I’ve mentioned it before, but I think that writing about it again would be worthwhile.

Blood, Sweat and Tea is (probably) the first book by a major European publisher to release a book under a Creative Commons license.  It has been released under a Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 License. which means that you can…

…use copyright material in specific ways without affecting the author's overall copyright in the work.

Under the terms of this book's licence, you are free to make copies of all or part of this work for your own personal use and for other non-commercial use. You may annotate or edit the work in any way, and republish it online in any format, providing any annotated and edited version includes a link back to the source material at http://www.fridaybooks.co.uk/bst

You may also make derivative works (Flash animations, videos, images etc, etc) based on this text for online, non-commercial use only.

Any annotated, edited or derivative version must be made available under the same Creative Commons licence as the original material.

As a wiser man than I has said, “My problem isn’t piracy, it’s obscurity”.  It is also because this website is licensed under the same scheme and to change it now that a large amount of it is in a physical book seems like an unethical thing to do.  I love Creative Commons, it’s a great way of finding new music, writing and other art.  Sure – it’s a bit of a gamble, but I honestly believe that this brave step by my publishers is the best thing for this book.

I’ve got to admit that it was nerve-wracking in asking my publishers about this and I cannot commend them enough for listening to, and understanding, the thoughts behind Creative Commons.

So you can go to The Friday Project page and download the *whole* book in a variety of formats.  You can then fiddle around with it and do whatever you like to it then upload it back to The Friday Project just so long as you don’t try to sell it. 

Fun, yes?

I’m hoping, and it’s a bit of an ego thing here to be honest, that it might shake up publishing a bit in this country and provide a blast across the bows of those who would restrict what you can do with media that you ‘own’.

(You do realise that in the UK it is illegal to rip a CD to your iPod, even if it is for personal use?).

Lets see how things go…

Lets see…

Monday

08:05 Picked up by cab from my house (probably in a state of unconsciousness).

10:00 Live interview with BBC Radio Derbyshire.

10:30 Live interview with BBC Radio Jersey.

11:00 Interview with The Weekly News.

12:00 Interview with Ambulance Today.

13:30 Interview with BBC Radio Wiltshire.

14:20 Interview with Simon Mayo on Radio 5 Live.

15:20 Visit Apple store in Regent Street for new goodies for my Macbook

 

Tuesday

10:00 Pickup for Interview with The Guardian.

18:30 Phone interview with REM FM Spanish Radio.

 

Wednesday

18:00 Back to serving the people of East London.

 

The Devil makes work for idle hands…

I should be doing an interview on Talksport radio later this evening.  Then tomorrow I start at around 8am do a load of regional radio programmes from a studio in London, then get interviewed by the Guardian and The Weekly News and finally have a drink and give some quotes to an Ambulance magazine.  Then on Tuesday I do a phone in with a Spanish radio station ad something else that I can’t remember but is written down on my Mac – which is in my bedroom and I’m quite comfortable sitting here.

All a bit busy, all a bit fun and I’m glad that Rachael from the PR firm has it all organised for me.

I mention this in one big burst because of something I’ve been thinking about from before my holiday – that this ‘ambulance blog’ has been a bit short on ambulance posts for quite a while.  I feel the need to get back to basics as it were.  The problem that I have is that if I’m not working (for example taking two weeks leave for a holiday in the sun and a book launch) then I’m not getting much material and the reserves of material that I’ve built up are close to running dry.

Luckily I’m back to work on Wednesday or Thursday (Mac in other room again) so there should be plenty of material.  If people discover this blog from the book/radio/TV they’d be a bit disappointed at the moment.  So I’m going to make an effort to post every day, I feel that, for someone who is supposedly a writer, I haven’t actually been *writing* enough.

Time for that to change.

UPDATE: I've just come from the Talksport studio having recorded my bit for between 02:00 and 06:00 tonight/tomorrow morning. It was good fun, the host was a superb interviewer and I think it's my best interview yet. If you are in the UK this wiki page tells you how to listen to it.

Apparently there is a new book out today - you may have heard of it.

I hope you enjoy it.

(And if you ordered it from an internet shop, you may have received it already).

Lets see - time for a general catch up.

I feel like someone has punched me in the face. I'm actually waiting for the anaesthetic to wear off from having a filling done. I have a lovely dentist who doesn't hurt me at all.

So long as I pay promptly.

Yesterday on Amazon 'Da Book' peaked at #66 overall ranking and at #2 on the pre-release chart. My ego is coming along nicely.

Tomorrow I'm being picked up by a car from ITN News in order to do a TV interview. Yes - I am joyful. I just need to find something suitable to wear. If some bright spark could digitise it for me I would be eternally grateful. (Unless I make a prat of myself, in which case I'll find a cave to hide in).

I'm on annual leave for the next two weeks and a week of that will be spent sunning myself by the pool in the Dominican Republic. Therefore blogging may be a bit few and far between depending on any access I have out there. I think I'll need the holiday so I can deal with the book launch the day after I come back.

I'm also doing an email interview with Time Out, and various radio and print bits are planned for after I come back. I am _loving_ whoring myself for publicity and I'm extremely glad that I chose the Friday Project as my publishers. I chose them for exactly this reason, that it would be *fun*.

The Mac is coming along lovely, especially now it has a battery that works (and no, it's not a 'Pro').

Now I just need to run around like a loon getting everything sorted before I fly off for my anticipated relaxing week.

UPDATE: The interview will take place between 12.45 and 1.30pm on 'London Today', ITV1. It will be live. I will be nervous. I won't see it unless someone tapes it for me. This may be for the best.

Blogging is built around reputation and I don't want to get known as someone who is conning people into buying his book. So here comes the sell/anti-sell that will let you make up your mind as to whether to buy the book or not.

Reasons Not To Buy The Book.

1) Almost all of the material is taken from this blog. If you look back into the archives it's pretty much all there. There are 'commentaries' on some of the posts but If you've read the archives, then you've read almost all of the book (and probably any sequel).

2) The book will be freely available for download under a Creative Commons license. It is, as far as we know, the first CC licensed book from a British author/major publisher. So you can read it on your computer screen for free, or even print it out for taking down the beach.

3) You don't think you should be encouraging my ego to grow any more than it already has.

Reasons To Buy The Book.

1) It's a good way to get your non-blog reader friends and family to read my stuff.

2) Lots of people prefer reading a book rather than reading something off a computer screen.

3) It has already passed a few 'mum' tests, where it has been given to someone's mother and they've loved it - so it will make a nice gift.

4) It physically looks lovely. The design of the cover and inside the book is really top notch. It's a good-looking book.

5) You'd like something to read on the train and are frightened of being mugged for your PDA. Also you will look dead sexy reading it.

6) You can read the stuff from here, only with better grammar and less spelling mistakes. Also you get the 'DVD Extras' of the commentaries on individual posts.

7) It's cheap, it lasts longer than a film and costs less so you get more 'bang for your buck'.

8) You love me and want to give me your money. Or you want it to rocket to the top of the charts so that I can go to all the top parties and write about it here. Or you like The Friday Project and would like them to make lots of money and lots more great books.

As an author I get some complimentary copies of my book. As a pretty basic way of saying 'thank you' to the London Ambulance Service for letting me write this in the first place I am auctioning off one of my copies.

All the proceeds will go to the London Ambulance Service Benevolent fund, a charity that looks after sick and injured ambulance workers. They do good work and survive on donations that many of us make directly from our pay packets each month.

So if you would like a signed, first edition/first printing copy of the book, go here on eBay and bid away. The money goes to a good cause.

And it will send you good karma.

Because I say so.

UPDATE:Tim Worstall has added his 'Blogged 2005' to the auction, so now you are getting two books for the price of one. And can I just say *Gahh!* at the price it is already at...

I've just spent an hour or so at my Station during my day off having pictures taken of me by a photographer for the Mail on Sunday. I'm going to be a 'feature' this Sunday. There is, I believe, a special offer on the book. I was told not to smile for the photos.

Actually there was a bit of angst involved in this as the Mail wanted photos of myself in my uniform playing around with an ambulance. The thing is, the book is very much 'unofficial', so I didn't know if LAS management were going to be happy to have pictures of me looking like an 'official spokesperson'.

A couple of phone calls passed between myself, the LAS press office and the Mail on Sunday resulting in our press office asking me not to say anything too stupid and giving the go ahead for the photographs. I am very thankful to our press office as I'm enjoying being a media whore, its fun and it might make my bank manager happy.

So the Mail on Sunday has some stern looking pictures of me, extracts of the book written up and hopefully I'll sell loads more books making me, and my publishers buckets of money.

I live in hope.

I would like to apologise for the constant mentioning of the book, but I thought that you may be interested in the fun I'm having over it. Don't worry, my fifteen minutes of fame will soon be up.

So...

While I'm being published here in the UK, my publishers are looking for someone to publish me in America. If anyone can help them (and by extension help me) you can drop me a line on the usual channels. Or talk to The Friday Project. (Just so you know they don't *need* help with this, it's more like widening the search).

For those that are interested in signed copies - we may be providing them as a service direct from The Friday Project. Otherwise I may be able to *cough* sort something out under the table if that is what people really want.

The book is 280 pages...but I'll save the big sell for closer to the release date.

Would you like to see the shiny new cover for my book?

Well here you are.

(Apparently it will be embossed).