CompuServe Thread

Sean, As you are the person who started this thread with your views on my work, I'll address this to you, but write it to anyone interested in my thoughts on "Exploring LightWave 3D". First of all, I am not one to hide my head just because someone has posed negative views on my work, so to your surprise I'll comment on points you've mentioned. In your "unsolicited review" as you call it, you have laced 4 or 5 very positive comments about the book amongst some very negative views. They are generally attached to expressions of the book being a viable source of information for newer users of LW. What seemed to trouble you was the fact that the book was advertised as an "Advanced Users Guide". I too reviewed the ads placed by New Era Press. I'm not sure exactly where you get the impression that NEP misrepresented the content of the book. However, I do believe these are honest assessments of your views of the marketing methods used to promote the book. For this misunderstanding, I apologize. Advertising and marketing are quite often abstract and ambiguous by nature. As end users we would prefer that this was not true, but it is! Every ad I can recall from the marketing campaign stated verbiage akin to "from beginner to advanced…" I do believe there is material that qualifies as advanced. I dont know if there is enough of it to satisfy most advanced users. Obviously not all of them, but than again there are always people whose skills rate well above the authors of the text which is available in thier industry. The point here is that NEP would like to allow users to make that decision on their own. This brings me to the next important point…. If anyone is not completely satisfied with the book they can return it. The phone call does not have to be accompanied by any reason whatsoever. Other persons who have joined this thread have changed the flow of the thread to make people believe that because we were late on shipping the book they could probably never get a refund. This is not only untrue, but very unfair as well. What is most unfair is that one of the persons who has joined this thread has already received a refund but fails to praise NEP for fast response. Not only will a refund be issued to whoever so desires, but it will be sent out Priority the same day the request is made. Feel free to hold me and NEP to that promise. One other point. It is far more likely to see negative responses to any book, software, etc. in a forum like this than positive ones from persons who are pleased with the products. For those of you who are considering purchasing the book, please remember that there are opposing views on any and all work. The choice is, and always has been the consumers, as to whether the material is useful or not. The response to the book has been overwhelmingly positive! It has been adopted as text at 22 colleges. It has been shipped to 21 different countries. A Japanese translation is currently in the works. This is not to say that all of the hoopla is because this is the best "Advanced Guide" on LW, but because this is a resource on LightWave that was a serious undertaking. A serious undertaking which will now spur other book companies to create text on LW. For that, and this book, I am very proud!!! Todd Payne – New Era Press If it is a deciding factor, I do have available a list of VERY POSITIVE reviews from well respected industry leaders such as Tom Patrick – Editor in Chief,Video Toaster User Frank Kelly – Industry Contributing Computer Graphics Author R. Shamms Mortier Ph.D – College Professor as well as 5 other college professors, dozens of positive testimonials etc….. Because these tend to be self gratuitous, I will not post them unless requested!!