an unreadable text because of such a barrier. They are right.

But I also think that too many good books take too long to reach readers because of traditional publishers.

This series shows how new technology overcomes this barrier. If you have thought of writing a book, or know someone who should share his or her knowledge by writing a book, then I hope that this advice is useful to you. The first part explains how to create a website, a fast and affordable way to start off. The second details the process of writing a complete book, while the third part covers the process of publishing it. The final part shows you how to start your own publishing business and bring your book to the world. I hope that you have as much fun as I did when I had followed these steps and published my own book.